Young Goodman Brown: Analysis of his faith
Personal experience plays a vital role when authors decide on the certain topics for their stories. A factor like religion may determine an author’s writing style. For example, an author who may have had a Christian upbringing may write about faith, hell, or salvation; in contrast, one who had a negative experience with religion as a child, may hint at departing from their family and finding one’s own religion. A well-known author from the 1800s, Nathaniel Hawthorne, implements his religious upbringing in his stories, “Young Goodman Brown”, “The Scarlett Letter”, and “The House of Seven Gables.” The use of certain thematic elements in “Young Goodman Brown” help readers understand how the main character lost his faith and became bitter towards religious people.
In the year 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne was born to Massachusetts Bay colonists; Nathaniel Hathorne and Elizabeth Clarke Manning in Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s great-grandfather, John Hathorne, had the role of judging during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 (Means).
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Faith is also young like her husband. Faith is portrayed as a sweet, pure-hearted, innocent woman who represented Goodman Brown’s belief. Her child-like innocence is represented with pink ribbons in her hair throughout the story. Due to the couple being so young and newlyweds, goodman brown was not strong in his faith and therefore dependent on Faith, his wife’s faith to keep them both accountable- Thus, resulting in his own relationship and faith tested (Boonyaprasop 45). When heading into the forest for his exhibition, Goodman Brown was hesitant leaving his wife alone in Salem. In contrast, Faith, his wife, begged him not to go for he may lose his faith. Although Faith was not fully on board with Goodman Brown leaving, she remains whole and hopes he finds the meaning of the exhibition and comes back
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,
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
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.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown illustrates vividly how society and culture can very much influence a person's sense of identity and belonging, or in the case of Young Goodman Brown the lack thereof. Being a Puritan man in a society that scorned the ways of witches and the devil, Young Goodman Brown grew up with a very pious outlook on life. Yet when it occurs to him to look at life a little bit differently, Young Goodman Brown receives more than he has bargained for. The journey he embarks on sheds a whole new light on his society that not only creates a struggle between himself and his fellow men but also one within himself.
As Brown is witnessing the evils that surround him, he tries to save himself and prays. As he is praying he begins to hear voices from the sky, as is they were coming from religious godly figures, such as his wife Faith. He then sees the pink ribbon that she wears in her hair on the ground. This causes Brown a great deal of despair because it could mean that Faith is also going into the forest to practice evil things.
Young Goodman Brown is a short narrative written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Just like many of his other works, the story is set in the 17th century Puritan New England, and the author primarily addresses the puritan beliefs at the time which state that humanity exists in a state of degradation and God holds some unconditional love to humans by giving them unmerited grace. “The author mainly focuses on underlying tensions within the puritan way of life” (Jaynes, 2006). He thus uses symbolism to showcase the story of Young Goodman Brown’s journey. The main character delves deep into self-scrutiny and ends up losing his beliefs and virtue.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short novel “Young Goodman Brown” was published in 1835. Hawthorne was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, a village still saturated by its 17th century Puritanism. His father died when he was just four years old, he was left to be rastised by his mother and sister along with aunts. It was Hawthorne’s maternal side of the families that were supportive and watched over him to make sure that he finished college and he went on to become the first one in his family to do this (Turner 33). Hawthorne had put himself through twelve years of isolation in the top floor room of his mother’s house. Hawthorne wanted to make sure that he mastered the art of writing. He was researching the history of England when he discovered his family’s connection to the Salem witch trials and his puritan heritage. Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne comes from a bloodline that is associated with the Salem witch trials in 1692. His great-great-grandfather was a puritan that took part in the executions during the witch trilas, explaining Hawthorne’s fondness with the religion. Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his interest in the News England Puritan past. Most of Hawthorne’s writings implement the Puritan ways and faith in which most of the characters act upon or main faith is revolved around. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Scarlet Letter” are both one of Hawthorne’s many pieces that are prime examples of the Puritan religion affecting his writing. Through the story Hawthorne uses many allegories representing Christian, but also puritan faith and many symbols relating to them also.
Even though faith is generally used in a positive connotation, Nathaniel Hawthorne knows that faith can be weaponized and used to prosecute adversaries, as it was in the Salem Witch Trials. He had great family history and personal guilt surrounding the events because his grandfather was the only judge who partook in the trials that did not repent for his perpetrations. He wrote this controversial story to invert the trials and made the narrator convict faith and the community instead. The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an allegory that is anchored by the character Faith, Young Goodman Brown’s wife. Faith is both his innocent and angelic physical wife, and a representation
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a nineteenth-century American writer of the Romantic Movement. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804, he was one of those rare writers who drew critical acclaim during his lifetime. Hawthorne used Salem as a setting for most of his stories, such as The Scarlet Letter, The Blithedale Romance, and “Young Goodman Brown”. Today, readers still appreciate Hawthorne's work for its storytelling qualities and for the moral and theological questions it raises. Nathaniel Hawthorne's work is typically fraught with symbolism, much of it deriving from his Puritan ancestry; relatives of his were judges in the Salem witchcraft trials. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory whose characters play a major role in conveying the
Nathaniel Hawthorne's works are notable for their treatment of guilt and the complexities of moral choices. "Moral and religious concerns, in short, are almost always present in Hawthorne's work"(Foster, 56). Given Hawthorne's background, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that his novels are critiques of Puritanism. Hawthorne lived in the deeply scarred New England area, separated from Puritanism by only one generation. His grandfather had been one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials. Personal issues include the various ways Hawthorne's family and specific events in his life influenced his writing. Readers can easily recognize how "Young Goodman Brown" incorporates
Faith plays a major role in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown”. From the start of his journey to his arrival back home, Faith is always in the back of head, making him question his surroundings and own thoughts. It’s hard to determine when he’s speaking of his lovely wife Faith or his Faith in his God and religion. Through his many
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” (repr. in Thomas R. Arp, and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 8th ed. [Fort Worth: Harcourt, 2002] 316) is a short story with strong Puritan influence. Puritanism is a religion demanding strict moral conduct and strong faith. Puritans held that Christians should do only what the Bible commanded. Analyzing “Young Goodman Brown” is dependant upon understanding the Puritan faith. The influence of the Puritan religion is vivid in literary elements such as setting, allegory, and theme.
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.”
Young Goodman Brown protagonist struggles with Puritanism is a reflection of Hawthorne personal conflicts with Puritanism. Hawthorne uses the story of Young Goodman Brown to illustrate Puritanism's disconnection between