Hawthorne 's Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s allegorical story “Young Goodman Brown” is set in Salem, Massachusetts during the late sixteen hundreds in a time of religious hysteria and only a few generations after the infamous witch trials. Although "Young Goodman Brown" is a fictional tale, it is based on the cynical environment of Salem during this time period. The short story is filled with many literary elements, leading you to question what did exactly happen to the main character at the conclusion. When analyzing a story like "Young Goodman Brown", one must recognize that the story is at whole symbolic. In the text, symbols are used to uncover the truth of the characters. The role of Faith as both a character and a spiritual element are crucial to both the

Many authors who write of religious, philosophical, or moral issues frequently use symbolism and allegory to spark the reader’s interest. This style of writing builds on the emotions of the reader. It creates a visual image making the story real and believable.

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote Young Goodman Brown based on morals and what Easterly in "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown' " calls "spiritual maturity" (Easterly 339). In the short story, Goodman Brown, a young Puritan leaves his wife of three months to watch a witch ceremony in the forest. During this point in time, Puritans based their lives on teachings of religion and morality; therefore, witch-meetings were surely immoral, and they betrayed the commitment of God. Dwelling in the forest throughout the night, Goodman Brown experiences an event that changes his entire perspective of life. In one night, the event destroys "his relationship with his wife Faith, isolates him from his neighbors, and destroys his ability to

Though Nathaniel Hawthorne is an author of many great works, his short story “Young Goodman Brown” still stays relevant because it has themes and subjects that are relatable in today 's world. In the story “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown leaves his wife Faith, to go into the woods near Salem to have a meeting with the devil. Appearance vs. reality is shown in “Young Goodman Brown” through the plot, the character of Goody Cloyse, and the symbol of the maple staff.

When it comes to the topic of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, most of us will readily agree that duplicity is a major theme in the piece, or the idea of different versions of reality. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether Hawthorne is implying that man is inherently evil. Whereas some are convinced that Young Goodman Brown was good until tainted by the Devil, others maintain that he was evil from the beginning and was completely aware of the evil he was indulging in. My personal view, however, is that Young Goodman Brown was inherently evil, but it did not come to light until the Devil began to influence Brown. This can be seen through the use of symbolism, biblical allusions, and the development of the main characters. While the Devil may have revealed that Young Goodman Brown was not as innocent and pious as he appeared, Brown was willingly indulging in sin and was inherently evil.

“Young Goodman Brown,” a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, recounts the tale of a young Puritan man who is transformed by witnessing the bitter truths of humanity. In Goodman Brown’s journey into the woods, he discovers the hidden evils of the individuals that once appeared virtuous to him. Throughout the story, the forces of good and evil are contrasted. In this short story, Hawthorne uses symbolism, the discordance between a character’s appearance and his/her true nature, and contrasting colors to portray the vicious and hypocritical nature of Puritans.

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne sets the locale of the story during the Salem witch trials at his convenience to include the Calvinist theme of sin, that belief in which formed the early history of New England’s social and spiritual identity. As a dark romantic, Hawthorne includes the elements of human nature, mysticism, good and evil, and one’s own spirituality to convey his message to the reader. However, it is left to the reader’s own digression to interpret his ambiguous conclusions. At the beginning of the short story, Brown finds himself on a journey to the enchanted forest outside of his village for a mysterious appointment. Unknowingly, Brown is traveling into the heart of darkness in which he will be

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many different allegories are used. One of the most important allegories is Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith. Faith represents innocence, naivety, purity and Goodman Brown’s loss of innocence. In the beginning of the story, before Goodman Brown leaves Faith, Goodman Brown is oblivious to the evils around him. Then by the end, after his encounter with the Devil and journey through the forest, his eyes are opened to the evils he did not see before.

     In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.

(341) Afterward, it is said that “there was a world of meaning in this simple comment.” (341) The importance behind this statement is that, although Goody Cloyse had been the one who had taught him the basics of his religion, she is seen consorting with the Devil and clearly dabbling in witchcraft. Brown expresses his disgust for the sinners, although he too had been led to the dark ritual himself of his own volition. It is even described that when he advanced towards the group, “he felt a loathful brotherhood, by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart.” (345)

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne presents several different literary devices such as: imagery, symbolism, and allegory to artistically and elegantly contribute to the story’s main theme. Hawthorne uses these devices to display his themes and ideas regarding the twisted dark path of evil and the inner fears of a man who treads the unknown path of temptation and curiosity. Hawthorne creates depth within the story, characters, and the setting by allowing them to be viewed differently than who they are and what their title holds. Hawthorne applies comprehensible religious ideas in order for people to perceive his theme

One of the things that comes along with growing old is discovering that people do not always reflect first impressions or even the view of them that could have formed over a longer period of time. As Brown “grows” the devil enlightens him on who some of the people in his life truly are that have been previously seen differently by him. For one, Brown must feel like he knows his family pretty well, but then the devil goes to tell him “I have been well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip’s war. They were my good friends …” (81).

“The Path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men,” (Tarantino). In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown”, Brown is the righteous man following a path beset on all sides by evil. Hawthorne utilizes the fictional elements of symbolism, characterization, and setting to discuss the story’s theme of temptation of the wrong choices over the right. This story is based in Hawthorne’s home town Salem. The story is about a man’s journey through a forest where he is intercepted by the devil on his way to a black mass. Goodman Brown is torn between continuing on this path of evil alongside the devil or returning to his wife faith. Throughout his journey Brown is faced with

Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of “Young Goodman Brown,” was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. Hawthorne, born into a Puritan family who was struggling financially, had never met his father. He had died when Hawthorne was but a boy of four years old. This, along with embarrassments brought upon by other ancestors, seemed to affect his writing and perhaps even inspired parts of “Young Goodman Brown.” Hawthorne had one ancestor, a Puritan judge, who persecuted Quakers, and another, who had taken part in the Salem Witch Hysteria (Meyer 322). Both of these were mentioned, or hinted upon, in the story of “Young Goodman Brown.”

   This essay will examine the main physical settings within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown.” These are four in number and begin and end in the village of Salem.