Romanticism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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,

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.

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.

Idealism, the practice of forming ideas, unrealistically or by using the mind. Writers from the American Renaissance structured the way we write today. People like Poe, Emerson, and Hawthorne, often used nature as a way of expressing their ideas of idealism. Although it is a great device to use in writing, it can be confusing. Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the best writers in American history, would be categorized as an idealist.

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.

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.

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.

Lastly, implicit bias is seen through Walter, a poor boy who is judged due to his social class. At one point in the novel, Jem gracefully invites Walter to their house to eat lunch. While eating his meal, Walter dumps molasses all over his food, “on his vegetables and meat with a generous hand,” (Lee 24). He seems extremely odd for doing this, but it is what he is used to through his poor lifestyle. Then, this not only causes Scout to say something and embarrass Walter greatly, but also shows a variance in status between the Finches and the Cunninghams. Social class affects how everyone is thought of through Maycomb, Alabama, but as we know, social class has no effect when compared to race.

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.

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 story starts off with Goodman Brown bidding farewell to his wife, Faith, to meet a mysterious figure in the forest. As he and this mysterious figure meet and proceed further into the dark forest, it is broadly hinted that Goodman Brown's traveling companion is, in fact, the Devil. Goodman Brown wavers and expresses reluctance, not only once but several times, yet they continue their journey. As the story progresses, Brown's illusions about the goodness of his society are destroyed when he discovers that many of his townspeople are attending a Black Mass. In the end, it is not clear whether Brown's experience was reality or illusion, but the outcome is nonetheless the same. Brown is unable to go back to the good faith and innocence he once had, and not even his good wife, Faith, is able to revert him back.

The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie has characters living in the harsh society of the 1930s during the Great Depression. The play The Glass Menagerie has multiple characters that respond to the way society works. One of The Glass Menagerie characters is Amanda who lives in a society that is hard on the poor. Amanda is affected by society which she can not handle and remembers the time of when she was younger.

    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

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

Nearly 25 percent of teens drink alcohol because they think it is fun; however the problems it may bring are not so fun (Hyde 22). There over six times more teen deaths per year from alcohol than any other drug (O’Malley 30). Alcohol affects the body of teens as well as all of the developmental processes. A major issue of teens drinking is that it increases the chance of becoming an alcoholic in the future; which leads to lowered self-control, impaired judgment, and lowered inhibition (Heath 12). Alcohol can completely change the life of a teen from the time they start drinking till death. Alcohol affects so many aspects of a person’s life and once it does, it is so hard to get life back to normal. Alcohol effects teens by harming them