The Truth Behind Human Nature

    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

In "Young Goodman Brown." Nathaniel Hawthorne considers the question of good and evil, suggesting that true evil is judging and condemning others for sin without looking at one's own sinfulness. He examines the idea that sin is part of being human and there is no escape from it.

Hawthorne’s stories develop a narrative that explores the nature of inherent imperfection and sin. In Young Goodman Brown, the Devil figure says to his “children” that, “Evil is the nature of Mankind. Evil must be your only happiness” (9). The Devil figure speaking to his followers clearly states that sin is

In Genesis one and two, it provides a full understanding of God’s creations and wisdom of human nature because it is free from evil. Human nature is revealed from Genesis one with God creating the Earth and the Heavens and creating the man of his likeness. The Bible explains how God created Adam, from dust and was placed in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:7). The Bible explains humanity was created to work and serve (Genesis 2:15). Subsequently, Eve was created; “God had created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Adam and Eve would help God because He wanted them to multiply the Earth by taking care of all of his creation (Hiles & Smith, 2014). God is the sovereign ruler, he created humanity as how he should have wanted. The Bible explains about human nature that God created everything to be distinct from animals and all of His creation. God created us in his own image, which is why we all look different; we are unique in His eyes. Also, God created us to be good because we are born innocent of all evil and loving of God. In addition, we were all born pure as Adam and Eve were. The Bible explains that God was pleased with his creations, “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10-21).

In Genesis the word of God leads humanity in the direction of self preservation, urging them to procreate, to ”Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 9:1), and to minimize hostility and violence among people. As Freud asserted, “Besides the instinct to preserve living substance and join it into ever larger units, there must exist another, contrary instinct seeking to dissolve those units and bring them back to their primeval, inorganic state” (Freud 77). Genesis exemplifies the struggle between the two opposing human instincts, with God acting as a moderator between them. Forms of justice are put into place in an attempt to control these drives, one example being the proclamation that “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6). The ethics and laws that develop throughout Genesis seek to “prevent the crudest excesses of brutal violence” but are unable to control “the more cautious and refined manifestations of human aggressiveness” (Freud 70). Since they cannot be completely eradicated, the scriptures instead play into the more negative aspects of human nature, especially narcissism, and manipulate them into a force for conservation rather than annihilation.

Human beings are part of the animal kingdom, and therefore part of nature. If that is true, then everything they create or destroy is by default "natural". I agree with the statement.

Human nature by essence has been the cause of many entrepreneurial paths, all follow to known the essence itself behind of what we conceive as life. Moreover it’s righteous description and abstract content, that many great man has humbly studied and that for centuries have made a path closely enough to the understanding of it, yet far from the light, it seems to be and unsolvable question that gives us a “Raison d'être” to our existence in this world.

When it comes to the topic of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, most of us will readily agree that duplicity is a major theme in the piece, or the idea of different versions of reality. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether Hawthorne is implying that man is inherently evil. Whereas some are convinced that Young Goodman Brown was good until tainted by the Devil, others maintain that he was evil from the beginning and was completely aware of the evil he was indulging in. My personal view, however, is that Young Goodman Brown was inherently evil, but it did not come to light until the Devil began to influence Brown. This can be seen through the use of symbolism, biblical allusions, and the development of the main characters. While the Devil may have revealed that Young Goodman Brown was not as innocent and pious as he appeared, Brown was willingly indulging in sin and was inherently evil.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," the story is told from a limited omniscient third-person narrator point of view. Limited omniscient third-person narrator means that the focal point of the story is limited to one character. This technique works well with the story because it allows the narrator to portray what Goodman Brown is doing, and also allows him to assess and remark on Goodman Brown's doings throughout the story. Sometimes this method is used to convey the beliefs of the author, and in this instance I feel that Hawthorne is using this story to express his ideas on humans in general. The story, "Young Goodman Brown," has many themes, but it is my belief that the main theme in this classic short story is guilt versus

In the story "Young Goodman Brown," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author introduces evil images to tempt and delude Young Goodman Brown as he made his way through the woods. Goodman Brown, by the end of his journey, understands there is an evil side to human nature and believes that man is doomed by "original sin."

One of the most vital concepts incorporated into The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the representation and depiction of the duality of mankind. Jekyll works to find a solution which will separate him into his reckless, immoral persona and his respectable, Victorian self. After consumption, this potion causes him to completely transform into a man who is known as Hyde. As Hyde, he can express himself in immoral, evil ways. This not only includes moral and immoral wants but rational and irrational wants. Not only does this transformation enable him to keep his good reputation even while he does horrid, unacceptable things, but it allows him to do things which he most likely would not even

Above all, his theme was curiosity about the receses of other men’s and women’s beings. About this theme he was always ambivalent [my italics], for he knew that his success as a writer depended upon his keen psychological analysis of people he met, while he could never forget that invsion of the sanctity of another’s personality may harden the heart even as it enriches the mind (548).

“Evil is the nature of mankind.”(Nathaniel Hawthorne). The story of “Young Goodman Brown” depicts what Hawthorne believes the nature of mankind is, which is evil. Goodman is a man of attempted good who comes face to face with the supposed inherent evil of humanity. He cannot realize, through any normal means, whether or not this awareness is something of his tormented mind, or based on something he stumbled upon while deep within dreary, haunted forests.

The flaws of human nature are many, but one of the biggest is the gullibility, especially in the presence of the supernatural. It is often easy to think that the thoughts or actions of an individual are of their own doing. It is even easier to assume that the range of the mind falls between good and evil. But society is not quite clear and even in fiction, there is always something motivating an action that lingers in the back of the mind of any character. The supernatural in particular is known for its ability to push people to extremes and alter their perception drastically. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is easy to assume the blind ambition that brews within Macbeth and his wife or the guilt that plagues them following their actions is the biggest motivator. But that is just the surface of the complexity interlaced into this tragedy. Dig further, and it becomes clear that these emotions were not always prevalent in the characters, but were instead prompted by a force so powerful, it toyed with fate and provoked deception until the end; it was the supernatural that fueled the emotions and actions that take up much of the play.

     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.