In “Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the short story discusses the journey of Young Goodman Brown, a young religious man who is a member of the Puritan church. Goodman Brown is travelling down a path in a forest, and he converses with an old man. While Goodman Brown is resting in the forest, he hears Faith scream, and also envisions her pink ribbons falling off. Goodman Brown grabs the staff that the old man gave him, and it guides him to a witch meeting. They are converting the Puritan inhabitants into their sinful ways, and Goodman Brown is urged forward by the minister, and Deacon Gookin. Another convert is also ushered forward, but they are covered with a veil. Faith is revealed to be the convert, and Goodman Brown encourages Faith to resist the evil temptations. When Goodman Brown awakens, he is never the same as he was before, and he is gloomy for the rest of his life, even until his death. Throughout “Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author utilizes various examples of symbolism to inform the reader of his Christian beliefs, and to bring the major flaws of the Puritan community to light.
In the beginning of the story, he is conversing with his wife, Faith, about how he must leave her behind for this one night. For example, in this quote, it explains: “’My love and my Faith," replied young Goodman Brown, "of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee…” (Hawthorne 1) It is apparent from the beginning of story that
She describes Goodman Brown as a Puritan that looked for trouble in the way that he went into the woods and had contact with the devil and much more with his own pride. Goodman Brown’s journey was more like a trip to an inferno or haunted scenario. Johnson mentions how Goodman Brown hears the hymns of hell but was actually similar to those from church. Another thing said is that Goodman Brown later sees people from Salem, like the minister, Goody Cloyse, and the Deacon. In reality or better said, inside Goodman Brown’s mindset those people could of have had connection with the devil and practice witchcraft. Goodman Brown belief is that one and he is set to confront all the evil spirits as a good Puritan, but he breaks down when he sees the pink ribbon in the sky that made him feel infamy in his wife Faith. Maybe the pink ribbon was a sign of innocence (WHITE) and guilt (RED.) After he begins losing his faith it is the time when we see Goodman Brown come down into his loss in God’s power and devils power over him and others. Johnson’s article helps out to understand more of what happened in the story and its connection to the Puritan religion aside from the feelings of man. I believe this article is supportive just not quite informal to looking more on Puritanism obsession with the
Goodman Brown seems to be a religious man that is becoming skeptical about his faith and the goodness in people. Nathaniel Hawthorne names his main character Goodman, which is a representative of the general good in all men and women. As Goodman Brown takes his journey through the forest he begins to lose his faith. Goodman Brown says “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!” (Hawthorne 1) and when he tells his companion “having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return whence I came. I have scruples touching the matter thou wot’st of” (Hawthorne 3).
Hawthorne in essence, portrayed Goodman as proof of the nature of evil in man by showing how easily even a young dedicated Puritan can easily be influenced by a complete stranger. This stranger was symbolically the Devil among men in this text. Hawthorne begins introducing the Devil immediately as trying to sway Goodman to follow him on a long journey. By leaving his wife, Faith to begin the journey, Goodman Brown was symbolically leaving his faith in God and entering a forsaken ground by following the Devil. The fact that Goodman Brown left with no regard for his wife Faith’s warning, symbolized the lack of regard for his own faith in God and his fellow human race. This simple disregard that Goodman Brown showed was evidence of the easily persuaded ability of man to choose sin over good.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” these literary devices are used to bring emphasis to Brown’s struggle with his moral and spiritual beliefs. Goodman Brown is challenged with an important decision to keep his faith or follow the temptation of evil. Allegory and symbolism of the pink ribbons, Faith, the staff, and the woods are used by Hawthorne to create an allusion that the town’s people could not be corrupted by evil.
Conflict and symbolism in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne in this story portrays these two elements that enhance the way the story is written. The story “Young Goodman Brown” first takes place in a small town with brown and his wife faith. Then in the story brown leaves faith to go in an adventure that he would later wish he hadn’t gone in. Brown takes a journey through part of the woods that are really scary and comes across the devil himself to later find out that faith was evil and that many from his town were also evil and had a secret evil organization or cult. Through the use of conflict and symbolism, Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” portrays what Brown’s journey represents.
Young Goodman Brown is a short story where the main purpose is to show the social issue of religion during the Puritan time. Although the author Nathaniel Hawthorne had not being living in that time, he came from a long line of Puritans. He wrote Young Goodman Brown to show the flaws of the Puritans’ view of religion. They made God seem heartless and mean spirited, someone who just used humans for entertainment. The short story Young Goodman Brown demonstrates that people should test their faith of their religious beliefs and even people considered upright can fall short of their own religious faiths from temptations and imperfections. In addition, the story shows that there is some degree of evil nature in everyone because of the freewill
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is full of symbolism throughout the story. Perhaps the most interesting examples of symbolism include the title character, Young Goodman Brown, as well as his wife, Faith, and the woods that Young Goodman Brown enters on his journey. Included are many allusions to Christianity and also to evil and sin. These references are expressed mainly through characters and settings in the story.
In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the author Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the fragility of humans when it comes to their morality. Goodman Brown goes on a journey through the forest with the devil to watch the witches’ ritual and observes the evil in the Puritan society. He loses his faith as he sees the people he respects the most participating in the sinful ritual. Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes setting, and symbolism in his short story “Young Goodman Brown,” to show how a person’s perspective can change by showing the hypocritical nature of the Puritan society
“Young Goodman Brown,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835, is a short story about a man named young Goodman Brown who leaves his wife, Faith, to go on an errand into the woods with the devil. Faith begs Goodman Brown to not leave her alone, but he chooses to go anyways. This short story shows many signs of symbolism, such as the forest, the devil, the staff, the pink ribbons, Faith, sin, and guilt. These symbols help in understanding the story of young Goodman Brown and his unconscious struggle with his religion. The trip not only takes Brown onto a journey of sadness, but also into the deepest parts of his soul. Goodman Brown wishes to enter the dark forest of sin, to satisfy his
“Young Goodman Brown” tells the story of Goodman Brown. Goodman Brown begins the story about to leave home and his Puritan Wife Faith to go on a journey that he felt guilty with to begin with. Despite his initial guilt, he leaves home a devout Puritan and sound in his beliefs. Throughout the story, Goodman Brown digresses as a man and loses his faith over the course of events of the story. On his journey, Brown meets a man who first tries to tempt him to go with him to a meeting in the forest. The man turns out to be the devil. Before parting ways, the devil gives Brown a staff
Finally, Goodman Brown arrives at the initiation ceremony only to be confronted by the image of his wife at the unholy altar. Although Hawthorne never offers any true evidence that Goodman Brownâs experience in the woods was anything more than a dream or hallucination, the Puritan passes judgment on Faith, and forever doubts her goodness. By allowing his audience to internally assess Faithâs guilt or innocence, Hawthorne forces his reader into a role of complicity with Goodman Brown (McFarland 37). Thus, Hawthorne has created a troubling character with both light and dark facets.
Even though faith is generally used in a positive connotation, Nathaniel Hawthorne knows that faith can be weaponized and used to prosecute adversaries, as it was in the Salem Witch Trials. He had great family history and personal guilt surrounding the events because his grandfather was the only judge who partook in the trials that did not repent for his perpetrations. He wrote this controversial story to invert the trials and made the narrator convict faith and the community instead. The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an allegory that is anchored by the character Faith, Young Goodman Brown’s wife. Faith is both his innocent and angelic physical wife, and a representation
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne introduces Goodman Brown, who doubts himself and reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. His struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can handle. This story is about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before the sunrise.
When analyzing an allegory like "Young Goodman Brown", the reader must realize that the story is in its entirety, a symbol. Hawthorne, through his writing is trying to convey the contradicting aspects of the Puritan ideology. This is made evident after discovering that Goodman's father burned an Indian Village and his grandfather lashed a Quaker woman. By Hawthorne including these acts of violence, he is revealing that the
“Young Goodman Brown” is full of allegorical content relating to the Puritan religion. The names of the characters in “Young Goodman Brown” are the most profound examples of allegory influenced by Puritanism. The protagonist, Goodman Brown, has a name that suggests far more than just a name. “Goodman Brown” for example, is a name that presents the character as a good moralistic man that at all costs resists temptation. Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, has a name that assists in illustrating the downfall of Goodman Brown. After seeing Faith in the forest, Goodman Brown cries, “My Faith is gone!”(323). His wife, Faith was gone along with his spiritual faith. We first see Goodman Brown as a moral Puritan man, and after loosing his faith he becomes the opposite.