Young Goodman Brown

This loneliness comes only after he is far away from his Faith and God and traveling deeper into the darkness of the forest, only “assisted by the [evil], uncertain [false] light” (2187). Young Goodman Brown overcomes his loneliness when he meets an older traveler who tells him that even Brown’s own family has come to the woods and shows him other supposed Christians who are in the woods on this night, too. Deception, something that evil uses to try to lure all people into its darkness, begins to slowly take hold of Goodman Brown when he sees other people he admires and looks up to in the woods, such as Goody Cloyse, towns-people (both good and evil), and even Deacon Gookin and the minister. Goodman Brown wants to fight against the evil images that he is enclosing him in the woods and he even calls out to his Faith, which represents not only his wife but his own faith in goodness and God, but his cries are “drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices, fading into far-off laughter, as the dark cloud swept away” (2191). Finally, evil wins over Goodman Brown when he cries that his “Faith is gone,” meaning his relationship with his pure, good wife and his relationship with his pure, good God, when he sees Faith’s pink

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ancestors have lived in Salem since the 17th century; his earliest ancestor was William Hathorne, who is very important to note when talking about The Scarlet Letter. William was a magistrate and a large advocate for the Puritan society. William was known to have Quakers beaten in public in Salem. Not only did William play such a large role in the Puritan society, but also did his son. John Hathorne was known as the “hanging judge,” because during the Salem Witch Trials he often sent supposed witches to be hung.

In this extract from “Young Goodman Brown”, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism, imagery and point of view to depict Goodman Brown’s eventual journey from naivety in man’s purity of faith to recognition of man’s disposition to evil. It reveals Brown’s misplaced faith in man, who is deficient, instead of God.

Goodman Brown represents “the average man” (Wilson 297). While his wife, Faith, represents “his faith and humanity in society”, as stated before due to her pink ribbon (Wilson 299). Salem, Goodman Brown’s home, is a “place of family and community, religion and faith” (Lawson 6461). Lawson states, “the surrounding wilderness is unknown, a place where one can easily wander from the straight and narrow path”, he also brings up that Salem takes place in the daylight while the forest takes place during darkness where Goodman Brown meets evil (6461). Leaving Faith behind represent him leaving hope for humanity behind later when he encounters evil.

“Young Goodman Brown” is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was set during the 17th Century Puritan Era. The story was published in 1835 during the Romantic Era. Nathaniel Hawthorne was known for being the master of symbolism. His novels and short stories have been embedded with suggestion and imagination. The dense symbolism that Hawthorne writes could imply multiple interpretations. “Young Goodman Brown” has quite a few themes and symbols within itself. Faith, Young Goodman Brown, the forest, the old man, the pink ribbons, and the staff are all symbols in the short story.

Young Goodman Brown, who was a young and innocent man bids farewell to his young wife Faith. Faith asks him to stay, but Goodman Brown says he must leave just for the evening. He ventures into the gloomy forest of Salem, and is soon approached by a man of about fifty to whom he bears a strange resemblance. His companion wore simple clothing, but carried a staff that resembled a great black snake and seemed to move like a living serpent. Time and again, Goodman Brown protests the trip insisting that he must turn around. But his companion tells him that his father and grandfather had walked along the same path, as well as other important townspeople, such as the governor. Goodman Brown continues to follow. Along the path, they see a woman, Goody who taught Goodman Brown his catechism. His companion begins to resemble the devil while the woman, a witch. The staff, too seems to take life.After a while Goodman Brown sits down determined to not go any father. His companions go ahead without him. As he sits, Goodman Brown thinks he hears the minister and Deacon goes on horseback discussing the night’s meeting and a young woman who would be taken into communion that night. Goodman Brown begins to hear voices, and among them, the lamentations of Faith. He shouts her name, but hears only a echoes, and then silence. A pink ribbon – Faith’s ribbon flutters down form above. Maddened with despair, Goodman Brown rushes forth into the forest, laughing louder and louder, until he reaches the gathering. There, he sees an altar, surrounded by four blazing trees. Many of the town’s most honorable members were present, as were some of the least welcomed – the sinners and criminals. Goodman Brown is led to the altar, where a cloaked female figure is also led. A dark figure prepares to welcome them into the fold, pointing to the crowd behind them - the crowd Young Goodman Brown had reverenced from youth. The figure revealed them all as sinners, noting that evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. The cloaked woman is Faith. Before the figure could lay the mark of baptism on Goodman Brown, he called to Faith to “look up to Heaven, and resist the wicked one.” Immediately, he finds himself alone in the forest.

He views traits such as sin, and evil has the most prevalent within humanity as a whole. In this story he uses Goodman Brown, a very innocent and carefree man as a catalyst of a person realizing the true horror reality that is human sin and evil. Brown is full of Puritan values and often wanted to be associated with purity: “We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness”(Hawthrone 930). Upon meeting the old man, Brown is offered a sinister looking staff shaped like a serpent which could be represented as the form that the devil would take to lure innocent people to adhere to sin similar to the first sin of Adam and Eve. Brown curiosity of the ceremony and fear of his love Faith falling to sin gets the better of him in which he uses the staff to transport himself to the ceremony. Hawthorne establishes that the loss of innocence is inevitable as our own curiosity and sin take over due to humanity having an inherent mindset to fall to corruption. The ceremony events whether they were a dream or not still showcases parts of Brown falling to his inherent sins and his innocence nature being shattered at the thought of the people he respected and love falling into the inherent evil. The end of the story is Brown living only in gloom and mistrust which is a decay of humanity as a

The story of the Goodman brown represent the common man, which brown have to leave his faith which is both of his belief and his wife behind for the night, so that he can pursue and face the devil that is inside himself, and in his family. Brown journey takes him really deep into the heart of the forest where he had encounters with his advisor on her way to a congregation, high ranking religious leaders from the village, and the devil. The devil is attempting to lure the reluctant Goodman Brown to the congregation, and throughout the entire ordeal it seems as though Goodman Brown is in a dream...a very bad dream.

Goodman Brown is shocked that so many seemingly upright citizens secretly practice devil worship. Grappling with this information, Goodman Brown looks up to see a pink ribbon float down from a branch. Crying, 'My Faith is gone!', he realizes that even his beloved wife has gone to the dark side. In a clearing, a large crowd has gathered around a bonfire. They chant twisted versions of hymns and make ready to welcome the two new converts. A veiled woman is led to the fire, where she stands next to Goodman Brown. It's Faith. The two stare into each other's eyes as a dark figure says they have been initiated into the truth of evil: from now on, they will see the darkness lurking underneath everything. Desperate, Goodman Brown screams to Faith to look to Heaven and resist temptation.Suddenly, Goodman Brown finds himself alone in the forest. It's morning. Had the whole thing been a wretched dream? He staggers back to the village, where he's disgusted by the sight of the preacher preparing his sermon and Goody Cloyse teaching a little girl her prayers. Arriving home, he refuses to speak to Faith, who is again wearing her pink ribbons. He lives out the rest of his life in suspicion and despair and dies a lonely, bitter old

Brown refuses to take the staff because of his strong Christian faith that has been in being family for generations, and he feels ashamed for even being in the forest with him, (Hawthorne 263). The devilish man laughs at his remark and says that he knew his father and his father before him and some other members of the community. This statement shocks Brown because it makes him question his faith and the people surrounding him even more. Brown tells him that he wants to go back for his wife Faiths sake, which also could represent his faith in the Lord. After Brown sees Goody Cloyse, who he knows is a respected woman in the village, He hides out of embarrassment of being seen with the evil man, and the man taps Goody Cloyse on the shoulder. She identifies him as the devil and reveals herself to be a devil worshiper on her way to the devil’s ceremony.

Goodman Brown, the main character of the short story, and Thomasin, the protagonist from The Witch, are extremely eager to try and understand the forces that cause evil and mysterious incidences to occur; their desires, however, lead to dangerous consequences. Such an intent is apparent when Goodman Brown, while in the midst of the forest, unintentionally finds the pink ribbon belonging to his spouse, Faith, instilling worry within him: “The road grew wilder and drearier and more faintly traced, and vanished at length, leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness, still rushing onward with the instinct that guides mortal man to evil” (11). Brown’s earnest drive to understand and find his wife after seeing her ribbon is suggested as an “instinct” that later leads him to dangerous circumstances. He is fearful that something has happened to her and is intently curious to determine what has taken place. His “instinct” is impulsive and dangerous. Similarly, in the film, this inclination is apparent in both Thomasin and Caleb. Caleb’s desire to roam the forest to try and find his lost infant brother unintentionally leads to his death as he encounters the devil in the form of an attractive woman and succumbs to her charms. Also, Thomasin

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fiction is important to American literature in part because of the way he infused his stories with characters who struggle with experiences to which all readers can relate. Hawthorne is so well-known for his powerful and complex characters that some of them, like The Scarlet Letter’s martyred Hester Prynne, manipulative Roger Chillingworth, and troubled Arthur Dimmesdale, for example, have become archetypal characters for generations of storytellers’ use after Hawthorne. Partially due to all his richly wrought characters, Hawthorne created stories that continue to inspire thought and debate about these tales’ questions, ideas, and themes. One such recurring theme connects to part of Hawthorne’s own heritage, namely his ancestor the infamous Puritan judge John Hathorne of the Salem witch trials. In many of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories, especially “The Gentle

Young Goodman Brown was an innocent, corruptly, and doubtful man. At first, he only thought there was goodness inside of his father and grandfather, until the old man tells Goodman Brown that he knew both of them. All the people that he thought were pure, happened to be connected with the devil at one point. Once he found out about everybody that the old man knew, Goodman Brown questioned his beliefs about everything and he was never the same. When Goodman Brown went to the forest, it completely changed his faith and well- being.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is a short story in which the author attempts to convey several different messages or themes throughout the literary piece. Themes in literary works can sometimes be better understood by analyzing the piece with a specific literary criticism technique. A few of these literary criticism techniques include Marxist, Formalism, and Reader Response just to name a few. Given Hawthorne’s style of writing and this short story in particular, a reader or critic can benefit from analyzing his work with the Reader Response literary criticism approach. The Bedford Glossary of

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an acknowledged short story writer and an American novelist. Born in July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, Hawthorne, according to many biographers was a deeply self contained and introspective man who for many years after his graduation from Bowdoin preferred to stay alone in Salem while he learned to write fiction. Eventually he married Sophia Peabody, fathered three children and became a respectable public figure owing to the fact that his writings were being admired in general. In the nineteenth century the American writers were influenced by the age of romanticism, fear and horror. Hawthorne