What Is The Symbolism In Young Goodman Brown

Goodman Brown seems to be a religious man that is becoming skeptical about his faith and the goodness in people. Nathaniel Hawthorne names his main character Goodman, which is a representative of the general good in all men and women. As Goodman Brown takes his journey through the forest he begins to lose his faith. Goodman Brown says “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!” (Hawthorne 1) and when he tells his companion “having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return whence I came. I have scruples touching the matter thou wot’st of” (Hawthorne 3).

In Young Goodman Brown one of the most important symbolisms is Faith, Brown’s wife, Faith represents he’s actual faith in god. When Goodman Brown was heading into the forest, he still has her, but as the story unravels it becomes clearer that Faith is not who she seems. Hawthorne makes Faith seem young and innocent when he describes her: "And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap". Brown knew her as someone who he could trust and care for, just like his actual faith in god. As the story goes on, Brown heads into the forest,

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.

As Brown starts on his adventure he recalls that his wife, Faith, had dreams of this particular adventure, dreams that warned him not to go; this feeling of uncertainty sparks a feeling of anxiety in Brown as he continues walking through the forest and on with his journey. As he walks on, the scenery around him begins to change, "He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind." (310). This quote describes the dark and gloomy surroundings that Brown is walking through on his journey, it also creates the mood of fear and hesitance as he continues on his way. Then as Brown is walking along he comes to encounter a man dressed in grave and decent attire. The man states "You are late, Goodman Brown," and Brown replies by saying, "Faith kept me back awhile." (310) In literal terms he is speaking of his wife, but metaphorically he could be speaking of his faith in god and how it almost kept him from embarking on his journey. Hawthorne creates many metaphors in his story of "Young Goodman Brown." Later on in Brown's journey he meets a man with a cane that resembles a snake, the serpent is a symbol of evil, and then when Brown protests against the devil, "With heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm

Young Goodman Brown is a short story where the main purpose is to show the social issue of religion during the Puritan time. Although the author Nathaniel Hawthorne had not being living in that time, he came from a long line of Puritans. He wrote Young Goodman Brown to show the flaws of the Puritans’ view of religion. They made God seem heartless and mean spirited, someone who just used humans for entertainment. The short story Young Goodman Brown demonstrates that people should test their faith of their religious beliefs and even people considered upright can fall short of their own religious faiths from temptations and imperfections. In addition, the story shows that there is some degree of evil nature in everyone because of the freewill

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

There are many obvious cues in “Young Goodman Brown.” The first example is the name, Goodman Brown. His name is symbolic of the good man he is and of the faith he bestows. Another example is his wife named Faith, “and Faith, as the wife was aptly named.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”) She is a representation of his own religious ‘faith’ and reflects their innocence and purity, sin, the consummation between married couples, and the complications of living in a world where these qualities are mingled. When she "thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap"(Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”) we associate the purity of ‘Faith’ and the ‘pink ribbons’ as a sign of the innocence and goodness of the town he must leave behind. His leaving her to enter the dark and dismal forest is symbolic of him leaving his faith in the religious sense. This is the first decision he has to make - to leave his faith and enter the evil that is the forest. It is obvious that he is frightened as he walks through the forest. He runs into an old man there holding a staff that resembles a serpent. This is the man that he was looking for. This man is evil and Goodman Brown is confident that he can resist the temptations he is offered. It is obvious that this man is representative of the Devil who Goodman Brown so obviously fears and wants to avoid.

When analyzing an allegory like "Young Goodman Brown", the reader must realize that the story is in its entirety, a symbol. Hawthorne, through his writing is trying to convey the contradicting aspects of the Puritan ideology. This is made evident after discovering that Goodman's father burned an Indian Village and his grandfather lashed a Quaker woman. By Hawthorne including these acts of violence, he is revealing that the

Young Goodman Brown was a Puritan. They believed that one should live life, like how Jesus lived. Young Goodman Brown showed both innocence and corruptibility. This gives him the name Young Goodman “Brown”, which stands between the spectrums of black and white. ”Goodman” is also ironic to the story as he did not do good intentions

"Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting? (387)" The story "Young Goodman Brown" is portrayed as a straight forward tale of a man on a venture. It is not overly difficult to comprehend or interpret, however it does have several great ambiguities. As Hawthorne's tale has a great deal of symbolism, it is all in retrospect to the ambiguous entities within the tale. The formalistic approach will be used to analyze the ambiguities in the story, mainly focusing upon the use of dark and light contrasts. The questions of why did Goodman Brown leave his wife Faith and venture into the forest and was his journey into the forest a reality or a dream bring a grand weight of ambiguity upon the

Nathaniel Hawthorne uses different people as symbols throughout "Young Goodman Brown." The largest symbolic roles in the story are goodman Brown and his wife Faith. Both of the characters' names are symbolic and representative of their personalities. "'With Heaven above and Faith below, I will stand firm against the devil!' cried goodman Brown," is

In the short story Young Goodman Brown, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Brown goes on a journey into the woods to do an unknown errand. He comes across an older man, the Devil, the Minister of the Church, Deacon Gookin, his catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse and later on his wife, Faith Brown. Throughout his journey he learns so lessons that change everything he has ever had, his religion, his views, his lifestyle, and his personality. Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys that everyone is good and bad, using symbolism and characterism, along with several others. He used everything from the ribbons on someone's hat, to the names of the characters, along with the underlining theme and plot.

Readers never really know the true name of the main character, so they label him as Young Goodman Brown. This is a general name given to an average nice guy, similar to calling a man John Doe. The story’s intent is to make this character represent all of us. Brown seems to be a simple man. He has a wife named Faith that he cares for quite dearly, and he continually refers to her as a

While doing the Hawthorne Interpretation Worksheet, I found that the thematic concept of his story “Young Goodman Brown” was the idea of how people respond to temptation specifically his characters. So, for my short story, I decided to do the same thematic concept. When I dug deeper into the “Young Goodman Brown” story, I found that Hawthorne was able to break the thematic concept down into three smaller parts. The first one was the choice between desires and what is honorable. The second part was what is honorable vs. what makes life easier. The last part was actions have consequences. To imitate Hawthorne’s writing, I took these components and implemented them into my own story.