Literary Analysis Of Hawthorne 's ' Young Goodman Brown '

Young Goodman Brown is about a story of a young everyday man and his journey through a darkened forest with a dark and foreboding stranger. The theme of the story is about a test of faith, how one man figuratively abandons his Faith to seek a treacherous task with the dark stranger. His young wife Faith, is an allegory to faith, and his lying to and leaving Faith is a figurative demonstration of Young Goodman Brown literally abandoning his faith in God. There is also a use of foreshadowing in the phrase “There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree … What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!” (Hawthorn, 1835). This use of foreshadowing is very important, because this also denotes a shift in the story. This leads me to believe that the events following are just a dream, as it seems that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The staff that the man carries is repeatedly referred to, and compared to a snake, a serpent. The serpent is a biblically evil creature; the talking snake in the Garden of Eden was the manipulator of Eve that caused the fall of man.

This loneliness comes only after he is far away from his Faith and God and traveling deeper into the darkness of the forest, only “assisted by the [evil], uncertain [false] light” (2187). Young Goodman Brown overcomes his loneliness when he meets an older traveler who tells him that even Brown’s own family has come to the woods and shows him other supposed Christians who are in the woods on this night, too. Deception, something that evil uses to try to lure all people into its darkness, begins to slowly take hold of Goodman Brown when he sees other people he admires and looks up to in the woods, such as Goody Cloyse, towns-people (both good and evil), and even Deacon Gookin and the minister. Goodman Brown wants to fight against the evil images that he is enclosing him in the woods and he even calls out to his Faith, which represents not only his wife but his own faith in goodness and God, but his cries are “drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices, fading into far-off laughter, as the dark cloud swept away” (2191). Finally, evil wins over Goodman Brown when he cries that his “Faith is gone,” meaning his relationship with his pure, good wife and his relationship with his pure, good God, when he sees Faith’s pink

Upon entering the forest Goodman Brown is suspicious of every rock and tree, thinking something evil will jump out at him. When he finally does meet someone on the trail, who appears to be of evil origin, he feels confident that he can refuse any temptations. This evil person makes several advances and Goodman refuses. At first Goodman feels confident that he can resist any temptation that the devils throws upon him. Hawthorne describes how closely the devil resembles Goodman. Hawthorne describes them as though they “might have been mistaken for father and son.” The devil resembles him in order to make Goodman feel more comfortable around him. It makes it easier to tell lies and deceive Young Goodman Brown into coming with him to the witch gathering.

     The literary critics agree that there is considerable ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.” This essay intends to illustrate the previous statement and to analyze the cause of this ambiguity.

The imagery in “Young Goodman Brown” is very dark and gothic like. Throughout the story the narrator tries to capture evil within the imagery. The first appearance of a dark imagery is when Goodman Brown describes the road he takes towards the forest, he describes it as “a dreary road” (8) he also describes all the trees of the forest to appear gloomy like. Another image the author paints is when Goodman Brown is walking down the road he then says that there might be a “devilish indian” (9) behind the trees. This image captures the evil and darkness that is going on in the forest and we can see this clearly through the imagery. The imagery also ties back to the thematic statement.

The Characters in Young Goodman Brown are meant to represent society as a whole. They show how sin can tempt any individual whose faith is still developing. D. M. Mckeithan writes in her

The works of Nathaniel Hawthorne deal with dark themes and are considered to be the first works of gothic romanticism. While these stories do deal with strong dark elements, these works are also heavily inspired by Puritanism and the Puritan colony at Plymouth.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's short stories, "Young Goodman Brown", "The Minister 's Black Veil", and "The Birthmark", he provides us with female characters with very similar attributes, and they all have the same inhuman acceptance for the men they love. No matter what is thrown at these three unprecedented women they still show a extreme tolerance for their companions. While Goodman Brown, Mr. Hooper, and Aylmer struggle with their own appalling desires, their partners continue to follow them even though it might put them in danger. Hawthorne duplicates the same type of female character throughout his short stories, and it could be interpreted that he feels women should follow their men no matter what the risk. It is possible that in his own idea, woman should be completely submissive to their companions, despite the fact that those companions are struggling with their own troubled minds. Those same men who would not sacrifice some of their own happiness in order to keep their women content, and in some cases keep them alive. This can be seen throughout the three short stories, and in all three, the women are the ones who sacrifice themselves in order to keep their partners feeling fulfilled.

“Young Goodman Brown” is a short story that is filled with symbols and mystery. Nathaniel Hawthorne provides plenty forms of symbolism for readers to digest. Hawthorne displays strong faith as the greatest virtue for a man or woman, and when the faith is compromised, one can be filled with skepticism and uncertainty towards the rest of the world.

Goodman Brown comes off as extremely naïve in the beginning of the story. Brown thinks of only the good in everyone in the beginning. Brown talks of the goodness of his father and grandfather, but soon hears how that is not true. The old man (the devil) in the forest soon starts to shake the little bit of beliefs that Brown does have. Brown seems to think he will be getting into heaven based of everyone else’s goodness. He looks for everyone else to pray instead of doing it himself. Brown’s lack of religion makes it easy for the old man to sake his belief.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story of Young Goodman Brown, the author uses symbolism and allegories in order to showcase the Puritan faith as well as man’s conflict between good and evil. This analysis will breakdown the techniques that the author uses to critique the puritan society, and to show the difference between how people appear to be in society and the true colors that they are hidden inside of them.

In Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’ the main character, Goodman Brown leaves his wife alone for a night to go to a secret meeting in the forest. As it turns out the religious Goodman Brown is actually sneaking off to meet with the Devil. While in the forest with the devil he sees many influential people from town there as well, including his wife. They seem to be about to be taken into the cult when Goodman Brown looks at his wife and begs her to remain with her Faith. Next thing he knows he wakes up like nothing ever happened. Whether this whole experience was a dream or not, it caused young Goodman brown to lose his faith and innocence. Hawthorne expresses this loss of innocence by using setting, symbolism and motifs to build up the story’s theme around Young Goodman Brown’s loss of faith.

In Young Goodman Brown, Nathanial Hawthorne utilizes the forest’s setting and character’s descriptions to show the symbolic meaning of each. The forest, each character and their actions all have specific meanings that are critical to the interpretation of the story.

Rooted deep within each individual hides a bit of evil; however, for some it may be more, others less. In the story, “Young Goodman Brown”, it tells of a man - Goodman Brown - who ventures into an eerie forest in Salem and is met by a man who develops an uncanny resemblance to the devil. In the forest, those whom Goodman Brown have seen to be pure and innocent, are shown to have a more sinister side. Goodman Brown is then determined to go no further; but, as he sits, he begins to witness things he did not expect to see or hear. The experience startles Goodman Brown so much that, when he returns, he is no longer able to trust anyone. “Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness” (par. 65). This gives insight to the theme of the story; that there is potential evil in everyone.

At the start of the story, the author uses symbols to cultivate the idea of religion and how it intertwines with sinful acts, ultimately leading to the misery and mistrust of Goodman Brown. Beginning with the main character's wife, the author uses her to symbolize the faith of Goodman Brown. The narrator explains that Goodman Brown is leaving his wife (named Faith) for one night to journey into the dark forest (25). His wife embodies the idea of religion and his