What Does Faith Symbolize In Young Goodman Brown

She describes Goodman Brown as a Puritan that looked for trouble in the way that he went into the woods and had contact with the devil and much more with his own pride. Goodman Brown’s journey was more like a trip to an inferno or haunted scenario. Johnson mentions how Goodman Brown hears the hymns of hell but was actually similar to those from church. Another thing said is that Goodman Brown later sees people from Salem, like the minister, Goody Cloyse, and the Deacon. In reality or better said, inside Goodman Brown’s mindset those people could of have had connection with the devil and practice witchcraft. Goodman Brown belief is that one and he is set to confront all the evil spirits as a good Puritan, but he breaks down when he sees the pink ribbon in the sky that made him feel infamy in his wife Faith. Maybe the pink ribbon was a sign of innocence (WHITE) and guilt (RED.) After he begins losing his faith it is the time when we see Goodman Brown come down into his loss in God’s power and devils power over him and others. Johnson’s article helps out to understand more of what happened in the story and its connection to the Puritan religion aside from the feelings of man. I believe this article is supportive just not quite informal to looking more on Puritanism obsession with the

Secondly, Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, is a sweet, young woman who has a secret life within the darkness that haunts the forest. At first, she wants nothing more but to care for her husband and keep him safe. She begs Brown to stay with her that night, as if something has “warned her what work is to be done tonight” (Hawthorne 380). Faith seems to already know what will happen to Brown if he gives into his evil inclinations. Therefore, despite her warning him about the dangers and darkness, she hypocritically participates in the cult worshiping just like everyone else. Her purity is a mask to hide her true character underneath. Hawthorne uses Faith’s actions to show that people are liable to be hypocrites and are drawn to evil.

In the short story, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne Faith is a character who wears pink ribbons that have a literary symbolic meaning to the story. The ribbons are symbolic for innocence and purity. As Faith wears the ribbons throughout the story they gain a double symbolic meaning. The ribbons help to show appearance versus reality. The pink ribbons also help Young Goodman Brown through his ambivalent journey. Faith’s pink ribbons are showing her physical appearance, but can be misleading toward her true self.

“Faith kept me back a while.” The stranger, who travels with young Goodman, seems very similar and different to Goodman himself, as far as looks go. Yet, he is the one persuading Goodman to go the opposite way of Faith’s, reasoning for him to go farther when Goodman said he would not go on this path any farther. The “good” townspeople seem like the ideal community: Goody Cloyse teaching the children, the minister, and the duke bestowing blessings and all praying. Goodman has no doubt they are good, until he sees them at the meeting. In addition, Hawthorne’s characters are more than characters; they are symbols pertaining to life. Young Goodman Brown represents the young, wary traveler and the religious person testing what he believes. Faith and her pink ribbons symbolize pureness and innocence. The stranger with his serpent-like staff is the exact opposite of Faith, with him and the forest representing the darkness and the demon of evil itself. The townspeople have hidden hearts of rocks under the exterior. Since the people were Puritans during the Salem Witch Trials, this may have happened in real life, although dramatized in the story. The conflict that arises would fall under man vs. man, man vs. society, and man vs. self. Goodman displays all three by arguing with himself, the stranger, Faith, and the townspeople. In this

     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

On the day of their wedding, Faith, Goodman Brown's wife was wearing pink ribbons in her hair. This was very symbolic of her being childlike and young. Also, everything that has to do with her is about her doubting herself and her relationship with Young Goodman Brown. It was important for Hawthorne to show the youth in these two characters. This was another religious reference. In the bible it states "Who ever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not receive it at all." (Hawthorne, 635) This means that it is important to be like a child and be content without knowing everything else that is out there. It also means that if one is on a quest for knowledge then he/she does not leave room for someone else to be

Within many Gothic works, symbolism is profoundly used, especially in the tale of “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Was Faith his innocent companion or his trust in his religion? Why does Faith wear pink ribbons, innocence much like that of a child or a deep symbolic meaning? Deception is yet another symbol within this tale, because not everything is as it seams. By Faith, representation of colors, and deception, Hawthorne demonstrates Gothic symbolism within his tale of “Young Goodman Brown”.

He has uncertainty towards everyone as they may be devil worshippers. Contrary to the beginning of the text, Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, was portrayed as a “blessed angel” that did no wrong (Hawthorne 7). The name “Faith” is symbolic because it represents Brown’s loyalty to following the Puritans beliefs which are to avoid going on witch hunts as it is a sin to be a witch. Goodman Brown is seen as a hypocrite because he is in shock that the people in his life have sinned by idolizing the devil; however, he also violated his beliefs by going to the forest to detect witch crafts. He begins to lose his innocence as his wife had delayed his trip because she wanted him to stay (12). By leaving her alone at home, he disobeyed her because instead of being an honorable husband, he was more curious about the devil that is in the woods. Moreover, Brown realized without the presence of Faith, he frets that he will be led to the devil and everyone will notice (46-50). He constantly is worried that he will be unfaithful; therefore, he feels lost without Faith being around as she represents the good in

Faith is brought to us in life as the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.(Hebrews 11:1) In “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne we are met with a dark story that is overcomed with Faith through through the symbolism of the pink ribbons,the forest, and the evil assembly. Hawthorne shows us that Brown was not as strong in his Faith as he thought. In life we are often met with the color pink which represents purity. In Young Goodman Brown, it symbolizes the innocence of Faith.

Although the staff represents something evil, Faith’s pink ribbons are a symbol of purity and innocence. Pink represents something pure and innocent, much like that of a young girl. The ribbons in Faith’s hair signifies that Faith is pure and innocent. Young Goodman Brown sees Faith’s pink ribbons fall from the sky after he watches the satanic ceremony, and he denounces his Faith. Young Goodman Brown cries out that his Faith is gone and that there is no good on earth (Hawthorne). When Goodman Brown takes the devil’s staff, he immediately

Hawthorne mentions Faith’s pink ribbons several times at the beginning of the story, imbuing her character with youthfulness and happiness. He reintroduces the ribbons when Goodman Brown is in the forest, struggling with his doubts about the goodness of the people he knows. When the pink ribbon flutters down from the sky, Goodman Brown sees it as a sign that Faith unquestionably falls into the jurisdiction of the devil—she has shed this sign of her purity and innocence. At the end of the story, when Faith greets Goodman Brown as he returns from the forest, she is wearing her pink ribbons again, suggesting her return to the figure of innocence she presented at the beginning of the story and casting doubts on the truth of Goodman Brown’s experiences.

Themes are the main focus point of a story, everything in the story connects and revolves around the theme.Themes create lessons and morals in stories. In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses several themes. Hawthorne uses the themes such as, good versus evil, weakness of public morality, and the loss of innocence to show the main characters struggle between his faith and true passion for evil.

Young Goodman Brown's wife, Faith, is also an important symbol in this story. Her name alone implies that she is a symbol for goodness and the Christian life that Young Goodman Brown leaves behind when he departs on his journey. In the story, it says that she calls out to him and he turns his back on her, which can either be taken literally or in the sense of one turning his back on God and Christian life, because he heads for the woods, an implication of sin and witchcraft. In her hair, Faith wears pink ribbons, which are a sign of her innocence and playfulness. When Goodman Brown sees her pink ribbons in her hair, he is aware of her innocence, so when he finds a pink ribbon belonging to her clinging to a tree branch in the woods, he doubts the faith of her and of all those around him.

Young Goodman Brown then finds himself alone in the forest, wondering whether he has awakened from a dream or if he really did attend the witches’ sabbath. Brown chooses to believe that his dream is true, and that everyone around him is involved in witchcraft. “The next morning, young Goodman Brown came slowly into the street of Salem village staring around him like a bewildered man.” (Paragraph 70) Because of this, Brown spends the remainder of his life being, "A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man” (Paragraph 75). Goodman Brown now looks for the devil behind every bush and in the hearts of all those around him, never recognizing that his own soul is now hopelessly corrupt and blind to the light and goodness of God. The forest, the devil and his staff, and Faith and her pink ribbons are the main points to prove young Goodman Brown of a story full of symbolism. There is no doubt that the traveler meeting Brown is the devil and the devils staff is clearly the symbol of a serpent. Faith is both Brown’s wife and religion. The pink ribbons discussed are symbolized as innocence because his faith in God is the right thing to do. Unlike following the devil, which led Brown to sin and guilt. “Ha! ha! ha!” roared Goodman Brown, when the wind laughed at him. “Let us hear which will laugh loudest! Think not to frighten me

“The cry of grief and terror was yet piercing the night, when the unhappy husband held his breathe for a response” (p. 5). “Terror”, “grief”, “piercing the night”, are the key components that insinuate the creepy, romantic night Hawthorne was projecting to his readers. Even the symbolic meaning of Goodman Brown’s wife’s name held a darker meaning, "My Faith is gone! ...There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name.” (p. 6), Faith being her name; symbolizes Brown’s own faith in the religious society that he lives in. The Gothicism behind her name is the innocence that it possesses alongside the pink ribbon that she wears, which signifies the death of Brown’s faith. Innocence and faith is lost and is never returned which makes the story of Young Goodman Brown so shady and horrid in terms of thematic