Symbolism in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown Essay examples

One of the ways Hawthorne uses themes is to appeal to the publics moral such as felling happy or sad. Another way he uses themes is to show how people are fearful of the wilderness. One of the ways it is used in Young Goodman Brown is when the devil conversion rituals are practiced. It is used to show how good people can be corrupted and turned to evilness. The things that happen at night in Salem are symbols that represent evilness, darkness and sins that where trying to be concealed by the puritans. The themes used by Hawthorne are associated with evilness and

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.

This contrast is easily revealed in the following sentence: "the wind tolled like a distant church-bell, and sometimes gave a broad roar around the traveler, as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn" (Hawthorne 1204). Whereas the wind affectionately "plays" with Faith's pink ribbons, it noisily taunts Young Goodman Brown. Also, as Nina Baym suggests, both the wind and the pink ribbons may, in fact, provide "concrete symbols that link the saving power of the woman with her body and through her body to Nature" (138). Hawthorne visually enhances the ambiguity surrounding Faith's dual role in nature through his repetitive and symbolic use of the pink ribbons. There is deceit and uncertainty in the very color pink that exists somewhere between the extremes of white, representing grace and purity, and red, symbolizing fiery passion and sin. However, Young Goodman Brown, in his naïve belief of moral absolutes, is unable to decide upon the essentially complex double meaning that may be behind the very being of Faith's character. As a result, he sees Faith gracefully adorned with her pink ribbons, as the essence of angelic purity.

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.

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.

Thesis: Hawthorne uses the Elements of fiction in Young Goodman Brown to depict a story of his family’s history and religious background.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is a prominent writer who uses many different elements in his works. He uses elements such as symbolism, figurative language, metaphor, irony and etc. to make his work prominent. In the works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses symbols for secret sin in The Scarlet Letter, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment.”

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.

     Another object Hawthorne uses as a symbol is the pink ribbon. The pink ribbon symbolizes the innocence of Faith. "And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons in her cap" (316). This quotation is a great example of how Hawthorne correlates Faith’s beauty and innocence with the pink ribbons. The pink ribbons are mentioned later on in the story as they fall from the sky: “But something fluttered lightly down through the air, and caught on the branch of a tree. The young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon” (323). This symbolizes Brown's loss of his Faith, referring to both his wife and his faith in mankind.

     It should not escape attention that Goodman Brown's wife, a lighthearted naive woman, has the name of Faith. Faith is by no means an unusual woman's name, but it is significant in this story that she is presented to us first as a very young bride with pink ribbons in her hair--almost like a child (1264). This young woman is filled with hidden sin, yet she is said to be Godly. Because Faith was so honest and Godly, Young Goodman Brown put all of his faith in her, which made her the best of his worst enemies. Faith’s ribbon is a description of her personality or her inner-self. The pink ribbon that Faith wears is a symbol of purity. Faith’s ribbon is found in the evil forest when Brown awakes, and that’s when Faith is really seen as an unclear person. Faith is also said to have forsaken not only against Goodman Brown but also against God because she gave in to the likes of the devil. The ribbons provide continuity between faith as an ideal of a Puritan woman and as a sinner. Her pink

The author shows how naive Brown is because he thinks everything is going to be the okay and still remain with a strong faith. As he continues his journey, he turns to see his wife and the author describes to the reader what he sees. “…[He] looked back, and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons” (305). It's a dramatic irony because Brown's innocence doesn't let him see the evil behind the journey, while the reader and Faith know about it. Once Brown's journey is done, the author shows the reader the last time the ribbons are seen to show how Brown sees them.

Fogle claims that Hawthorne uses the image of Faith’s ribbon to propel Goodman into fully accepting sin. Fogle claims that “casting aside all further scruples, he rages through the wild forest to the meeting of witches, for the time at least fully accepting the domination of Evil” (451). After seeing his wife’s ribbon Goodman is distraught, thus pushing him to chase after the ribbon in hopes of finding Faith. The ribbon is a symbol of ambiguity because it is a real object that after propelling Goodman to accept a life of sin vanishes, further questioning the reality of the situation. Fogle further argues that ribbons portray a heavenly aspect and put an emphasis on Faith’s pureness, “these ribbons, as we have seen, are an important factor in the plot; and as an emblem of heavenly Faith their color gradually deepens into the liquid flame or blood of the baptism in to sin” (456). The ribbons represent Goodman’s fall into evil that eventually causes his family to live a life of misery.

Another literary element that Hawthorne utilizes is allusion through symbolism. This is depicted when the story invites a new character: an evil creature that bears a staff in the shape of a black snake. This showcases the author alluding to the story of Adam

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown" is an excellent example of an allegory. Allegories use events, characters or symbolism as a bizarre or abstract representation of ideas in the story, and throughout "Young Goodman Brown", Hawthorne uses a heavy amount of symbolism, as well as his characters and the events of the story line to develop a religious allegory. A large symbolic role is played by protagonist Goodman Brown's wife, Faith. Also, the main event in the short story, Brown's journey into the forest, holds several major symbolic roles such as the traveler's staff, and the thick mass of black clouds. This essay will be exploring how Hawthorne used symbolism to achieve an allegory within his short story.

 Hawthorne also uses imagery in his tale.  The pink ribbon in his wife's hair is one.  The story takes place in Salem, which is know for its witch trials and hard core Christians.  Pink ribbons would not be worn by a good Christian woman.  It suggests that his wife was not so virtuous as her name suggests (Rhetoric 102L class discussion, January 15 2001).  Further evidence that his wife was not the ideal Puritan is in the second paragraph when she seductively whispers into her husband's ear, "prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed tonight...tarry with me this night..." (HCAL 375).    The simple mention of a color allows readers to discover a