Structure of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown Essay example

In “Young Goodman Brown” the journey that takes place is revealed to be a dream. This allegorical story has many different interpretations amongst literary critics. A topic touched on by Leo B. Levy was how the reader knows the story consists of a dream, but where does said dream begin. Hawthorne introduces a question, “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch meeting?” (Hawthorne 9) Hawthorne goes as far as to blatantly state that Goodman Brown was in a dream state the whole time. This quote ties everything together. None of the events that happened could have happened outside of a dream; being a dream which is a representation of his subconscious

The dialogue, action and motivation revolve about the characters in the story (Abrams 32-33). It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate the types of characters present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” whether static or dynamic, whether flat or round, and whether protrayed through showing or telling.

The woods are also an important symbol in the tale of Young Goodman Brown. The story is written in times past, when the woods were thought of as evil places where witchcraft often took place. This is reinforced when Goodman Brown sees the townspeople amongst him in the woods, and is appalled to see them, his wife and the preacher included. Also, it is mentioned that

Young Goodman Brown must leave behind his known world, Salem village, and enter an unknown world, the forest, to face challenges he must be capable of overcoming. Allegorically, he embarks on a psychological and spiritual odyssey. Entering an unknown territory is scary and puts a person at a much higher physical and emotional risk. "There may be a devlish Indian behind every tree" shows how insecure Young Goodman Brown is in the forest because he is exposing himself to danger, which in this case, is evil itself (pg. 88). He must stay strong and overcome his weaknesses to get past his biggest fears and continue his Hero's journey. Goodman Brown is tempted to turn around and go home, but he sticks it out, and continues onward. Goodman Brown remarks, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" just before noticing a man, similar in appearance to himself, sitting under a tree (pg. 88). This man speaks as if he was expecting Brown

In the story of Young Goodman Brown, as a reader we see many circumstances where Hawthorne uses irony in straightforward situations. I have learned from reading several of the author’s works that it is up to the reader to decide the meaning behind his stories. In this paper, I will be discussing the significance of the title, Young Goodman Brown and how I believe there is more to the story than what Hawthorne writes. Young Goodman Browns journey within the forest revealed truths not only within him, but within human nature and society. On page, 1103 Goodman Brown states “there may be a devilish Indian behind every tree.”

After meeting the devil in the woods one evening, Goodman Browns eyes are opened to the reality of the Puritan society in which he lives. Many of the people in attendance at the meeting were trustworthy, church-going individuals who turn out to be devil worshipers and witches. Upon finding out this information, Goodman Brown finds himself seeing the citizens of Salem, including his wife Faith in a different light.

"Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting? (387)" The story "Young Goodman Brown" is portrayed as a straight forward tale of a man on a venture. It is not overly difficult to comprehend or interpret, however it does have several great ambiguities. As Hawthorne's tale has a great deal of symbolism, it is all in retrospect to the ambiguous entities within the tale. The formalistic approach will be used to analyze the ambiguities in the story, mainly focusing upon the use of dark and light contrasts. The questions of why did Goodman Brown leave his wife Faith and venture into the forest and was his journey into the forest a reality or a dream bring a grand weight of ambiguity upon the

After a night of making deals with the Devil, having all of his fellow countrymen show their Satanic sympathies and himself becoming affiliated with the Fallen Angel, Brown understandably looks to account these incredible events to a dream state. However, Brown acts coldly towards Faith after that particular night, and completely changes his demeaner as he begins to question whether the dream was, in fact, a dream, or reality. What may have been but a dream turns out to haunt Brown for the rest of his life, as he can no longer accept the people in his life for what they appear to be, and can not forget that he saw them all at the witch-meeting. In contrast, is the debatable question of whether or not the dream was only a "wild dream" (Hawthorne, 318). If Young Goodman Brown indeed did dream of the witch-meeting, then he has wasted his life with his unrestrained, unrelenting paranoia. Because of the ambiguity of the situation, where neither the reader, narrator nor protagonist can be sure of the validity of the dream's depictions of the residents of Salem, Hawthorne makes it difficult of analyze Brown's character. It it therefore impossible to come to any absolute conclusions regarding the nature of Young Goodman Brown as one cannot accurately assess what has happened to him, and the consequences of those events.

It should not matter if the events in “Young Goodman Brown” was a dream or not because Brown lost his innocent belief in people and his religious faith. Goodman Brown’s lost of belief happens during a night in which he goes into the forest and sees all the church people he considered faithful gathered around a fire at a witch ritual with the devil presiding over it. By the end of his journey in the dark forest, Goodman Browns learns that even the purest faith can not mask sin. Faith, Goodman Brown’s wife, is the embodiment of faith and purity. Goodman Brown’s internal conflict is based on whether he should “keep the faith.” Ultimately, he does not.

In 1835 Nathaniel Hawthorne published the short story of “Young Goodman Brown” and his voyage through the forest with an old man. Throughout this short story the author presents many variations of situational irony to address the central theme that all that was presumed to be good, was evil, and Goodman was flagrant about it all. As Goodman and the old man he met continue to walk more and more secrets and true identities are revealed. His wife Faith is supposedly frightened by her dreams and own solitude as she states in the beginning of the story; “A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she’s afeard of herself sometimes.” Whilst in the forest with the old man he hears a horse carriage near by with voices, one of the

In the short story of “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the setting is a very important aspect in providing symbolism to certain events. The setting of a dramatic work or story is defined as the overall setting of a narrative detailing the general location, historical time, and social undermining in which its action occurs. The setting of a story is just as important as the characters that are involved within the story. It is a necessary aspect that has influence on every narration. Which is a subject that has not gained much attraction and attention as other parts of the story, but is certainly a very interesting topic to discuss. This essay will give an in-depth analysis of the various techniques that Hawthorne used to convey

When Young Goodman Brown returns from the forest, he is paranoid that everyone he respected and honored is living a double life and are not living honestly. He is disgusted by the everyday actions by the preacher who is preparing a sermon and by Goody Cloyse who was speaking to a little girl. When Young Goodman Brown turns away after gazing sternly at his wife, it shows the readers that he is sceptical that last night’s events were a dream and for the most part, he believes it to be true. Because Hawthorne portrays how much Goodman Brown loves Faith in the start of the story, and how he is willing to have his heart broken before hers, the readers can tell how he was severely impacted by his dream to the point where he turns away from a woman

Young Goodman Brown kisses goodbye to his wife as the sun sets outside their village in Salem. His wife Faith who was wearing pink ribbons in her hair, asks him not to leave. She asks him to sleep in his own bed tonight, because she is afraid when she is alone. Goodman tells her this one night he must go, out of all the days in the year. Goodman tells his wife to say her prayers, and go to bed before it gets dark outside and she will be safe. He must be doing something wrong, because he looks back at her and feels guilty for leaving her for this one errand.

The story of the Goodman brown represent the common man, which brown have to leave his faith which is both of his belief and his wife behind for the night, so that he can pursue and face the devil that is inside himself, and in his family. Brown journey takes him really deep into the heart of the forest where he had encounters with his advisor on her way to a congregation, high ranking religious leaders from the village, and the devil. The devil is attempting to lure the reluctant Goodman Brown to the congregation, and throughout the entire ordeal it seems as though Goodman Brown is in a dream...a very bad dream.

In the story of “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there numerous elements leading to this journey that may be unexpected and supernatural that acclaim it is a dream. We could mistake Goodman Brown for having lack of doubts of his neighbors. One could see why he places people on a platform, expecting them to always be devout and true. If Goodman Brown was to admit that being human is to do evil and be remorseful, then he could not have turned his back so harshly on humanity, and perhaps in order have been able to lead a happier and complete life. I believe Goodman Brown had fallen asleep in the forest; however, he thought about his worst fear before falling asleep. He was dreaming about his fear, so when he awakes up Goodman Brown