Summary On Allegory In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

The physical manifestation of both devils mirrors the different strategies they utilized to manipulate the protagonists’ destruction of innocence. The Devil in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” appears as a normal human to gain the trust of those he encounters and manipulate them on a more subtle level. Hawthorne introduces him after Goodman Brown enters the dark

Humans have a natural ability to know what is right and just and what is wrong. However, people are tempted on a regular basis, and often times people choose to go against what is right for what they want at the moment. Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the struggle of one man with his personal temptations in the short story, “Young Goodman Brown”. Through a trip into the woods on a dark, gloomy night, Young Goodman Brown battles between what he knows is right and what sparks his curiosity—what the others and doing in the woods—the same theme portrayed in Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog.” In this short story, Young Goodman Brown loses his faith in humanity’s ability to do good when he is convinced the great lie by the “dark one”.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” we have an allegory that appears to be quite obvious. The pious young Brown literally and figuratively leaves his “Faith” and embarks on a walk with the devil. During his

Conflict and symbolism in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne in this story portrays these two elements that enhance the way the story is written. The story “Young Goodman Brown” first takes place in a small town with brown and his wife faith. Then in the story brown leaves faith to go in an adventure that he would later wish he hadn’t gone in. Brown takes a journey through part of the woods that are really scary and comes across the devil himself to later find out that faith was evil and that many from his town were also evil and had a secret evil organization or cult. Through the use of conflict and symbolism, Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” portrays what Brown’s journey represents.

The short story “Young Goodman Brown” functions as an allegory of the Biblical fall of man, from which Nathaniel Hawthorne draws to illustrate what he sees as the inherent fallibility and hypocrisy in American religion. Hawthorne sets up a story of a man who is tempted by the devil and succumbs because of his curiosity and the weakness of his faith. Throughout the story Goodman struggles, not only with his Faith in Religion but also, his faith in people. The characters (Goodman Brown and Faith) draw a connection to the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 3. Like Adam and Eve, Goodman and Faith fall prey to the temptations presented by the Devil. However, where we know that Adam and Eve both

The man that Goodman Brown encountered on his journey symbolized the devil in the text which strongly influenced him to just about give up his faith in God. The Devil disguised as a “fellow traveler” (266) tried to influence Goodman Brown by

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.

“Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short narrative following the journey, both literal and metaphorical, of a young man, Goodman Brown. He sets off into the woods, meeting a rather interesting man who is quickly likened to the devil. Throughout the story, Hawthorne does use imagery to imply that the character depicting the devil influenced Goodman Brown to follow a path of evil. However, he also is careful to show that while the “devil” was an influence, it was ultimately Goodman Brown who made the decision himself. In other words, although people’s values and decisions are shaped by others, in the end, everyone chooses the actions they take and the things they believe. This idea can be seen in many instances within

The strictness of Puritan society makes an image of purity (especially for those in positions of authority) necessary for its citizens to be acceptable and to rise through the Puritan social strata, and it is this need for an image of purity that undoes Goodman Brown’s initiation from a spiritually immature, idealistic faith to a spiritually mature faith.

The character of the devil often speaks its beliefs related to the topic. He believes in the idea of evil much more than the idea of good: “Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness” (Hawthorne 618). The devil speaks of evil to Young Goodman Brown as if it is the typical way of life, and this is shocking for Brown. This affects him even more greatly when finding out how many people that he previously saw as “good” are actually evil. The devil’s beliefs are emphasized even more when speaking of good. He very easily dismisses the idea: “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name” (Hawthorne 615). This shows a strong contrast to the Puritan town setting in which faith is a main focus, and sin is greatly condemned. These words confuse Brown, yet don’t cause much questioning in his mind. The reader-response interpretation shows how easily Brown believes in what he hears. His ability to be easily influenced is highlighted: “He uncritically accepts his nightmare revelation that everyone else is evil” (Roberts and Zweig 266). Now, with no faith in the existence of good, Brown’s world is changed. He loses the power of trust and faith in others. Hawthorne uses the conflict of good vs. evil to discuss the idea of whether or not the entire world is evil, and whether or not “good” even

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is an excellent example of the use of allegories and symbolism as a form of satire on Puritan faith. According to Frank Preston Stearns, author of The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Hawthorne may have intended this story as an exposure of the inconsistency, and consequent hypocrisy, of Puritanism” (Stearns 181). Throughout the story of “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne tries to infuse as many symbols and allegories as he can to enhance the overall meaning of his story. He uses the village, Goodman Brown, Faith, the man in the forest, and the time spent in the forest as either a symbol or an allegory to get his point across that Puritans are not always what they seem to be.

He again tries to resist temptation and cries out, "With Heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!" (216). But when he hears many voices and among them is Faith, in desperation he yells out to her. As he awaits a response, a pink ribbon that "fluttered lightly down through the air" as he catches it he cries, "My Faith is gone!...There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! for to thee is this

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown” the allegory Goodman Brown, a man devoted to his faith in our Father the Lord, after making a hard decision that would follow him for the rest of his life ends up trying to make peace with the fact that he cannot take away the decision but can try to not make the matter worse. When Goodman Brown discovers the “depths of darkness” he is in he begins to have a loss of faith. The line for the story “’My Faith gone!’ cried he, after one stupefied moment. ‘There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! for to thee as this world given.’” represents the fact that it appears that Goodman Brown lost his faith. That line also shows how he wished for the devil’s worship to come and retrieve him.

     The main focus of the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the triumph of evil over good. A supposedly good man is tempted by evil and allows himself to be converted into a man of evil. This is much like the situation that arises in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, where two people are tempted to sin and give in thus submitting themselves to the power of the devil. In this novel, the area where the devil resides is strictly parallel to that in “Young Goodman Brown”.

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.