Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown's Apocalypse Essay

"Young Goodman Brown," a story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, should be interpreted on a psychoanalytical level rather than a religious one. It is my observation that "Young Goodman Brown" may very well be the first published work alluding to divisions of the mind and personality theory. Although religion is a direct theme throughout the story, "Young Goodman Brown" appears to be an allegory with deeper meanings.

As mentioned, when Goodman Brown wandered into the forest, he encountered a man. This man is seen to be the Devil due to the serpent like engravings that wrapped around his staff. With a resembling figure of Goodman, the

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.

Setting can be a powerful literary device, and Nathaniel Hawthorne wields it to great effect. There are four major settings in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and they all take place in Salem. This essay is an examination of those settings and their effects.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” the devil says, “Evil is the nature of mankind” (“Young” 627). Since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and attempted to hide conceal their sin from God, humans have tried to hide their sin from others. Although everyone sin is human nature, everyone has a different reaction to sin. While some acknowledge sin, others ignore it. In Hawthorne’s other short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Father Hooper wears a black veil to represent the sin he commits every day. In “Young Goodman Brown,” however, the villagers hide their devil-worshipping in the forest. Through “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne exemplifies evil’s hidden and human nature and its effect on a person.

Symbolism is a literary technique that is used to clarify the author's intent. Sometimes it is used to great effect, while other times it only seems to muddle the meaning of a passage. In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses objects and people as symbols to allegorically reveal his message to the reader.

Goodman Brown starts off his journey thinking highly of his family. He believes that they “have been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs”. The devil replies by telling him “I have been as 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.” The devil tries to manipulate Goodman Brown by making him feel that questioning his faith is normal because of his ancestors’ behavior. He tells the devil that he wants to return back to the village for Faith’s sake.

"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathanial Hawthorne is a short story that is very interesting, as well as entertaining. This essay will first provide a brief summary of the story, followed by an analysis of the importance of symbolism. The nature of evil will then be discussed as it relates to the control of the mind of a once naive and innocent goodman Brown. The climax of the story will be analyzed and the evil within this passage will be discussed and related to the final downfall of goodman Brown.

“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’s story “Young Goodman Brown” portrays the growth of Young Goodman Brown through vivid symbolic setting. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory in which the setting is very important to the theme of the story. Throughout the narration, detailed setting and emblematic characters surround Goodman Brown. Goodman Brown is an Everyman character, which could be any one of us, struggling with his Puritan heritage, more specifically his spiritual faith.

We are born into this good versus evil war and it’s almost impossible to ever come out a winner in it. This war dates all the way back to the beginning of time to Adam and Eve. They had one restriction and still the temptation that overcomes us all caused their fall. Nathaniel Hawthorne explains this theory in his “Young Goodman Brown” story, where evil overcomes and defeats the good. Hawthorne does this by using these allegorical figures Young goodman Brown, Faith, and the old unnamed man. These allegories are put in this story to represent this theory, the innocent thrown into the good versus evil war.

“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.

1) In 175 words or more, take two of the romantic characteristics we discussed in class and explain how they are demonstrated in at least two of the stories we read.

In the short story, “young Goodman brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author elaborately unveils an allegorical piece of work through his extensive use of symbolism. The story in itself takes us in a literal as well as figurative journey through a transitional state in a man’s spiritual life. Our protagonist Young Goodman brown goes through this transitional state as he is ripped away from previously held ideals and religious beliefs. Curiosity is what drives young Brown outside of his safe heaven, and into a promising hell; a hell that is to end his innocent view towards his towns folk. Throughout the story, Hawthorne presents us with a series

     Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism throughout his short story Young Goodman Brown to impact and clarify the theme of good people sometimes doing bad things. Hawthorne uses a variety of light and dark imagery, names, and people to illustrate irony and different translations. Young Goodman Brown is a story about a man who comes to terms with the reality that people are imperfect and flawed and then dies a bitter death from the enlightenment of his journey through the woods. Images of darkness, symbolic representations of names and people and the journey through the woods all attribute to Hawthorne's theme of good people sometimes doing bad things.