The Setting of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown Essay

This article focuses on the Salem Witchcraft trials, which was in 1962 at the time where young Goodman Brown’s background takes place. The article mentions 2 historians that explain the reasons of what could have caused the trials. Historian number one, Caporael, believes that the reason that caused the girls

"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.

1. The two main settings in “Young Goodman Brown” are the forest and the colonial village of Salem, Massachusetts. The two different times of the setting are very important to the symbolization of the story. In the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown sets out on his journey at sunset; to set out at sunset it symbolized darkness, which in turn symbolizes evil. This presets the tone of the story. In the end when he is returning home, the time changes and it is daylight, and this symbolized innocence and a sort freedom from the terror he had just experienced.

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.

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’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.

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.

“Young Goodman Brown” takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem village:  It was “the center of the witchcraft delusion, in the witching times of 1692, and it shows the populace of Salem Village, those chief in authority as well as obscure young citizens like Brown, enticed by fiendish shapes into the frightful solitude of superstitious fear” (Abel 133).

Young Goodman Brown," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the story of a young Christian mans struggle between good versus evil, and the loss of his innocence. All of us harbor a propensity for evil regardless of the mask that we put on for society.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne introduces Goodman Brown, who doubts himself and reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. His struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can handle. This story is about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before the sunrise.

His family is involved in the Salem Witch trials. It is something he disapproves of as he tries to make a connection between the wrong actions and the devil. The Puritans are a strict community but they heavily believe that a person’s good appearance influences a person’s inner goodness. In Young Goodman Brown, Brown hears the actual intentions of people. For example, the young may want to rid of their fathers in order to get their inheritance quicker. It may or may not be true, but the thought of evil-worshipping neighbors sticks with Brown throughout his life. While the people in his village appear kind and gentle, Brown is suspicious of their true character. He is a changed man who believes he is living in a world filled with

It begins in Salem, Massachusetts when young Goodman Brown leaves his wife, Faith, for an errand in the forest. It is later revealed that this errand is an attempt to seek a conversion in the forest with the Devil. While on the journey, he learns some disturbing things about his ancestors that they too have walked the same walk in the forest with the Devil and not only his ancestors but people of authority and people in the town. Realizing that Faith and himself are the only two not yet initiated, he looks to heaven and the hell he was in vanishes, leaving him back in the forest not knowing whether it was a dream or reality. He returns to Salem the next day with a belief that his Christian village and all of humanity is perverted and so he died a bitter and distrustful man with no hope.

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

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.”

  “Almost all literary theorists since Aristotle have emphasized the importance of structure, conceived in diverse ways, in analyzing a work of literature” (Abrams 300). This essay will explore some interesting points in the structure of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” considering the time-frame, foreshadowing, suspenseful incidents, climax and denouement (Axelrod 337).