Category: Young Goodman Brown

The short story is an art form that was first mastered by the 19^th century writer Edgar Allan Poe. In perfecting this form, Poe said If any literary work is too long to be read at one sitting, we must be content to dispense with the immensely important effect derivable from unity of impression (Mowery, 1997). As he tells his frequently bizarre and frightening tales, Poe presents his readers with symbol-rich imagery and descriptions based on binary oppositions to help build the suspense and horror of his tale. As Mowery explains, binary oppositions are things such as hot and cold, male and female, dark and light. It is in the subtle shifts in our expectations of the character that tension and conflict are developed (1997). Yet Poe was not the only author to work within the short story genre or to use the concept of binary oppositions to explore its effects on an audience or a character. This concept of impossibly conflicting viewpoints as one both loves and hates, has faith and does not, is frequently illustrated in terms of the madness that comes upon characters as they experience deep feelings that had potential to overwhelm. In The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, both authors employ symbolism and madness to expose the fallacy of the binary opposition.

Poe employs two primary objects in The Tell-Tale Heart to illustrate the cause of his narrators madness. The old mans eye is the first of these symbols to appear within the text of the story. As the narrator attempts to explain why he felt led to murder, he says,

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture  a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees  very gradually  I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever. (156).

Basic medical knowledge to the modern reader quickly identifies this condition as symptoms of a cataract, a film that gradually creeps over the eye of an elderly person, eventually rendering him or her blind while also changing the color of the eye to a pale bluish color. It is this encroachment that seems to so bother the narrator, it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye (257). The concept of the evil eye dates back to ancient times. It was believed that those who possessed the evil eye had the power to harm people or possessions merely by looking at them (Young, 2003: 6). The presence of the evil eye in the loved old man is the catalyst that leads to the narrators madness.

The other major symbol that appears in the story is announced within the title; it is the old mans heart. The heart begins to take on its meaning just as the eye has begun to work its way out of the story. As the narrator continues to stare at the eye revealed in the small light of the lantern, the sound of the beating heart takes on substance and life. When the narrator first perceives it, he says, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sounds well, too. It was the beating of the old mans heart (158-159). This sound makes him angry again because he is forced to connect the old mans heart, and his love, with the baleful gleam of the evil eye that has been so distracting. As this beating sounds increases its rate, the narrator begins to feel it will wake the neighbors and is incited to action. When the heart begins beating again after the murder, the reader begins to question the true source of the sound. The narrator starts hearing the heartbeat two times, right before the killing and after the killing. The heartbeat that the narrator is hearing is the heartbeat of his own. His conscience is warning him of the consequences he may encounter if he does the deed, eventually leading the narrator to confess the crime (Sado, 2000). The heartbeat can also be said to symbolize the love the narrator felt for the old man, which will never go away and will always haunt him/her because of the harm they did to him.

Having set things up in terms of the two symbols conflicting against one another, the narrator of the tale continues to insist that he is not mad, eventually convincing the reader this is not the case. It is seen almost at once that the incongruity of the evil eye housed within a person that had been loved drives this caregiver to extreme distraction, pushing his/her mental state over into a madness that sought escape in whatever form it could devise. He discloses a deep psychological confusion. Almost casually he admits lack of normal motivation & Yet in spite of this affection he says that the idea of murder haunted me day and night (Robinson, 1965: 369). Although the rationality of the actions taken are illustrated as a means of proving the absence of madness, If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body (159), the macabre details delivered completely without emotion and with a simple step-by-step precision tend to hint otherwise, The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs (159). This casual approach to murder and the horrid butchering that occurred afterward is further accented by the narrators audacity of placing his own chair directly over the spot where the body was hidden as s/he talked with the officers that had come to investigate a shriek that was heard. The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease (160). As the tale ends, it becomes clear not only that the narrator is completely insane, but also that this insanity was brought about by an inability to avoid the evil eye and the guilt of having killed a loved person placed within the narrators care.

This same sense of madness and descent into despair as a result of an inability to find a means of compromising oppositional beliefs can be found in Nathanial Hawthornes story Young Goodman Brown. Hawthorne wrote his stories from a perspective already deeply embedded within the myth and beliefs of the Puritan world. His ancestors had landed on North American soil with a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other, ready to tame the savages body and spirit. He grew up in Salem, the site of some of the most famous witch trials ever documented in this country, and his own training and upbringing were heavily influenced by many of these same belief systems. It is not surprising, then, that these ideas had a strong influence on Hawthornes stories and provide the foundation upon which many of these stories are built. However, while Hawthorne was strongly steeped in these ideas, his writings reveal a deep questioning of their validity and a doubt regarding the wisdom of endorsing such a strong spiritual opposition. In Puritan society, one was either an evil sinner or a saintly penitent with no room or understanding for the concept of a middle ground. Hawthorne explores the possible consequences devout belief in this opposition might have on an impressionable mind in his short story Young Goodman Brown. Like Poe, Hawthorne uses imagery to provide an intimate understanding of the main characters descent into madness as a result of his inability to negotiate equally valid conflicting concepts such as good and evil.

At the opening of the story, the title character Young Goodman Brown sets off from his home at dusk with the intention of having his required conversion experience that signals the young Puritans transition from learner to modeler of true spiritual enlightenment in his society. The conversion experience  a sudden realization brought about by divine intervention, a vision, or perhaps a dream  easily translates into the dream allegory of Hawthornes work and allows the author to use Puritan doctrine and the history of Salem to argue the merits and consequences of such a belief (McCabe, 1998). The concept of the conversion experience was central to the Puritan society as a secular and a religious rite of passage that opened the individual to participate in the adult culture. This concept was closely tied to the central tenets of the religion as the Puritans distinguished between justification, or the gift of Gods grace given to the elect, and sanctification, the holy behavior that supposedly resulted when an individual had been saved (Campbell, 2008). This illustrates some of what Goodman Brown must have expected as he set off from his house that evening. Preparing to take his first steps into the adult male community of his spiritual and physical home, he was ready to receive the sanctification of his God and perhaps discover he himself had proven faithful enough to justify his own quick elevation within that society. Expecting to discover a profoundly deep inner faith, Hawthorne demonstrates through Browns progress how this conversion experience is more a kind of madness in itself, caused by the discovery that pure good is not possible and an inability to justify this with the realities of evil inherent in the human race.

Perhaps the most obvious form of symbolism Hawthorne includes in this story is Goodman Browns wife Faith. This young bride appears at the beginning of the tale as she begs her husband not to set out on this journey. Her warning, may you find all well when you come back (293), seems to indicate the peril does not apply strictly to Goodman Brown as he sets off on his journey, but for Faith as well in being left behind, alone in the darkness. This provides the reader with the sense that Goodman Brown is testing his Faith in more ways than one as he enters the forest, an idea reinforced through Hawthornes description as he makes his way on his present evil purpose. 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 (294). The most blatant indication of the danger of Browns journey so far comes with Goodman Browns response to the older gentleman when he is admonished for being late: Faith kept me back a while (294). Although the reader knows the younger man is referring to his wife, the name of the lady also serves to warn the reader that a pure faith such as Goodman Brown possessed prior to entering the wood would have been better off had he simply trusted to its council and remained home for the night. Through this early interaction, Hawthorne is working to show that a complete conversion to the tenets of the Puritan religion leads not to salvation as is supposed, but to an utter loss of faith as the belief in a forgiving God is incompatible with a belief in a human soul that is beyond redemption.

Exploring the concept of Faith in such an obvious way enables Hawthornes primary focus to remain grounded upon the Goodmans journey as a physical symbol of the characters descent into despair. He first meets with a character that resembles him so much in shape and form that they might have been taken for father and son (294). The people that Young Goodman Brown sees and hears as he makes his way to the heart of the forest further illustrate the concept that the human soul is beyond redemption, regardless of their good works performed in the light of day. First, he is told of the acquaintance his father and grandfather have had with the wily fellow met in the woods as well as given reason to doubt the goodness of the men and women Young Goodman Brown looks up to in his village life. Then the two men come upon an elderly woman walking through the woods, presumably to the same destination: a female figure on the path, in whom Goodman Brown recognized a very pious and exemplary dame, who had taught him his catechism in youth, and was still his moral and spiritual adviser, jointly with the minister and Deacon Gookin (295). It is his meeting, or rather the witnessing of the meeting between the good woman and his companion, that first opens Young Goodman Browns eyes to the idea that the people he has considered so good in his lifetime are as full of the sin and corruption that his religion professes exists in all men at the time of their birth. Despite her many good deeds in the town and her close association with everything good and honorable, Young Goodman Brown sees Goody Cloyse as a well-versed witch, the most evil creature in creation, as she associates herself with the stranger and unhesitatingly makes use of his serpentine walking stick. What becomes clear to him through this journey is that damnation is not inherited but chosen and is redeemable through human agency, but even if guilt itself was escapable, brotherhood with the guilty was not (Ziff, 1981: 142). At almost every step along the way, it seems Young Goodman Brown is about to defy the devils wishes and refuse to follow along the path to his conversion experience, but each time he tries, another familiar voice, shape or sign spurs him to continue on until he is no longer capable of retaining any Faith in any shape at all.

Despite Young Goodman Browns last second decision to turn to God before being consecrated in the Devils congregation, the fact that he is able to find no peace in his future life emphasizes Hawthornes assessment that devout belief in the Puritan ideals can lead to nothing other than miserable insanity as the individual becomes incapable of trusting either their own interpretations or the sincerity of others. According to Soler (1998), the revelation of the conversion experience is often the result of a Purtian confronting his repressed evil. According to the Journey towards Justification, this confrontation should teach him to let go of his worldly dependence and strive for a life without sin. Although his Faith has been tested, Goodman Brown is no longer able to believe in her. His experience has taught him that all people contain evil in their souls and that no one can be trusted. Even his own thoughts are subject to questioning and at no point in time does he ever return to the easy lifestyle with his neighbors he once knew. Regardless of appearances, his life is now one full of evil at every turn where the slightest evil counteracts even the greatest good and no hope remains that a Godly life might eventually lead one to heaven. In this story, Hawthorne poses the dangerous question of the relations of Good and Evil in man but withholds his answer. Nor does he permit himself to determine whether the events& are real (Fogle, 1970: 16). This dreamlike quality provided is the final clue that Hawthorne, like Poe, finds only madness in attempting to hold to a pure belief in one half of an binary oppositional concept.

Through both of these stories, Poe and Hawthorne explore the concept of binary oppositions and the effect they can have on the human mind as it dedicates itself to one half of the concept. The narrator of the Tell-Tale Heart has devoted him/herself to the pure concept of love and devotion to a single person, but the changes that come over that person are hateful. The stress that builds as the narrator obsesses over attempting to reconcile these oppositional features contained within the same object eventually drives the individual mad, causing them to engage in brutal murder. In the same way, the main character of Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown has dedicated himself to an idealistic concept of adult spirituality and a sense of what is good. However, good cannot exist without evil and the character is forced to come into contact again and again with images of the blending of good and evil within the same object. Like the narrator of Poes tale, the character is unable to reach a conciliatory position between these two poles and spends the rest of his life in a type of madness in which he is no longer able to fully connect with others, including his wife.

Works Cited

Campbell, Donna M. Puritanism in New England. Literary Movements. (2008). Web.

Hawthorne, Nathanial. The Young Goodman Brown.

Fogle, Richard Harter. Hawthornes Fiction: The Light and The Dark. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.

McCabe, Michael E. The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown. American Literature. Florida: Florida Gulf Coast University, 1998.

Mowery, Carl. An Overview to The Fall of the House of Usher. Short Stories for Students. Gale Research. (1997).

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Tell-Tale Heart. Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Aerie Books, (2003).

Robinson, E. Arthur. Poes The Tell-Tale Heart. Nineteenth-Century Fiction. Vol. 19, N. 4, (1965), pp. 369-378.

Sado, Koji. The Mind of a Killer. Romanticism. University of North Carolina. 2000.

Soler, Angie. The Journey Into the Puritan Heart: Nathanial Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown. American Literature. Florida: Florida Gulf Coast University, 1998. Young, Laura. The Evil Eye. Voices. Vol. 13, N. 1, pp. 6-7.

Ziff, Larzer. Literary Democracy: The Declaration of Cultural Independence in America. New York: Viking Press, 1981.

One of the important key passages in Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown is an exclamation that the main character makes while lost in the dark and mysterious forest. At the storys beginning, the reader is introduced to Goodman Browns innocent and pretty wife, Faith. While her name does not sound uncommon for the reader, the main character refers to her specifically as my love and my Faith (Hawthorne, 2012, p. 24). Indeed, the sunrise setting in the farewell scene adds to the contrast between the wifes godly character and the darkness of the main characters upcoming journey. Leaving the wife for the gloomy forest with a suspicious unnamed companion, Goodman Brown regrets his decision, but the other man ensures that everything will be fine with his wife. After witnessing the deviltry of his companions conversation with a woman who used to teach Goodman Brown catechism, he is confused and hears a sound that resembles his wifes voice.

The key passage that reveals the most important point of the plot is sourced in Goodman Browns desperate cry that his Faith is gone (Hawthorne, 2012, p. 30). In this passage, the reader finally becomes familiar with the fact that the main characters wife, Faith, represents the main characters religious beliefs and faith in Christianity. As a good Christian, Goodman Brown was afraid to leave his wife at home alone, meaning that he was afraid to put his religion under question. The reader gets familiar with the authors main idea that Goodmans journey represents an allegory of the Christian soul. At the moment where Goodman Brown is lost in the forest of confusion, he hears the voice of his wife being taken away, which represents the moment he lost his own faith. Without faith, Goodman Brown becomes distrustful, distances himself from his wife, and dies without hope.

Reference

Hawthorne, N. (2012). Young Goodman Brown and other short stories. Courier Corporation.

Introduction

Desiree Aubigny, like Faith Brown, is a gentle and devoted young wife. They married their husbands for love and did not regret what they had done, did not suffer from conscience or doubts (it seems at least). The figure of Faiths husband is quite controversial, although the text clearly and in detail demonstrates to the author that Faith loves him. She gently addresses him, escorts her husband from home, and shows concern. Desirees husband is a strict and even cruel man, the owner of a large plantation. In addition, he is a well-known slave owner who never shows sympathy or understanding for his slaves. Desiree Aubigny gives birth to a child of mixed race. The husband suspects Desiree is of mixed origin and demonstrates that he is very disappointed in his wife. Desiree leaves her home and goes with the child to her mother, seeing her husbands true face. While some similarities between Desiree Aubigny and Faith Brown are evident, they are different in the aspects of independence/dependence, conflicts/trials faced, and journeys, either physical or symbolic.

Independence

Desiree Aubigny and Faith Brown have varying degrees of dependence on their husbands, and readers can trace this fact in detail in the text. Desiree Aubigny is not just a gentle, devoted, and kind wife but shows genuine affection and dependence on her husband. She lives for his look, word, and approval. When this approval fades, Desiree becomes nervous and loses control of her feelings. She also boasts to her mother about how proud her husband is of her.

In the case of Desiree, only the fact that her husband rejects her allows her to gain independence. Her fate and ordinary life are cut short when her husband (who, under the influence of his wife and her pregnancy, even began to communicate with slaves condescendingly) severely accuses her of mixed origin. She tries to deny everything, and she wants to prove to him that she deserves to be called his wife, the wife of Armand.

Having gained independence and seeing the natural face of her husband, who has wholly cooled towards her, Desiree cannot hold her head proudly. She is also shocked by the accusations against her and shows her husband her white skin, brown hair, and gray eyes. Her origins are obvious to Desiree, and the allegations seem absurd. Desiree wants to enlist the help and support of her adoptive mother. She writes her a letter of complaint, where she talks about the terrible attitude of her husband. Desirees mother does not give the desired reaction, and she invites her daughter to return to her house with the child.

The scene in Armands office, when Desiree gives him the letter, is also enjoyable. Being a naive young girl, Desiree expects her husband to keep her and asks her to stay. She believes that an invitation from her mother can frighten her husband, but this does not happen, and the husband indifferently waits for the moment when Desiree leaves his cabinet and then the house. Until the last moment, Desiree hopes that her husband will change his mind, but this does not happen.

In the situation with Faith, there is no direct development of the independence line from the husband or relatives. She is initially independent, although she loves her husband and treats him with great respect. A reader can see how Faith and thoughts about Faith excite the mind of her husband. He worries about his wife and tries to imagine what she thinks about when he is not home. He enjoys talking to her so much that he pauses before going into the forest. Despite Faiths behavior, her thoughts remain independent throughout the story. She does not open up with her husband, and other people do not share secrets and thoughts. Her motivation is not completely clear to her husband, so in the end, he becomes a cold and cynical person who does not know how to trust.

As a result, we can say that Desiree Aubigny demonstrates complete suppression by the figure of her husband. She belongs to him, being a free woman, but behaves like a child with him. Faith Brown is initially an independent person who her husband appreciates. While Desiree Aubigny lives by her husbands word, all the way to being cruelly rejected by him, Faith Brown contemplates betrayal while being a young wife.

Different Trials

In the center of which is Desiree, the conflict is racial prejudice, which is a vice for the entire society of that time. She cannot change her husband; she cannot change his worldview, his slave-owning family, and is forced to take it for granted. Armand cannot forgive her for the shame inflicted on her, and his familys reputation has suffered because of Desiree. Likewise, Desiree cannot fight the prejudices of an entire society, strong and diverse. The ordeal that Desiree goes through is due to factors that she cannot control. These circumstances frustrate her very much; she feels the absurdity of the situation but cannot resist. As a result of the ordeal, she leaves her husbands house with the child.

The Faith Brown challenge is a profoundly existential challenge of personal choice. She ponders this choice and makes a decision, although she could immediately discard any doubts. She would remain a loving, gentle, and godly wife to Goodman. She is free to refuse to do this if she chooses righteousness. Faith bears full responsibility for what happened since she is not a victim of circumstances like Desiree. She disappoints her husband and turns him into a cold and distrustful man who in the future will live a gloomy and dull life without becoming attached to anyone.

The critical conflict faced by Faith Brown is within her control and subject to her will, though social pressures also play their part; meanwhile, the fundamental conflict faced by Desiree Aubigny is absolutely beyond her power to control. The trials of these two characters are fundamentally different, and if Desiree and Faith had switched places in their trials, they would have passed them differently. Faith realizes that she has disappointed her husband, but Desiree cannot fully accept this psychologically.

Changes

Desiree goes a long way to independence, although it turns into suffering and grief for her. At first, she basks in the riches and love of her husband, being utterly dependent on him, but later she leaves his house with nothing, feeling betrayed. Desiree goes through some progress, which changes her life and worldview. She irrevocably left home where her husband no longer appreciated her due to prejudice. Leaving her husband is the price she pays for independence and self-identity.

At the beginning of the narrative, Faith is a tender and devoted wife who innocently talks to him. He does not doubt her; he thinks about her and dreams of seeing her sooner. Faith cannot resist the temptation, despite her husbands attempts to save her. She does not grow morally, although her husband believed in her from the very beginning. Towards the end of the story, her personality is seen as weak and superficial. She understands that she made her husband survive the betrayal, but she is not trying to make amends.

While Faith Brown faces temptation early on in her journey, she does not grow stronger by it; meanwhile, Desiree Aubigny is forced to face the reality of her society. Faith does not seem to feel guilty before her husband; she chooses her own. Desiree does not understand why she should feel guilty for her origin and the prejudices of other people, so she quickly leaves her husbands house.

Conclusion

Although the authors show Faith and Desiree at the beginning of the stories as kind and honest young wives, they are in varying degrees of dependence on their husbands and in different ways to cope with the circumstances in which they find themselves on the path of life. To begin with, Faith Brown starts displaying much more independence by deceiving her husband than Desiree Aubigny, who lives by her husbands word. Secondly, the trials Desiree faces come altogether from outside, while those of Faith Brown are mainly due to an inner conflict between good and evil. Lastly, while Desirees journey leads her from happiness to being in touch with dark realities, Faiths journey does not implicate moral growth, as the reader never learns whether she has changed.

Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown is a chilling exploration of how a man could project upon others his own darkness. Through a pact with the Devil, Goodman Brown becomes obsessed with the supposed sins of the townspeople. Hawthorne utilized many symbolisms to depict how Goodman Brown transformed into a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become. To use a word descriptive of many people today, Goodman Brown became a cynic. So when he died, the townspeople carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom. Reading through the passages of the story, the reader seems to undergo the same experience as the character. We will discover that we all have come to grips with the nature of things in the deep, dark, pathless wilderness of night and determine the powers beyond our will and desires.

At the start of the story, Goodman Brown was a naive young man who has just been married. He has a dream in which he sees all the best people in the village, including his wife. Presumably, in his experience with sex in his newly-married state, the sexuality  the human quality  of everyone, including his wife, his parents, his minister, and his teachers, dawns on him in a traumatic way in that he has always been taught by his Puritan teachers that the flesh is sinful. However, Goodman Brown had seen both the best and the worst in human nature. In this process, Goodman loses his faith and his love. This is why he chooses to believe the worst.

The story did not tell everything as easy because readers are enjoined to assume that Goodman Browns former innocence had been derived from ignorance, as knowledge comes to him with so much intensity that he is not able to excuse himself for the ignorance that he had. And he blames everyone else because none of them told him these things before. In short, he wants to have had divine knowledge, and he thus challenges the way of things in every respect. Just by being human, people he sees through his loveless eyes transform into witches. Those who have this loveless view of others have already, ironically, partaken of the devils baptism. Like Brown, they forever after will be more conscious of the secret guilt of others, both in deed and thought, than they could now be of their own.

It is not difficult to realize that Hawthornes intention in Young Goodman Brown is to force the reader to experience the temptations which Brown himself must endure and that he is made to see the world through Browns eyes in order to have to make his decision with only this evidence available to him. Hawthorne makes it appear that the reader is made the central character in the story, and it is his moral vision with which Hawthorne is concerned and his moral choice which Hawthorne challenges.

According to Liebman (1975), Hawthorne uses three principal devices: (1) diverting ambiguity, (2) dilatory exposition, and (3) dissimulated point of view. Hawthorne employs this kind of exposition wherein he diverts the readers attention from significant ambiguity, important events whose ambiguity derives from a conflict between appearance and reality, by drawing the readers attention to insignificant ambiguity, incidental events whose ambiguity derives from a conflict between the natural and the preternatural. The result is usually irresolvable and the reader is inclined to believe that all other ambiguity is similarly irresolvable. Moreover, Hawthorne frequently presents his exposition of characters in a dilatory manner. That is, he reveals the evidence very gradually and typically saves the most important information for last. Characters introduced surprisingly in the story and are veritably described at the end. As the narration continues, the initial terms of description are reversed, but the reader has already committed himself and has some difficulty extricating himself from his original view. Lastly, the dissimulated point of view is Hawthornes characteristic mode in his short fiction. The point of view shifts imperceptibly from narrator to character so that the reader sees through the characters eyes even when he thinks he is seeing through the narrators. Liebman (1975) explained that the shifting perspective is accomplished in three ways:

First, dialogue is presented as if it were narration. What purports to be the language of the author is really the language of the character whose point of view is dominant. Second, subjective events are presented as if they were objective. The fictional world of the story moves from the imagination of the author to that of the character, and the line between appearance and reality is blurred if not eliminated. Third, events are presented as if they were both natural (that is, of nature) and spontaneous, whereas in fact they are connected almost causally, each originating in the mind of the character, each made possible by its predecessor, and each becoming more substantial as the character becomes more committed to the objectivity of his subjective impressions and more accustomed to confusing concepts. In this way the logic of compulsion replaces the logic of nature, and, unbeknownst to the character, his thoughts take on the potency not only of events but of causes of events.

An example of how Hawthorne used diverting ambiguity throughout Young Goodman Brown is when Brown first meets the devil he (and the reader) is faced with two incidental ambiguities: the devils staff resembles the biblical serpent, and the devil himself resembles Browns father. As nearly as could be discerned the devil bears a considerable resemblance to Browns father; they might have been taken for father and son. The devil claims to have been well acquainted with Browns family, especially his father and grandfather. His staff bears the likeness of a snake: it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent. When the devil laughs, his snake-like staff actually seemed to wriggle in sympathy. These ambiguities dominate the scene. Yet the real question is whether or not the devil, as a living, breathing character, is present at all. And this issue is obscured in Browns eyes, just as the readers attention is drawn to ambiguities which are neither important nor resolvable. The reader is tempted to conclude that not resolving this ambiguity is characteristic of all of the ambiguity in the story. And readers become accustomed to seeing through Browns uncertain eyes on more important issues and identify the subliminal meanings of these ambiguities.

This device is used again in the next scene, in which Goody Cloyse appears. The old woman reminds both Brown and the reader of the devils resemblance to one of Browns ancestors, this time his grandfather. And Hawthorne refers to him as the shape of old Goodman Brown. The devil touches Goody Cloyses neck with what seemed the serpents tail and leans on his writhing stick when he speaks to her. The real issue, of course, is whether or not Goody Cloyse actually appears, but when she vanishes Hawthorne veils the question of her appearance and disappearance with more incidental ambiguity. The devil throws his staff down at her feet, where, perhaps, it assumed life. Hawthorne comments: Of this fact, however, Goodman Brown cannot take cognizance. He had cast up his eyes in astonishment, and, looking down again, beheld neither Goody nor the serpentine staff, but his fellow-traveller alone, who waited for him as calmly as if nothing had happened. At the end of the story Hawthorne asks of the baptismal basin at which the priest stands, did it contain water, reddened by the lurid light? Or was it blood? Or perhaps, a liquid flame? This too is mere question-begging since the questions assume that the forest is aflame and that the shape of evil stands ready to baptize Faith and Goodman Brown. These are the real ambiguities in the story though the reader is given other and not very nourishing food for thought.

Another good thing of reading Young Goodman Brown is a good motivation for examining point of view  the way we see other people. The result is a reversal of roles between good and evil, which is like the reversal that occurred after the hysteria of 1692 whereby the witches were perceived as martyrs and the accusers and condemners were seen as persecutors. Hawthorne is interested in what peoples points of view and judgment tell us about them, so the focus in the discussion of witchcraft is primarily on those who see witchcraft in others. The story is rich in symbolisms that make up what it lacks in physical descriptions, which contributes to its readers puzzlement that more often becomes fear. In the story, we only know that Faith has a pretty head ; that Goodman Brown is young; that Goody Cloyse is a female figure who cackles; that Martha Carrier is a rampant hag; that the crowd in the forest is a grave and dark-clad company. The reason why Hawthorne avoids particulars in this story is because the unreality and vagueness increase the nightmarish atmosphere of the story.

For instance, why is Faiths pink ribbons is mentioned five times in all? What is the meaning of the appearance of the ribbons in the woods? It would seem to be concrete evidence that something bad occurred to her. Fogle (1964) suggested otherwise: If Goodman Brown is dreaming the ribbon may be taken as part and parcel of his dream&. This pink ribbon appears in his wifes hair once more as she meets his on his return to Salem the next morning (p. 18). Whats more frightening in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown is not the devil, the witchcraft or even Browns solitary walk through the forest at dusk, but it is the contrast between Browns innocence and the evil that he comes to learn is hidden in his very own community.

Ultimately, readers will be compelled to interpret the story based on his or her own values and moral perspective. We will come to terms that Hawthorne is less concerned with the meaning of things than with the meaning of all the ambiguous parts of his short story. Readers will be enthralled by the fact that the story is not so much a revelation of things as they are but of the problem of moral choice, the near inaccessibility of truth, and the power of temptation. Thus, it is only undergoing through the same experience that readers come to understand the theme and resolution of this thought-provoking story.

Works Cited

1. Fogle, Robert Harter. Hawthornes Fiction: The Light and Dark (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1964).
2. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown, 1835. in Lauter, Paul et al. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. 1 (pp. 2129-38). Lexington: Heath, 1944.
3. Liebman, Sheldon W. The Reader in Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne Journal (1975): 156-69.

The key concept of this research paper is an in-depth analysis of the book Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This bibliography analyses the works of Johnson Claudia, Hurley Paul, Korb Rena, Carlson Patricia, and Hostetler Norman. These articles review the book Young Goodman Brown.

Carlson, Patricia Ann. Setting and Fictional Dynamics. Hawthornes Functional Settings: A Study of Artistic Method. Editions Rodopi, 1977. 128-131. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol.29. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web.

Carlson, Patricia Anns Setting and Fictional Dynamics article discuses symbolic connotation of the village and forest settings which influences Goodman Browns view of good and evil. The author presents the scenic elements of the forest and the village without ambiguity. Carlson explains the innocence of village life. Also, she resonates on how an external influence can completely alter faith and perception. The article presents the climax of the plot in emotive context.

The author resonates on the contradictory extremes of misguided attitude and false perception in the belief of a blackness power. Besides, Carlson clarifies on Brand and Browns perception of super natural power. The conclusion of this article provides a summary of Browns frustration and eventual death.

This article will add value to my research paper on the component of symbolism especially when discussing forest and the village. Besides, the author has simplified the understanding of factors which positively or negatively influence faith and perception. This article is developed from an array of deductive arguments from which Carlson creates her views. These arguments are relevant to my research topic on the qualitative component. Conclusively, the article presents a strong climax on the plot of the story.

Hostetler, Norman H. Narrative Structure and Theme in Young Goodman Brown. The Journal of Narrative Technique 12.3 (Fall 1982): 221-228. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 29.Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web.

In the article, Narrative Structure and Theme in Young Goodman Brown, by Hostetler Norman, the theme is conflict analysis between the narrator and title character. Besides, the article examines conscious awareness, Irony, imaginations, and the ideal epistemology in decision making. The author concurs that acceptance of universal experiment depends on perceptions and ability to create positive imagination.

Hostetler examines the psychological influence on judgment and conflict interpretation. Interestingly, conflict is the basis of confusion if unattended. The author identifies imaginations and awareness as themes. Hostetler presents well researched arguments. His proactive analysis of conflict is relevant to my research topic.

The author proves that imaginations can be self-destructing especially when not balanced with reasoning. The conclusion of the article is drawn from a range of dependent and independent premises. These premises are relevant to the topic of my research.

Hurley J. Paul. Young Goodman Browns Heart of Darkness. American Literature. Southern Illinois University: Illinois, 2003. EBSCO Publishing. Web.

Hurley J. Pauls article, Young Goodman Browns Heart of Darkness, examines the controversies on Young Goodman Brown. The article explores on the various views of sin, thus, evil. The author explains Arguments of different critics and confesses of a diabolical inspiration. Besides, Hurley justifies limits of fiction in arguments and hallucinations. In conclusion, the author opines that self justification and ego-induced fantasy is a disease of the mind.

This article presents strong arguments on the negative impacts of self-justification. Hurley suggests that imperative and factious arguments only results in confusion. Subsequently, confusion facilitates ego-induced fantasy. In the end, an individual becomes the victim of his/her beliefs.

In my research paper, this article will be the basis of thesis statement. Since the article consists of well researched sources from which the author builds discrete arguments, I will adopt it. This approach is easily testable for fallacies and restrictive notions. Besides, the article incorporates views that are relevant to the research topic.

Johnson, Claudia G. Young Goodman Brown and Puritan Justification. Studies in Short Fiction 11.2 (Spring 1974): 200-203. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web.

This essay by Johnson, Claudia G. examines Young Goodman Brown in the aspect of justification of Puritan doctrine stating that God can open mans heart to let him know himself better. The author explores views of Puritan theorists concerning sin and descent. Johnson reviews Goodman Browns descent and visions. Interestingly, the author concludes that Good Browns visions and views on Puritanism is regenerative, negative, and of unjustified fake descent.

The author deliberates on separating and defining reality and dream. Though Newton Arvin views Goodmans vision as true, Johnson seems to think otherwise. According to the doctrines of the puritans, God gave man another chance after breaking the first Covenant.

Despite the hard labor and sweat, the covenant of hope and faith swells above mans inequities. However, the author asserts that Goodmans vision misinterpreted justification to favor many of the misled followers who are not keen on self-scrutiny. Johnsons views are practical as far as personal beliefs are concern.

The essay concentrates on establishing the reality as part of self examination. In the research topic, the concept of self discovery is essential in predicting and interpreting behavior of an individual or a group. Thus, this resource will form part of the literature review. The author has applied qualitative research when analyzing arguments and refers to different schools of thought before a conclusion.

Korb, Rena. An overview of Young Goodman Brown,. Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002.Literature Resource Center. Web.

Korb Renas article, An overview of Young Goodman Brown, examines various themes in Young Goodman Brown, such as Puritanism, ambiguity, good and evil, and allegorical structure tales. Narrated in prose form, the author presents an accurate picture of the Puritan society. Besides, the article explores on the interesting traits of the main characters.

Korbs writing assumes a universal allegory as part of the analysis. The author explores the rich culture, essence of faith, and beliefs in godliness. This article is clear on plot and characterization. Korb acknowledge existence of loneliness and sadness in a dungeon of the heart suffering spiritual isolation.

This source is a summary of Hawthornes book. Thus, the article is relevant to my topic of research. It expounds on characterization of the cast accompanied by a simple plot. Korbs informed conclusion facilitates understanding of the book. Besides, this article presents a quantitative analysis of Hawthornes book.

Looking at the history of mankind, it is possible to see one of the attributes which always supports it. It is faith. No matter what century is considered, either before or after Christs birth, people always believed in something.

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story which dwells upon Puritanism, human beliefs and faith. The weakness of the society depends on the faith of those who live there and if one loses faith and believes that others have made the same, it leads to unsupported suspicions of evil nature of people who live nearby.

Brown believes that al people around him have deep faith in good. This is the main basis of his faith. This idea can be considered from the name of his wife, Faith. He lives with her, so believes her, trusts in her power. Faith (wife) is the first symbol in the story. She seems to persuade her husband not to go outside, but he does not agree and leaves.

Isnt it the symbol of refusal of faith in goodness? When Brown goes to the forest, he does not pay attention to the fact that he goes to devil, he sees his neighbors and understands that they have lost their faith. This is the beginning of his disbelief and loss of faith in goodness as well. His belief is based on the beliefs of others, as it has been mentioned. When he saw that those beliefs had been ruined, his faith was ruined as well.

The whole story is full of allegories which consideration helps get the main idea of the story better. Village is a symbol of something good, while the forest, opposing to it, is an allegory of evil. The dark night is the association with the devil, as evil affairs are made when no one is able to see, at night (Neary 248).

The symbolic nature of faith is the problem which can be discussed perpetually as there is no specific answer to the issue. The timelessness of mankinds sin is revealed within the Puritans (Jacobs n.p.), it can be stated that the allegorical relation of evils past, present and future is related to the Fall of Man.

The time in the story plays crucial role as it can be considered from different angles and can be referred to the various symbols. If to consider the story deeper, it comes out that the story is related to the time of Salem witch trials that makes it eerier (Jacobs n.p.).

Reading the story, it comes to mind that a journey to the forest may be a symbol of a journey into self. Waking up the next morning, Brown could not understand whether it was a dream or everything happened in the reality.

Trying to consider the whole story from this angle, it becomes understandable that dark forest is not just evil, it is a symbol of bed ideas which come to human mind when there is no faith in heart. The answer to the question about why Brown came so long was simple, Faith kept me back a while (Hawthorne 10). Is the wife meant? No! Brown tries to explain why his ideas have not been occupied by dark evil thought. The answer was faith. It is faith that makes people remain good and trust others.

Nevertheless, having entered the forest, Brown was not sure whether he was going the right way, whether it was exactly what he wanted. But, the understanding that other people in the village (the symbol of goodness) were on the side of dark (as he thought), he became to assure in his choice.

The weakness of the morality in society takes place when people stop perceive faith, when they are unable to consider what they believe into and copy the beliefs of the society. This is the main factor which points to the weakening of the society in general. The author of the book tries to find roots of such behavior in Puritanism, a religion which creates corruptibility of private religious faith (Campbell n.p).

Donoghue in his article tries to point to the fact that the absence of faith is not considered as sin in the story, still, Brown hides real reasons for going to the forest. Why does he do it? If it is not a sin, he could tell about it his wife.

This is the matter. Walking inside self and searching for dark corners, a person cannot think adequately, and right when faith is absent, dark thoughts occupy human mind. If a person has come to the forest (evil place is meant), there no other ways out. The same has happened with Brown. The time when he entered the forest was the beginning of the faith loss.

Devil had already gained the aim, there was just necessary to strengthen the idea that all people were the same. The symbolic meeting with the village representatives is the play of Browns mind. Moreover, the whole journey may be considered as the mind game as in the morning the main character is unable to understand whether it was in reality or it was a dream. But, his opinion is influenced and the doubts have already occupied his mind.

In conclusion, the main character has to live his life without faith in humanity and in good. Is not it a paradox? Living with Faith Brown does not have it. The story is a good example of the life of a person who believes in nothing, an unhappy man. Brown is tempted by devil, but tries to convince the whole society in this affair.

Having been influenced by a devil Brown thinks that all people in the village are also under devils impact and cannot trust them as they are evil. Browns faith in goodness stops existing when he is sure that all people are tempted by evil. The morale of the story is that human faith is lost when they see that others in the society have already lost their faith in goodness.

Works Cited

Campbell, Donna M. Puritanism in New England. Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. 21 Mar. 2010. Web.

Donoghue, Denis. Hawthorne and Sin. Christianity and Literature 52.2 (2003): 215- 234.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Wildside Press LLC, 2005. Print.

Jacobs, Laurie Anne. The Depths of Allegory in Hawthornes `Young Goodman Brown. Department of English. N.d. Web.

Neary, John. Shadows and Illuminations: Spiritual Journeys to the Dark Side in Young Goodman Brown and Eyes Wide Shut. Religion & the Arts 10.2 (2006): 244-270.

The key concept of this research paper is an in-depth analysis of the book Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This bibliography analyses the works of Johnson Claudia, Hurley Paul, Korb Rena, Carlson Patricia, and Hostetler Norman. These articles review the book Young Goodman Brown.

Carlson, Patricia Ann. Setting and Fictional Dynamics. Hawthornes Functional Settings: A Study of Artistic Method. Editions Rodopi, 1977. 128-131. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol.29. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web.

Carlson, Patricia Anns Setting and Fictional Dynamics article discuses symbolic connotation of the village and forest settings which influences Goodman Browns view of good and evil. The author presents the scenic elements of the forest and the village without ambiguity. Carlson explains the innocence of village life. Also, she resonates on how an external influence can completely alter faith and perception. The article presents the climax of the plot in emotive context.

The author resonates on the contradictory extremes of misguided attitude and false perception in the belief of a blackness power. Besides, Carlson clarifies on Brand and Browns perception of super natural power. The conclusion of this article provides a summary of Browns frustration and eventual death.

This article will add value to my research paper on the component of symbolism especially when discussing forest and the village. Besides, the author has simplified the understanding of factors which positively or negatively influence faith and perception. This article is developed from an array of deductive arguments from which Carlson creates her views. These arguments are relevant to my research topic on the qualitative component. Conclusively, the article presents a strong climax on the plot of the story.

Hostetler, Norman H. Narrative Structure and Theme in Young Goodman Brown. The Journal of Narrative Technique 12.3 (Fall 1982): 221-228. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 29.Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web.

In the article, Narrative Structure and Theme in Young Goodman Brown, by Hostetler Norman, the theme is conflict analysis between the narrator and title character. Besides, the article examines conscious awareness, Irony, imaginations, and the ideal epistemology in decision making. The author concurs that acceptance of universal experiment depends on perceptions and ability to create positive imagination.

Hostetler examines the psychological influence on judgment and conflict interpretation. Interestingly, conflict is the basis of confusion if unattended. The author identifies imaginations and awareness as themes. Hostetler presents well researched arguments. His proactive analysis of conflict is relevant to my research topic.

The author proves that imaginations can be self-destructing especially when not balanced with reasoning. The conclusion of the article is drawn from a range of dependent and independent premises. These premises are relevant to the topic of my research.

Hurley J. Paul. Young Goodman Browns Heart of Darkness. American Literature. Southern Illinois University: Illinois, 2003. EBSCO Publishing. Web.

Hurley J. Pauls article, Young Goodman Browns Heart of Darkness, examines the controversies on Young Goodman Brown. The article explores on the various views of sin, thus, evil. The author explains Arguments of different critics and confesses of a diabolical inspiration. Besides, Hurley justifies limits of fiction in arguments and hallucinations. In conclusion, the author opines that self justification and ego-induced fantasy is a disease of the mind.

This article presents strong arguments on the negative impacts of self-justification. Hurley suggests that imperative and factious arguments only results in confusion. Subsequently, confusion facilitates ego-induced fantasy. In the end, an individual becomes the victim of his/her beliefs.

In my research paper, this article will be the basis of thesis statement. Since the article consists of well researched sources from which the author builds discrete arguments, I will adopt it. This approach is easily testable for fallacies and restrictive notions. Besides, the article incorporates views that are relevant to the research topic.

Johnson, Claudia G. Young Goodman Brown and Puritan Justification. Studies in Short Fiction 11.2 (Spring 1974): 200-203. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web.

This essay by Johnson, Claudia G. examines Young Goodman Brown in the aspect of justification of Puritan doctrine stating that God can open mans heart to let him know himself better. The author explores views of Puritan theorists concerning sin and descent. Johnson reviews Goodman Browns descent and visions. Interestingly, the author concludes that Good Browns visions and views on Puritanism is regenerative, negative, and of unjustified fake descent.

The author deliberates on separating and defining reality and dream. Though Newton Arvin views Goodmans vision as true, Johnson seems to think otherwise. According to the doctrines of the puritans, God gave man another chance after breaking the first Covenant.

Despite the hard labor and sweat, the covenant of hope and faith swells above mans inequities. However, the author asserts that Goodmans vision misinterpreted justification to favor many of the misled followers who are not keen on self-scrutiny. Johnsons views are practical as far as personal beliefs are concern.

The essay concentrates on establishing the reality as part of self examination. In the research topic, the concept of self discovery is essential in predicting and interpreting behavior of an individual or a group. Thus, this resource will form part of the literature review. The author has applied qualitative research when analyzing arguments and refers to different schools of thought before a conclusion.

Korb, Rena. An overview of Young Goodman Brown,. Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002.Literature Resource Center. Web.

Korb Renas article, An overview of Young Goodman Brown, examines various themes in Young Goodman Brown, such as Puritanism, ambiguity, good and evil, and allegorical structure tales. Narrated in prose form, the author presents an accurate picture of the Puritan society. Besides, the article explores on the interesting traits of the main characters.

Korbs writing assumes a universal allegory as part of the analysis. The author explores the rich culture, essence of faith, and beliefs in godliness. This article is clear on plot and characterization. Korb acknowledge existence of loneliness and sadness in a dungeon of the heart suffering spiritual isolation.

This source is a summary of Hawthornes book. Thus, the article is relevant to my topic of research. It expounds on characterization of the cast accompanied by a simple plot. Korbs informed conclusion facilitates understanding of the book. Besides, this article presents a quantitative analysis of Hawthornes book.

Young Goodman Brown, published in 1835, is one of Nathaniel Hawthornes most well-known short writings. This narrative is a compelling investigation of the evil side of human nature, inspired in part by the Salem witch hysteria of 1692. Brown has become a symbol of both the Puritan religion and mans battle between good and evil (Cook 479). Besides this, one of the major topics of the tale was highlighted by McKeithan as Hawthornes favourite one  the sin and its effects (McKeithan 94). Goodman Brown encounters evil for the first time and is compelled to contemplate the existence of evil in the world that alters his life forever. Within these circumstances, the behavior of Goodman Brown, affected by his encounters, can be considered as obsessive.

A young man called Goodman Brown bids his goodbyes to his wife, Faith, one evening in the small village of Salem, leaving for a shady business enterprise. Faith in the narrative personifies love, both between men and women and between him and God, in terms of love, faith, and loyalty. He abandons his faith in goodness and God by placing Faith at the beginning of history. Goodman Brown says he needs to depart tonight, and Faith asks him to remain with her  &prithee put off your journey until sunrise. A lone woman is troubled with different dreams (Hawthorne 2). Goodman Brown bids Faith farewell for the last time, believing to himself that she may have deduced the nefarious motive for his journey, and vows to be a better person after this one night.

Goodman Brown embarks on a perilous expedition through the woods. He examines the area, fearful of what may be hidden behind each tree, whether it be Indians or the devil himself (Hawthorne 6). Soon after, he comes across a stranger on the road who welcomes Goodman Brown as if he had been expecting him. Except for the cane he wields with a carved snake, the man is dressed in standard clothing and appears normal. The climax occurs when Goodman Brown is approached by a secret ceremony with many recognizable faces; these were the residents of the city, whom everyone in his church and town regarded with reverence (Tarnóc 73). There were men of dissolute life and ladies of patchy splendor, miserable, betrayed by all base and vile vices, and even accused of dreadful crimes, flippantly talking with these serious, respected, and religious folks& It was unusual to discover that the virtuous did not fear the wicked and that sinners were indifferent about saints  recalls Goodman (Hawthorne 15). Most importantly, Faith was one of the new members of a type of dark communion rite.

Goodman Brown comes back to the village the following day, and everyone he sees appears to have been corrupted. He sees the priest bless him and hears the deacon pray, but he rejects the blessing and accuses the deacon of being a magician  What God doth the wizard pray to? (Hawthorne 25). When he finally meets Faith at his own home, he refuses to greet her. It is unclear if the encounter in the woods was a dream, but Goodman Browns life was forever transformed (Tarnóc 77). He does not trust anybody in the village, and refuses accept the priests remarks, and is not actually devoted to his wife. He spends the rest of his life in gloom and dread, with no inscription written on his tombstone.

Young Goodman Brown is a metaphor about mans fall, from which Hawthorne pulls to highlight what he perceives as American religions inherent fallibility and hypocrisy. Hawthorne relates the story of a man who is seduced by the devil and succumbs to his curiosity and his faiths weakness. Goodman Brown, like Eve, cannot help but wonder what lies beneath the forests mystery (Yuan-yi 756). And, like Eve, Goodman Brown is rewarded for his inquisitiveness with information that drastically alters his life. The devil informs Goodman Brown and Faith at a ritual in the woods that they will now have their eyes opened to the wickedness of themselves and everyone around them. Goodman Brown returns from the forest to find that he has been deprived of the joys of life (Yuan-yi 757). He began to distrust anyone in his immediate vicinity, even the lady he had previously loved.

The storyline also addresses the frequently blurry border between good and evil, as well as the fight between personal independence and convention. This narrative is noteworthy for its depiction of evil, not least because it raises intriguing concerns about what it means to be or recognize evil. The young Goodman Brown refuses an initiation in a woodland clearing, but the narrative implies that it does not matter because he was still conscious of evil and therefore initiated into its path. As seen by his meeting with an older man wielding a serpentine staff, Goodman Brown is lured to the realm of vice and witchcraft.

Hawthorne makes explicit use of historical references. The Salem Witch Trials in 1692, Quaker Puritan prejudice, and King Philips War are three tragic incidents in Puritan history that Hawthorne explicitly mentions. During the Salem Witch trials, Salem residents murdered twenty-five persons who were falsely suspected of being witches (Fitzgerald 27). Puritan intolerance towards Quakers first surfaced in the second part of the seventeenth century, when Puritans began to prohibit Quakers from living in their cities, eventually resorting to incarceration and execution (Fitzgerald 139). In this narrative, the devil refers to Goodman Browns grandfather thrashing a Quaker in the streets. From 1675 until 1676, King Philips War was a series of minor conflicts between Indians and colonists (Fitzgerald 99). Indians assaulted colonists in western Massachusetts border towns, and colonists retaliated by assaulting Indian villages and slaughtering their inhabitants (Fitzgerald 94). Goodman Browns father was given a fiery torch by the Devil, according to Hawthorne, so that he might set fire to the Indian town.

As a result, Young Goodman Brown is a very symbolic and evocative novel about symbolizing the shattering effect of an incident on ones behavior: once the veil is withdrawn, Goodman Brown sees evil everywhere, including where it may and cannot be. Although Hawthorne left some space for interpretation and the narrator himself appears confused, if Goodman Brown was only dreaming of the events of the witches sabbath, this raises more issues (Yuan-yi 757). He suspects individuals in positions of authority around him, such as those who teach religion to village children or who diligently pray, of having bad inclinations and executing wicked crimes in secret. However, his belief that the dream was true and everyone, including his wife, was secretly marked with evil can be an authors indication that extreme puritanism removes a persons moral compass and leads to a life devoid of joy or meaning.

Works Cited

Cook, Reginald. The Forest of Goodman Browns Night: A Reading of Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown. New England Quarterly (1970): 473-481.

Fitzgerald, Monica D. Puritans Behaving Badly: Gender, Punishment, and Religion in Early America. Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. (1835).

McKeithan, D. M. Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown: An Interpretation. Modern Language Notes, vol. 67, no. 2, (1952): 93-96.

Tarnóc, András. The Reflection of Solitude in Selected Works of American Literature. Confluente. Texts and Contexts Reloaded, vol. 1, no. 1, (2021): 68-80.

Yuan-yi, Zhou. The Images of Scapegoat in Young Goodman Brown. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, vol. 11, no. 10, (2021): 755-758.

Puritan faith was defined by several key characteristics that made it unique among other Christian denominations. In particular, the Puritans shared an exceptionally powerful religious fervor, believing that one should strictly adhere to the Bible and live as close to the model of Jesus Christ as possible (Mark). As a result, the Puritans were radical in their beliefs as they rejected everything not mentioned in the Bible. For instance, the Puritans considered the Anglican Church morally corrupt since the Anglican priests were allowed to wear vestments, burn incense, and use music during the masses (Mark). Overall, the Puritan moral code was unforgiving, and many harmless activities were perceived as sinful fruits of Satanic powers.

In addition, the Puritans shared the Protestant concept of pre-determinism. According to the Puritan beliefs, every individual had a future predetermined by God, and only the chosen few were selected for salvation in the afterlife. While one could not change their destiny, they could act as if they were destined for salvation and receive a reward for pious behavior from God (Mark). Consequently, the Puritans had a rather polarized worldview that strictly divided all actions and behaviors into good and evil categories. A devoted Puritan was supposed to be good at all times and resist temptations of sin and evil in order to be respected and rewarded. Given the strictness of Puritan morality, Puritan believers had to either never sin or hide their sins from the public to avoid social contempt. In other words, Puritanism demanded perfection from normal human beings, forcing them to face an impossible challenge.

Nathaniel Hawthorne attempted to expose the inherent flaws of Puritanism in his short story Young Goodman Brown. In particular, a reader can see how Hawthorne deconstructs the concept of Puritan goodness, showing that Puritan society was plagued with hypocrisy and sanctimony. The story starts with Goodman Brown, a young devoted Puritan from Salem, willing to go into the dark, evil forest for an unknown reason (Hawthorne). A reader can see it as a metaphor for Goodmans wish to live as a normal human free from the strict Puritan faith, at least for a short time.

Puritanism could not stop Goodman, but he obviously feared the social backlash if other Salem residents saw him in such an evil place. On the one hand, Goodman Brown failed at resisting temptation; on the other hand, he still tried to stay a good Puritan by keeping his sin undetected. Next, Goodman met the Devil, who told him about many good Puritans using his services in the past. For instance, Devil helped Goodmans father to burn a Native village, committing an atrocity unworthy of a good Christian (Hawthorne). While Goodman did not believe the Devil, he still used his magical staff to attend the dark ritual, failing to resist temptation again. Unsurprisingly, Goodman met every good Puritan known to him at this ominous ceremony, including his wife, Faith (Hawthorne). In that scene, Hawthorne exposed the prudish nature of Puritanism, showing that its disciples frequently hid their darker side behind the mask of goodness.

Overall, Nathaniel Hawthorne created a strong criticism of the Puritan worldview. One can argue that the Puritans were right by claiming that people should do their best to stay morally good. However, the Puritans could not accept the inherently flawed nature of humanity. As a result, the Puritan believers routinely slipped into hypocrisy and sanctimony instead of admitting their flaws and learning from their mistakes. In the end, Puritanism made its disciples more concerned about looking rather than acting good.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Good Brown. 1835. Web.

Mark, Joshua, J. Puritans. World History, 2021. Web.

Introduction

The short story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a metaphorical narration created to express the process of taking vital decisions in life. The author uses such literary elements as setting and symbolism to convey the essential ideas related to the themes of faith, hope, sense of living, and despair. The storys primary theme is that the people are sinful by their nature, and the first step to being forgiven is to accept the terrible truth about the surrounding world. By showing Young Goodman Brown, the author claims that the inability to accept the imperfections of others is the feature of the desperate people who cannot love and live fulfilling lives.

Setting, Theme, and Symbolism

Even though the story begins with the peaceful description of the married couple, the author already shows that the narration is not as cheerful as it may seem. Hawthorne implements the device of allocating the setting to warn the reader about the potential danger expected to the main character during his journey. Salem is a city known for its devilish events related to witches (Lawson 2). The setting choice can be considered as the Chekhovs gun guiding the reader to understand the implicit ideas better. The setting is also vital in defining whether the events experienced by Young Goodman Brown are actual or not. Based on the chosen location, it is rational to state that these events are the mysterious apparitions resulting from the main characters moral sufferings. Young Goodman Brown tries to understand his place in life through the prism of faith. The gloomy atmosphere in the forest is also vital in the storys setting. It shows that the darkness and doubts in hearts are revealed when people doubt faith which is supposed to be the guiding power.

The central theme described by the author is the sinfulness of the Puritans, who only pretend to be innocent. The main character realizes that people he previously trusted as being innocent are sinful and hypocritical (Hawthorne 6). This idea touches upon the second theme described by Hawthorne  lost faith (Klevay 1). At the end of the story, Young Goodman Brown falls into despair because he is disappointed in the peoples innocence. However, he was sinful himself from the very beginning of the story. The character says, Faith kept me back a while when seeing the first person in the forest (Hawthorne 9). The word choice shows that he relocates the responsibility for his actions to the woman.

Moreover, by doing so, he betrays his wife and his faith. The author uses the symbolism in names to show that Goodmans faith is not in his heart and soul but in his wife. The image of the devil also symbolizes the temptation to accuse others of being sinful. The author shows that the last hope of the character vanishes, and he is left with nothing to believe in: My Faith is gone (Hawthorne 7). Thus, the character was sinful from the very start doubting the existence of innocence, love, and faith. The selfish nature of Goodman prevents him from accepting the delusions about the people surrounding him. Instead of seeking hope and trying to help lost people, Brown decides to succumb to despair.

Conclusion

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the metaphorical character who selfishly desires to be innocent and pure while rejecting his Faith (both belief and wife). The literary elements of the story help the author to convey the vital ideas of the whole narration related to innocence, faith, and religion. Goodman Brown is selfish person centred only on his hope. The reason why the despair captured the character is that he never indeed had faith. He tried to find peace in the innocence and perfection of others, hiding his own sinful nature. Lost personalities seeking salvation in others should be ready to accept the imperfections and love people for the way they are. Creating this character, Hawthorne highlights that human delusions can hurt their lives resulting in sinful actions such as judging and accusing others.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Mosses from an Old Manse, 1835.

Klevay, Robert. His Dying Hour Was Gloom: Crises Of Faith In Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown. Critical Insights: Crisis of Faith, edited by Robert C. Evans, Salem, 2013.

Lawson, Benjamin S. Young Goodman Brown. Masterplots, Fourth Edition, edited by Laurence W. Mazzeno, Salem, 2010. Salem Online, online.salempress.com.