Romanticism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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.

Suddenly, Goodman Brown notices voices of several men and women, "saints, and sinners" (Hawthorne 303), behind the trees. Sticking his head through the bushes, Goodman Brown spots some townsmen inspiring his wife Faith towards her communion of evil. He finally witnesses her involvement of this evil event and then calls out her name. With feelings of hopelessness, Brown feels Faith no longer exist in the eyes of God. This brings him to the conclusion that "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name" (Hawthorne 304). He stairs at the setting in which the event is taking place, then takes his place in the congregation. As he tries to resist the temptation of joining the congregation, Deacon Gookin grabs his hand and "led him to the blazing rock" (Hawthorne 306). Now,

    In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of man's inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism.  Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthorne's deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of humanity and in the existence of moral absolutes. According to Nancy Bunge, Hawthorne naturally centers his story upon a Puritan protagonist to convey the "self-righteous" that he regards as the "antithesis of wisdom"(4). Consequently, Young

   Faith is believing what you can’t see or touch. Faith is knowing something especially when there is no proof to back it up. “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man who leaves his wife, Faith, home alone for a night while he journeys with the devil down the road of temptation. During the course of his journey, the man sees many people who seem out of place, including his wife. When he returns home to Salem, he is a changed man. In this story, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism and characterization in order to imply that when an individual loses faith in the goodness of mankind, that individual may conclude that mankind (including friends and family) has given in

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.

His pride over his family and how godly they are seen by the people of Salem allow him to accept following the dangerous and evil path in the depths of the dark forest leaving his wife, Faith home alone. Faith, allows Goodman Brown all the more to feel confident in his decision to follow the devil, ultimately exchanging his soul for the ability to see good and evil in everyone that surrounds him. The innocent, pure and godly Faith, will be his last chance at Heaven as Goodman says, “...after this one night , I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven”.. Faith is the true embodiment of good on earth, “ ...she’s a blessed angel on earth... ” and the reason for Goodman’s existing believe in religion.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his short story “Young Goodman Brown,” details the frailty of human morality when he has the story’s protagonist (Goodman Brown) journey through the forest on All Hollows Eve to witness/participate in a witches’ Sabbath just to see what evil/sin is all about. During Young Goodman Brown’s journey, his faith is shaken as he witnesses those he respects the most also journeying to and participating in the witch’s Sabbath. In “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates that an idealistic faith in our fellow man’s righteousness could lead to disappointment, distrust, and fear.

People tend to put their faith and hopes on other people, and they let them down, hurt them emotionally. Emotions fluctuate, one cannot help but be upset or be enraged; this is what the Romanticism Movement fueled itself on. Human emotion, nature, religion, and love are all factors of Romanticism. Romantic characteristics can be found in literature and are expressed by people throughout the Romantic Era from how they considered human potential and personality more valuable than industrial purposes. When reading Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, someone can identify and understand the ideas of Romanticism and the intake the idea had on American literature. This story relates to Romanticism from how the story shows Goodman Brown’s love and care for Faith, how evil is within every human being, and how Goodman Brown loses his faith in all goodness of humanity when he sees Faith turn over to the dark side at the Devil’s ceremony.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic tale “Young Goodman Brown” is a good example of a short story embodying both characteristics of realism and characteristics of romanticism.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne presents the tale of a young man from Salem, Massachusetts during colonial America. One night, Brown accidentally witnesses a witches meeting in the forest where he sees the rest of the town, including his wife Faith, in attendance. This comes as quite a shock to Brown and the next morning but he cannot remember whether or not the scene was real of simply a dream. Regardless, from then on Brown lives his life in opposition to the rest of the town. Although it may seem that the meaning of the story comes simply from an evaluation of Brown himself, and the actions he takes against the towns people, more needs to be done to fully comprehend the totality of Hawthorne’s

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.”

Young Goodman Brown was a pure Christian that believed in everything good in God. Until, he went to the forest and spoke with the devil which changed his life forever. That meant that Goodman’s faith was weak and anything could’ve changed it. After his experience with the devil, his life was nothing but dark. He was never happy and didn’t trust anybody because he thought everyone was

   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.

The old man uses an everybody is doing it approach to encourage Goodman Brown to attend a ceremony to worship the Devil. The old man shows the people Goodman Brown respected most in his community to degrade his faith. As Goodman Brown loses faith in others, he loses faith in himself. Mckeithan continues to say, “The Minister of Salem Village, Deacon Gookin, Goody Closyse, and Faith were all good in spite of what Goodman Brown eventually came to think of them (96). These are people that were supposedly more spiritually mature than Goodman Brown. He relied on their faith to keep his strong because his faith in God was still new and not fully developed. The psychology of Goodman Brown plays a major rule in his lack of faith because his lack of self esteem allows his desires overcome his reason and morality.