Symbolism And Symbolism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

"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.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” these literary devices are used to bring emphasis to Brown’s struggle with his moral and spiritual beliefs. Goodman Brown is challenged with an important decision to keep his faith or follow the temptation of evil. Allegory and symbolism of the pink ribbons, Faith, the staff, and the woods are used by Hawthorne to create an allusion that the town’s people could not be corrupted by evil.

Another symbol that we see in this story “Young Goodman Brown” is the pink ribbons that faith uses in her cap. “He looked back and saw the head of faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons” (Hawthorne 137).This seems to symbolize the ribbons as having a sort of positive emotion in this case towards the presence of Goodman Brown. In this story there were quite a few symbols that symbolized important events or ideas through the entire

    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

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.

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the author Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the fragility of humans when it comes to their morality. Goodman Brown goes on a journey through the forest with the devil to watch the witches’ ritual and observes the evil in the Puritan society. He loses his faith as he sees the people he respects the most participating in the sinful ritual. Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes setting, and symbolism in his short story “Young Goodman Brown,” to show how a person’s perspective can change by showing the hypocritical nature of the Puritan society

When a writer wants to convey an idea or opinion on certain matters, especially for religion and other philosophical beliefs, he/she will tend to include a significant amount of symbolism in an allegorical story or another piece of written work. Because these writers are trying to put forth these ideas, they need to make a convincing, relatable, and entertaining story for these ideas to come to fruition. Allegory and symbolism work as part of the creative writing algorithm to add depth and make these stories as convincing, relatable, and entertaining as possible. In the given story of “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorn, the author is putting forth his belief that the religious people of America are inherently fallible in their faith. Due to the natural curiosity and selfishness of the human being, one can be pushed over the edge when tempted with the “fruits” of knowledge.

“Young Goodman Brown,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835, is a short story about a man named young Goodman Brown who leaves his wife, Faith, to go on an errand into the woods with the devil. Faith begs Goodman Brown to not leave her alone, but he chooses to go anyways. This short story shows many signs of symbolism, such as the forest, the devil, the staff, the pink ribbons, Faith, sin, and guilt. These symbols help in understanding the story of young Goodman Brown and his unconscious struggle with his religion. The trip not only takes Brown onto a journey of sadness, but also into the deepest parts of his soul. Goodman Brown wishes to enter the dark forest of sin, to satisfy his

     Goodman prides himself by telling the devil that he and his family have been " a race of honest men and good Christian," but the devil exploits something that shocks Goodman. The devil tells Goodman that his family and whole community went through the forest with the devil as they tortured women in Salem or burned the villages of Indians to the ground, and afterwards the devil and his ancestors would go for a "pleasant walk." Goodman's journey continues undisturbed until he meets his old catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, who has changed dramatically. Goody Cloyse already has acquitance with the devil, and she asks the devil for help so she can get to the meeting. The devil drops the staff before her which made Goodman Brown astonished. Although this view deters confidence, he continues down the trail looking for hope in the heavens passing another test to fail him. When Goodman worries about his catechism teacher, the devil offers

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" the use of symbols contributes to the development of the story's plot. Symbolism is used as a means to uncover the truth about the characters. The author, in an attempt to manifest the moral aspects of his society, uses many kinds of symbols to support his points.

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”, by Nathanial Hawthorne, is a story about a man who goes on a journey into darkness and encounters his own evil/the devil. The evil comes within him and other people he knows and love. His wife named Faith is one of the individuals captured by the evilness/ the devil. In the story, Faith is very symbolic to Young Goodman Brown. Not only is Faith his wife, however she is also a symbol of his religious faith. At one point, Brown declares that he has “lost his faith.” While in the woods he heard a scream and realized it was his wife. He found her pink ribbon fluttering on the branch of a tree and says, “My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come devil; for to thee is this world given.” (Young

Decisions are what separate one’s life from another life. In this case, metaphors have different meanings to them, which can make them have different interpretations. Therefore, one has to make a decision on how they interpret a metaphor. This is proven to be true in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, Young Goodman Brown. It is very crucial to look for metaphors as an individual reads. It helps foreshadow what is going to occur in the story. In addition, looking deeper into the meaning behind metaphors may give the reader a better understanding. Using metaphors may give the story much deeper meaning than just the text itself. Using the story Young Goodman Brown, the metaphors that Hawthorne used that enhances the story is the fire in Salem, names that are involved within the story, and the darkness that surrounds the character. During the time of interpreting metaphors, one will also see how Brown will be faced with several challenges that he is going to encounter. Also, Brown will be faced with the temptation in everything he will do. Contributing to this is using the five senses: smell, taste, feel, see and hear that actually deals with metaphors as well.

Hawthorne gives symbolism to Faith’s character in this sentence. In the story, Faith starts to literally symbolize Young Goodman Brown’s faith in god and Christianity. When Goodman Brown sees Faith’s ribbons, he knows that the devil has taken her, so he says this sentence. With it, he means that his wife, Faith, is gone to the devil, and that his faith in god has also disappeared because his wife is taken by the devil, so he has no good in his life. After Faith is taken by the devil, Goodman Brown sees no other option but to join as well. After he goes back to the town, he never fully trusts Faith again, just like how he never has full faith in god again.

     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.