Campbell, Donna M. “Puritanism in New England.” Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. 21 Mar. 2010. Web. This source points to the main principles of Puritanism, the brief that people live in the state of depravity. It helps understand the message of the story.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Wildside Press LLC, 2005. Print. It is a primary source.
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. This source tries to point not to the events the main character lived in but to the specific experience he managed to get out of those events. The dark side is considered as the basic environment the main character had to live.
Thesis
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.
Draft
Looking at the history of mankind, it is possible to see one of the attributes which follows it all the time. It is faith. No matter what century either before or after the Christ’s birth is considered, people always believed in something. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story which points to weak sides of Puritanism and social believes which result in loose of 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. When he goes to the forest, he does not pay attention to the fact that he goes to devil, he sees his neighbors and understand that they have lost their faith. This is the beginning of his disbelief and loss of faith in good. His belief was based on the beliefs of others, as it has been mentioned. When he saw that those beliefs had been ruined, his faith had ruined as well.
Considering the symbols which may be seen in the story, the first lines point to the main one. Brown leaves and house and Faith, his wife. Such name of the wife is chosen not by chance and leaving a wife for one night, Brown loses the faith in good for all his life. 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 weakness of the morality in society takes place when people stop have personal perception of 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).
In conclusion, the main character has to live his life without faith in humanity and in good. The story is a god 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.
Works Cited
Campbell, Donna M. “Puritanism in New England.” Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. 21 Mar. 2010. Web.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Wildside Press LLC, 2005. Print.
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.
For this study two short stories were chosen for comparison. The first one is Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the second one is Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog by Mark Twain. These two were chosen because they have different takes on American culture but at the same time there are similar elements that can be seen in the story, particularly when it comes to religion. The two authors used different approaches to telling a story. Mark Twain likes to keep it light and funny while Hawthorn loves to use a serious tone when telling his story. In Mark Twain the characters are enjoying themselves but in Hawthorne’s story the characters are fearful and unsure of themselves. They seem to be in a bad dream and struggling to break free from the stranglehold of a dark foreboding. In contrast Twain’s characters are simply doing what they feel like doing.
These different approaches were applied generously in dealing with an important topic in American culture and this is none other than religion. These stories tell the readers that Americans of the 19th century were greatly influenced by religion whether they acknowledge it or not. There are also different ways of expressing their personal views of religion. On one side of the extreme is the legalistic type where dread is felt at the mere mention religious objects and rituals. On the other side of the extreme are those who find it frivolous and every time they talk about religion they cannot help but make fun of it.
A Happy Experience
If the goal of Mark Twain is to make readers happy then he has succeeded. Even in the opening scene the reader gets the warning not to take this story seriously but everyone who dares continue with the journey will be amply rewarded in the end. The author dropped some hints that this one is going to be light reading. One of the opening statements said it all: “If that was your design, Mr. Ward, it will gratify you to know that it succeeded” (Twain, 1865). It was a prank played on a friend.
But make no mistake, Mark Twain was not simply writing about a funny story, he was also describing the culture of the South. We know that the setting is in the American South because of the use of the names Andrew Jackson a famous general of the U.S. Civil War, and a venerated figure in the South. There was also the language used by the author. We know it is English but it some sort of a dialect that can only be found in the South. For example, he used words like ketch, feller, sorter, and resk.
A Terrifying Experience
When it comes to Young Goodman Brown the reader is being led into a dark narrow path where the first emotion that one can feel is sadness, loneliness, isolation, and then abandonment. Afterwards, the story started to pick up pace but the journey became more scary each passing moment. This is how Hawthorne painted the picture:
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. It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude (Hawthorne, 1835).
The reader cannot breath and for the most part of the story there is no way to relax. After the terrible experience on the way to the meeting, the next scene was more intense. There was a gathering of members of his community. These were respectable men and women of society but in that gathering, Goodman Brown could not believe his eyes when he saw them transform into their real self. They were not pious men and women but servants of the devil, masquerading as good people. The story ended with a far sadder note when Goodman Brown died disillusioned and with a broken heart.
Comparison
The major differences in these two stories can be seen not only in the desired effect of the author but also on how they dealt with the subject of religion. In the first scene of Mr. Twain’s short story, the author wrote: “I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley—Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley—a young minister of the gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of this village of Boomerang” (Twain, 1865). The fictitious character was a reverend with a funny name – Smiley. The author already said that this was a fictitious character in the first paragraph and so it became clear that this was a prank the moment he mentioned that he was looking for a reverend and not just an ordinary fellow.
Contrast this to the rather serious treatment of religion in Hawthorne’s work. In the opening lines alone the author said that Goodman Brown is from Salem village. The name itself conjures ideas of wicked women with magic spells and witch hunts where many felt the scorn of religious leaders. Hawthorne is very serious while Mark Twain led his readers to a place where they can talk about religious figures without fear.
Another major difference is how the authors described the behavior of their characters. With Hawthorne the characters were very pious and it is important for them to appear religious and to follow the norms of society. With Twain’s characters on the other hand one will find them in taverns, in a horse race, in dog fights where people bet which dog can defeat the other in mortal combat. These vices are absent in Hawthorne’s short story because everyone there is preoccupied with their obligation to appear pious in public.
After reading the Twain and Hawthorne’s works it is easy to conclude that there are different kinds of culture that existed in 19th century America. There are those who are like the Puritans and there are those who are not so concern with their religion. There are those who are mindful of what others will say about their character and there are those who will indulge in the sins of the flesh without feeling a little bit of remorse.
These two different and yet compelling works of fiction also reveal different world views. Twain sees the world as a place where one can pull a prank against a friend and at the end that friendship blossoms even more. Hawthorne on the other hand saw the serious side of life wherein there are faithful men and there are hypocrites. Hawthorne is saying that there are religious men and women in American society who only appear good in the outside but deep down they are rotten as the dead bodies found in tombstones. These two contrasting views are needed to fully understand American culture in the 19th century. It is a country shaped by religion and yet at the same time there are people who react to the transforming force of religion by questioning its authority while others simply make fun of it in a non-offensive way.
“Where reason may not wade, their faith may swim,” Thomas Watson, a Puritan priest, asserts. Puritanism was a faith developed by Englishman in the 1600s. They were a group of staunch believers in the Holy Bible. Although Puritanism resembled Christianity, it made a sharper distinction between sinners and non-sinners.
The religion stressed that each man had free will to choose, and the sanctity of his/her soul was at risk; in other words, every individual had the mandate to determine his/her destiny by making choices. The transgressions of sinners subjected their soul to eternal damnation. The Puritan faith of a man is put into question in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.” A man, Brown, holds dear few things in the 1800s. This paper shall analyze the theme of puritanism in “Young Goodman Brown” short story.
He has his Puritan faith, which he earnestly cherishes, and guards, the love of his wife, ‘Faith,’ whom he adores, and his ancestral upbringing, the deep-seated principles enshrined in Puritanism. These three elemental things help Goodman to navigate between good and evil; they form the platform from which Goodman decides his fate. As Brown faces the devil’s temptation, people easily persuade him to abandon what once grounded him, Puritanism.
The Puritan values of the 1600s as well as the people’s openness to mystical ideas defined good and evil and influenced some Puritans to question the truth and abandon their faith just like Eve of the bible who challenged God’s truth before leaving it under the wiles of the snake, the devil.
What Does Faith Represent in “Young Goodman Brown”?
The Puritans followed the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. One of the most famous stories of man’s ability to be swayed into temptation is the story of Adam and Eve. In ‘Puritan Paradise Lost’ book review, Keith Stavely shows how Adam, Eve, and Satan represent the conventional idea of conflict in the Puritan faith (Stavely 495.) The biblical version of this story bears a striking resemblance to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story.
According to the book of Genesis, God created Adam, and from his rib, Eve was created. After creating these pioneer human beings, God set upon them one demand; that they were not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Nevertheless, having been convinced to eat the forbidden fruit by the snake, Eve persuaded Adam to test God’s will and committed sin by eating the very forbidden fruit. Consequently, Adam and Eve lost their purity, and in its place, shame and guilt took over (New International Version, Gen. 3. 1-9).
For the first time, Adam and Eve realized they were naked and hid from the face of God. Young Goodman Brown experiences this same guilt and persuasive tactics in Hawthorne’s story.
In the initial stages of the story, Brown’s relationship with his wife, faith, is much like that of Adam and Eve, a perfect couple; however, Brown is about to embark on an evil journey, which he knows his wife would not approve. “…and after this one night I will follow her into heaven.
With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose” (Hawthorne 16). Temptation in “Young Goodman Brown” is represented in the moment when Brown travels into the forest defiantly just as Eve ate from the tree of life. Just like Eve, Brown is in search of knowledge, which Satan uses to lure people away.
Once tainted by her sins, Eve felt the need to cover herself from the shame that ensued. The same way, shame affects Young Goodman Brown; as he enters deep into his journey, Brown tells the elder that his ancestors would never travel on such an unthinkable errand.
In response, the elder replies, “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say” (Hawthorne 18). The elder goes on to describe the evil doings of Brown’s father and grandfather. The shame that Brown feels is enough to convince him to continue on the journey even though he is sure his actions violate his Puritan faith.
In the biblical context of Adam and Eve, the end to their innocence and abandonment of trust underscored their punishment. Initially, Adam and Eve were to enjoy life in the Garden of Eden without toiling; however, after sinning, the punishment was upon them whereby, Adam was to work for food while Eve was to experience labor pain in giving birth.
In the case of Young Goodman Brown, punishment is in the death of his soul; he too has to live a life filled with doubt and uncertainty. “Often, waking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith; and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer; he scowled and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away” (Hawthorne 23.)
Biblical Allusions in “Young Goodman Brown”
What once Brown held most important, his Puritan faith and his wife, no longer matters because the sins from his journey into the forest annihilate his soul that Puritans had warned him. Nevertheless, what evil force drives him to ruin the pure life he once had?
The Puritans gave equal power to Satan as they did to God. The beliefs were that Satan worked as a servant of God to test the righteousness of God’s followers.
Many religions believed that the devil existed. However, what differentiated Puritans is that they believed that God was the devil’s motivating factor. That is, the devil played a pivotal role in harassing and test people’s faith in God in the process of testing and restoring righteousness in God’s followers.
Therefore, Puritans believed that God gave Satan his powers to promote this religious way of life and to make achieving salvation difficult. Puritans’ loyalty to their faith was based on the fear that God would call upon Satan to punish them (Kizer, Para. 5).
In contemporary culture, people do not carry the same amount of fear of the devil; however, in ‘Young Goodman Brown’ as one of the examples of puritanism literature, the fear of Satan’s appearance ran throughout the short story. Brown wondered, “what if the devil himself should be at my very elbow” (Hawthorne 19).
Brown feared that the devil would appear; however, the devil did not show up in the story as a literal person that could be seen. Instead, the devil was disguised as priests, elderly, women, and allusions, and Brown ended up living amongst the very thing he feared, the devil.
The most compelling allusion comes towards the end of the story; the devil cast an allusion upon Brown by leading him to believe that his beloved wife Faith had fallen into the hands of the devil. Brown lamented, “My faith is gone! Cried he, after one stupefies moment…There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name” (Hawthorne 44).
To Brown, this statement was two-fold; one, he lost his wife Faith and two, he lost his faith in Puritanism. Who else but the devil could conjure up such a wicked event? Brown’s religious ideology was that of Puritan values. In other religions such as protestant and Catholic, the devil was someone that a sinner would meet in his/her afterlife; however, according to the Puritan culture, God used Satan top help “promote righteous piety and individual spiritual welfare” (Kizer, Para. 9).
In other words, a test of one’s faith, and in this test, Brown failed. Once convinced that faith was gone, Brown followed her in the forest with a vengeance. Unfortunately, instead of questioning his actions, Brown entertained the notion that he was a sinner; he lost his faith.
Abandonment of one’s faith among Puritan culture was considered a weakness among men. A man was to remain true to his faith and his wife. Marriage was entered into as a lifetime bond of love, sacrifice, and forgiveness.
Hawthorne’s story draws from these beliefs, both figuratively and literally. Brown’s wife’s name is Faith – a play on words because she represents Brown’s Faith in God. Brown being of Puritan ideology, is to remain faithful to God and his wife. Once his wife Faith appears to have left his life permanently, Brown’s figurative faith leaves as well (Mellow 60).
By the end of the story, it is unclear whether faith’s disappearance and the story in its entirety was a dream. The legitimacy of the story bears little relevance because the result is the same. The weakness in Brown’s faith allowed him to believe that the story could have been true. The question becomes, how could Brown show credence in such a story?
As Hawthorne’s story takes the audience through the forest, the readers may call authenticity into question. The serpent staff and tales of witches and witchcraft lack validity in today’s culture. In the Puritan culture, witchcraft was a sin against God. It attempted to alter the fate that God had bestowed upon his followers.
If God could be conjured up in unconceivable manners, then all things involving witchcraft could be real. Witchcraft had been in Europe since the fifteenth century (Modugno, Para. 5). The idea of witchcraft is not synonymous with the Puritans; it appears throughout the Holy Bible. “The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.
But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so” (Deut. 18:14). The terms sorcery and divination are replacements for acts of witchcraft. The verse is clear that God does not permit such practices. Hawthorne brings witchcraft into his story as the catalyst that lured Brown into evil. Several of the characters share the names of individuals charged with witchcraft.
Hawthorne’s intention is to use the relationship between Brown and witchcraft to symbolize the relationship between man and his Puritan faith. As Brown was drawn closer to witchcraft and those who believed in it, he slipped further away from the life of meaning (Modugno, Para. 9).
This implies that the far an individual goes from God, the deeper s/he sinks into sin. The far Brown stayed around witches, the deeper he fell into sin characterized by loss of meaningful life. In essence, God gives people purposes in life, and without Him, life is meaningless, as evidenced by Brown. Thus, it can be stated that stories by Hawthorne and puritanism are inextricably linked.
Conclusion
The Puritan faith was primarily based on the conflict between good and evil. A devout Puritan resisted temptation, no matter how great, letting his/her faith guide him/her through life. Nathaniel Hawthorne used the escapades of Young Goodman Brown as an example of what good and evil conflict. Evil came in the form of witches, serpent’s tails, and allusions; however, in the end, evil was in the mind of Young Goodman Brown. Thus, puritanism in “Young Goodman Brown” is clearly evident.
Hawthorne’s short story objective was to show the reader that the “devil made me do it” is an insufficient answer, regardless of whether that devil was well disguised or not. The Puritan Faith left Brown with a feeling of self-doubt, which marked the end to his life with “Faith”.
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Maryland: Wildside Press, 2005. Print.
Nathaniel Hawthorne has written his short story “Young Goodman Brown” as the mixture of two genres – the horror story and the story with the moral. Hence is the unique peculiarity of the narration: the short story is interpreted as the text with the contradictions. In “Young Goodman Brown” Hawthorne writes about the most significant of the contradictions: “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?” (17).
The nature of the reality is called in question, and it is difficult to understand, what really happened to young Brown. After all, I think that even the storyteller does not know, what actually happened to his character. Hawthorne uses his favorite device of the ironic ambiguous features, the shift of the viewpoint from the narrator to the character and back. We as the readers find ourselves in the world, where we can hardly distinguish between real and seeming.
All the events, persons, and things have two sides, and every character, which is considered to be “good” by young Brown, turns out “bad” in reality. Actually, I suppose that there are no “good” persons in the short story except Goodman Brown. The metamorphoses concern the items too; simple knotty stick transforms into the magic staff wriggling like a snake.
However, the most important and the most terrible metamorphoses happen on another level: the divine service is substituted for the black mass, and the sacred church utensils are replaced for the false analogs connected to the devil. Another terrible thing is the betrayal of people, whom young Brown trusted and who played very important role in his life – from aged and respectable priest to Goodman Brown’s wife Faith.
Finally, after his salvation (or still the awakening from the nightmare?) young Brown finds himself in the world of the all-out substitution. Here he must live till his death, all alone, not able to free himself from the true (or still not?) state of affairs. For Goodman Brown, it is the terrible reality he has faced. He was a naive person at the beginning; the world was joyous and simple for him.
His wife was “a blessed angel on earth” (“Young Goodman Brown” 5), his ancestors were “honest men and good Christians” (“Young Goodman Brown” 7), and his neighbors were “a people of prayer, and good works to boot” (“Young Goodman Brown” 7). However, after his journey he found out, that all his neighbors are the hypocrites, and Goodman Brown has become “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man” (“Young Goodman Brown” 17).
These are the ancestors who doomed young Brown to such a destiny; from them he gets the duty to go through the path of the initiation. The fate is not revealed substantially: Goodman Brown only has to leave his home at the appointed time of the night and go along the appointed road to the appointed place. Exactly on this road Hawthorne creates the terrifying peculiarities of the short story: the atmosphere of the frontier, the crossroads, and the old road, where everything reminds about the sinister events.
The key feature that connects the details into the horrible whole and gives the short story such a powerful effect is time. It defines the creepy old times, which surround young and inexperienced Brown, saturates the air around him with the recollections about the bloody events of the past. The myths of the New England revive; the Salem witches arise in the imagination of the hero to confirm the shocking guess: the witchcraft is real, and the devil is its inspirer.
The short story “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” is full of the symbolism. To my mind, the deep meaning of this short story, that Hawthorne implies, is the America’s coming-of-age journey. The main character of “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” is 18-aged Robin, who comes to Boston to find his uncle Major Molineux. Finally, Robin finds him, humiliated by the crowd. I suppose that according to Hawthorne’s idea, Major Molineux is Great Britain.
He is described by the author as an “elderly man, of large and majestic person, and strong, square features, betokening a steady soul” (“My Kinsman, Major Molineux” 21). Major Molineux symbolizes the positive features of Great Britain, its power, maturity, and grandeur.
We can see from all the words concerning Major Molineux that Hawthorne is in sympathy with him, moreover, I think the author wants the readers to feel the compassion and sadness when the crowd scoffs at Major Molineux. I found this scene emotionally powerful and had an aversion for the crowd and felt compassion for aged Major. Nevertheless, this incident is a very symbolic act: the colony shows disrespect to the mother country. In his turn, Robin symbolizes young America.
He enjoys his freedom while looking for the uncle and that is why he is in no hurry. Sometimes the impression is that Robin does not want to find his uncle at all. After all the events, Robin understands he can live without the financial support of his uncle as well as without his guidance and pieces of advice.
Robin loses his naivety, innocence, and inexperience, in order to gain the sense of confidence and independence. Hawthorne shows, that America is ready to take any risk to become free from British rule, even if the circumstances are unfavorable. Another symbol is the prostitute wearing a red petticoat.
She treats Robin much better than other citizens and does all her best to seduce him. Nevertheless, Robin rejects all her offers, and that is how Hawthorne shows the boy’s willpower, focus, and dedication. The author uses the situation with the prostitute to symbolize the commitment of the young America to its great goal.
According to Hawthorne, the temptation and sin, as well as the promise of the prosperity and safety, which is obviously should be associated with the rule of Great Britain, cannot distract the America in the person of Robin from its lofty objectives and purposes. The final important symbol I can see in “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” is the transfiguring look of the church pillar.
Robin sees the tall church columns transforming into the tree branches that have an appearance of his uncle Major Molineux, and then back to the original shape. Such metamorphoses symbolize the interconnection of Great Britain and the Church. Hawthorne wants to emphasize the critical goal of the young America – to gain the religious freedom from the mother country. I think the church pillars are used by the author so that the readers can remember the crucial reason Americans strive for their independence and freedom.
Need to analyze Young Goodman Brown setting? This essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story explores the symbols, themes, characters, & setting of Young Goodman Brown.
The setting in The Young Goodman Brown influences the development of plot and character. The setting of a play is a crucial element in terms of establishing direction, feel and structure that a specific story carries. Usually, a reflection of numerous essential aspects of work; culture, time, location and tone is determined through the setting of the story. That is how an ambience and emotional connotation within readers are created.
The characters in Young Goodman Brown are direct and sure by-products of communities and environments in which they live. The story portrays a paradigm of a setting’s significance. It exemplifies the importance of setting as it reflects and applies to the core meaning of the piece. The story’s background provides a historical look into the characters and their lifestyles.
For example, one quickly discovers that Brown lives in a puritan society in the 17th century (Crowley 65). Thus, several inferences of the character of Brown can be made. This essay is an analysis of the story’s setting, symbolism and characters.I’ve selected the character of Brown, who contends with aspects of the past. It illustrates how Hawthorne’s setting and symbolism of the Young Goodman Brown contribute to the meaning of the entire piece.
Young Goodman Brown: Setting and Characters
Gothic elements are used by Hawthorne in the story to make Brown’s experience convincing and engaging. In part, the gothic aspects of the setting contribute to the story’s intention. The setting is mysterious, and this develops conflict in Brown’s mind and builds his character.
The setting of the Young Goodman Brown ,(the time and location of the action, dusk and forest) cumulatively assists in the devil destructing Brown’s commitment to Puritanism. The elements of forest and darkness turn to haunt Brown. This increases Brown’s internal problems and fear. Due to fear, Brown begins conceiving evil everywhere along his route through the forest. In other words, the forest as a whole represents a gorge of darkness and unconsciousness for Brown (Lynch 64).
With all these devilish elements, the forest at times turns to be part of Brown’s personality. The denser he ventures into the forest, the more he becomes one of his evil. Brown transforms into a devil out of fear as evil exists everywhere. Brown moves too deep into the darkness, period of uncertainty and religious clashes throughout his experience.
Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to create a parallel situation of more in-depth and indirect references. Besides establishing depth resulting from indirectness, symbols enrich Brown’s experience by deepening the conflict in his mind. Also, by utilizing some symbols, Hawthorne violates the fixed conceptual purpose associated with Brown as a character.
Young Goodman Brown is full of symbolism. It applies a cluster of symbols which depicts a series of contrasts reflecting both; problems experienced by Brown; and the extent these symbols influence his personality. Dusk and sunrise, for example, indicate two extremes which indicate commencement and end of a journey.
Dusk, on the one hand, is the period that proceeds darkness and therefore stands for the coming of evil. Dusk, a time between light and total darkness, depicts times of hesitation which Brown begins to experience after meeting the devil.
Further, darkness which is a reflection of evil is purposed to put Brown in a real experience of facing evil. Sunrise, on the other hand, marks the end of the journey. It is a representation of the state of certainty which Brown comes up with by the end of the story. This moment forms clarity in Brown’s belie and attitude towards the village people. This contrast of light and darkness is another good example of symbolism in the Young Goodman Brown.
Conclusion
In summary, the Young Goodman Brown is a Puritanism satire. From the author’s point of view, it is a belief system that pursues an ideology that deepens conflicts and divisions. It discards all efforts at establishing any common position among the numerous Christian sects on the one hand, and other beliefs on the other.
The aspect of Puritanism, through distrust and doubt, encourages the possibility of splitting societies over religious issues at the expense of unity and togetherness. It tries to expel those who are not Puritans and those who do not conform and looks upon them as sinners. This past attends negatively on Brown’s personality as he obeys out of fear.
The story offers historical insight into the character of Brown and his lifestyle. For instance, we quickly understand that Brown lives in a Puritan society right from the onset. We can see Puritanism in some aspects as unrelenting and biased. Puritanism is a Christian sect that looks upon its members as the only devout and looks upon members of other sects as non-conformists.
The Puritans believe that they are the only ones who should be admitted in the membership of the church. The congregations of such individuals portray the true church. The sect does not tolerate others and relates itself to the devil against general humanity (Lynch 65).
This sort of extremism of Puritan principles indicates the spread of puritan ideology and its reception among people. Thus, the bias nature of Puritanism leads to hatred, distrust and segmentation among human beings. According to Lynch (2009; P. 69), puritans established themselves a distrustful society for a vibrant congregation which would later harm them.
The main character of Young Goodman Brown is a reflection of the puritan ideology. In him, Hawthorne’s Puritanism is satirized as the dominant faith in his hometown. He looks at Puritanism in a manner to suggest his disillusionment and dissatisfaction with it as a system of belief. In the descriptions of Goodman Brown, Hawthorne seems to discover back his personal experiences with puritans (Lynch 70).
Works Cited
Crowley, Joseph. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Taylor & Francis, 1971.
Lynch, John. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2009.
Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown is an allegorical story that focuses on the religious or theological practices of the Puritans. The Puritan society adheres to strict religious practices thus Brown was not an exception. Brown and his newly wed wife, Faith, respect all the people around them because of their belief in God or Christianity.
Though deeply rooted into Christianity, a single night adventure into the forest alters Brown’s belief in Christianity, which affects his relationship with the people in his community. Initially, Brown believed in Christianity but after the awful encounter with the ‘devil’, he changes his perception on humanity and religious beliefs isolating all the people around him including his wife.
Before embarking on the journey to the forest, Brown not only loves his wife, but also practices strict Christianity through holding prayers and other forms of catechisms. Therefore, one might wonder, what prompts him to visit the ‘devil’? The journey to the forest not only suffocates Brown’s religious beliefs, but also separates him from his family and the community.
Brown believed that all the religious people like the deacons and catechists purely practiced Christianity; therefore, he respected them due to their faith. Unfortunately, while in the forest, he sees some of the religious leaders communicating with the devil. Moreover, he also hears the voice of his religious wife Faith.
After the experience in the forest, Brown declares, “my faith has gone” (Donahue, 25), which means he now believes neither in God/Christianity nor in his wife who coincidentally goes by the name ‘Faith’. Brown assumes or starts believing that all Christians or people in the world are hypocrites.
Brown’s journey has a negative impact on both his religious believes, practices, and social life. Unfortunately, Brown now believes that all human beings are pretenders or practice hypocrisy. Additionally, the world lacks humanity and all people sin according to Brown.
When he sees the deacon and other clergymen in the forest, he becomes unhappy, feeling betrayed by people whose role is to ensure Christianity prevails in the Puritan society. As a result, Brown starts seeing the world as an impure place and believes that all the people are unclean. Besides believing in Christianity, people also ascribe to Satanism, which draws hatred in his heart.
Astonishingly, he believes everything the devil tells him especially about his father/grand father visiting the forest yet they came from a society, which upheld morality especially on religion. For instance, when the devil says “whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest-where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot”, Brown trusts the words and ends up assuming all puritans are evil (Walter 50).
Therefore, the encounter with the devil pushes Brown to believe both in his preaching and in practices losing his contact with Christianity. Eventually, Brown starts living a fearful, lonely, and sad life filled with regrets. The ability to practice dynamic behavior changes his way of life, which keeps himself from other people.
Socially, the community/society that Brown lives in believes in isolating all other people who are non-Christian or who go to the evil forest. Faith is against Brown’s plan of going to the evil forest because of the negative social impact that he may experience. Similarly, Brown is initially hesitant to go to the forest, which proves that nobody is free to go there.
All the people who go to the devilish forest are evil, witches, wizards, and wicked, which is the reason why Brown is hesitant to join the devilish ceremony. For instance, when Brown sees the clergymen talking to the ‘devil’, his parents, priests, and prominent men from his society, he hides behind a nearby tree because of the debilitating social impact that may befall him.
The freedom of worship lacks in the society because those who visit the devil have to do so at night. Brown decides to meet the devil at night; the same night he sees people from his community in the forest. Thusly, most of the people in the Puritans society practice Christianity in daytime to fit in the community.
Due to Brown’s social belief of shunning all the people who practice Satanism, he decides to stop communicating with everybody including his wife. Although he does not reveal to anybody about his experience in the forest, it is wide open that the devil alters his mind, corrupting his social life.
In summary, Brown’s decision to meet the devil corrupts his mind completely changing his religious and social believes. Consequently, his social life, especially his marriage, becomes useless leading him to live a fearful life. As a Puritan who upholds religious beliefs, he isolates all the people who juggle between Christianity and Satanism including his wife.
Due to fear, he neither loves nor trusts his wife yet he does not physically see her at the ceremony in the evil forest. Finally, he shuns the priests, deacons, and other religious people in the community leading him to lead a miserable life.
Works Cited
Donahue, Jane. My Faith is Gone! ‘Young Goodman Brown’ and Puritan conversion, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown. England: Chelsea House, 2005.
Walter, Shear. Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Short Stories Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown. England: Chelsea House, 2005.
The most compelling quote from “Young Goodman Brown” is probably the following: “Depending upon one another’s hearts, ye had still hoped that virtue was not all a dream. Now, are ye undeceived? Evil is the nature of mankind (Hawthorne, p. 408).” The Devil is trying to persuade the main character that the world as he sees it through the moral lens is an illusion. Evil, however, is the reality that every person will have to face. Another quotation that captures the reader’s attention is: “With Heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the Devil! (Hawthorne, p. 409)” Goodman Brown rejects the worldview perpetuated by the Devil and calls for the Higher Power (Heaven) to help him. Interestingly enough, Faith can be interpreted ambiguously – literally and as the name of his wife. In the second case, Brown might mean that the bond that he has with his wife is what makes him persistent in opposing evil.
Qualities
The story by Hawthorne includes six essential elements of fiction: character, plot, point of view, setting, style, and themes. The main character is young Goodman Brown, a puritan who moved to the New World with his wife. The plot is built around his journey into a mysterious forest – the main setting in this literary piece. While the story is written in the third person, the reader has access to Brown’s point of view and can empathize with his feelings. The style is intentionally gothic and grotesque insofar as the themes discussed – temptation, loss of faith, and madness.
Questions
“Young Goodman Brown” raises many questions that remain unanswered and, therefore, are open to interpretation. The reader cannot tell precisely whether what Brown encountered in the forest was real, or he merely dreamed it. There is some evidence that the vision that Goodman Brown had was nothing but a dream. Throughout his journey, his perception of the surroundings is indistinct and lacks detail. When Brown meets an old traveler, he realizes certain similarities between them, which may mean that the protagonist met his subconscious self in his dream. Another question that compels the reader to develop a deeper understanding of the story is whether the Devil himself made Brown hallucinate the entire encounter. The testing of faith is a common theme in Protestantism, which makes this explanation feasible.
Work Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Compact ninth ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2015. 405-414. Print.
In their short stories, Edgar Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne explore the psychological peculiarities of their characters and the transformation of their inner world. This paper is aimed at discussing such works as Young Goodman Brown written Hawthorn and Poe’s famous short story The Fall of the House of Usher. Overall, one can argue that both authors show how characters perceive and respond to the disintegration of the world that has been familiar to them.
These people suffer a severe emotional trauma. This is one of the main themes that these writers explore. These questions can be better examined by looking at the setting of these short stories, conflicts, the transformation of the protagonists, and style because they can show the techniques used by these writers. These are the main issues that should be taken into account by the readers of these texts.
First of all, Hawthorn and Poe focus on the setting since this element can better explain the behavior of various characters. For instance, Hawthorn emphasizes that the action takes place in the Puritan New England, probably in the seventeenth century. In particular, the readers learn the characters live in Salem, a village which is notorious for numerous witch trials that were held there (Hawthorne 7).
To a great extent, this detail suggests that the narrative will describe some dramatic events. The location is very important for the writer because in this way, he can introduce supernatural element into the narrative. In turn, Edgar Poe does not directly identify the exact time and location of the story, but the readers can see that the action takes place in some desolate location which is not easily accessible to other people.
The first sentence of the story illustrates how Poe describes the setting, “I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher” (Poe 4). One can say that both authors strive to create an atmosphere of suspense. To some degree, this goal is attained by looking at the setting of these short stories. This is one of the main aspects that can be identified.
Furthermore, much attention should be paid to the main characters of these stories. For example, Goodman Brown is firmly convinced that he lives in a virtuous community in which people try to be immune to sin. He can be described as a virtuous and slightly naïve person who wants to see the better qualities of other people. Nevertheless, he can sense that something is wrong. He feels that the hidden life of people can differs dramatically from their public life.
In turn, the unnamed narrator of Edgar Poe story can notice that his friend Roderick Usher is in the state of physical and psychological collapse, even he cannot understand why he has changed so significantly. He can be viewed as a very perceptive individual who can detect the changes in the behavior of other people. Thus, these characters can be described as very responsive people, and this is one of the similarities that should be taken into consideration.
Additionally, it is vital to look at the conflicts which drive the narratives presented by the authors. Nathaniel Hawthorne examines the conflict between the proclaimed and hidden values of people. It should be mentioned that the residents of the village claim to be virtuous Puritans who are only concerned with the ethical aspects of their behavior.
However, they participate in a witch Sabbath and this ritual is hardly compatible with the ideals that these villagers claim to have. Moreover, there is internal conflict between his own rationality and belief in the better qualities of other people. At the moment of bitter disappointment, the main character says, ‘My faith is gone…. There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name’ (Hawthorne 23).
In turn, the narrator of Edgar Poe’s story is torn by the conflict to run away from the declining house of Usher and his devotion to his friend, Roderick. The narrator strives to cope with “the sense of insufferable gloom” when he approaches the house (Poe 4). Nevertheless, he still wishes to meet Roderick. So, the authors explore different conflicts, but these elements of the narrative are vital for explaining the main themes of these short stories.
Apart from that, it is vital to look at different elements of the plot. Nathaniel Hawthorn does not immediately reveal the purpose of the main character’s journey or its outcome. Moreover, the readers do not know what the protagonist will find out in the forest. The plot of this short story contains such elements as exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution. These are some of the details that should not be disregarded.
Similarly, Poe does not reveal what happens to Roderick Usher and why his sister died. This approach enables the writers to focus the readers’ attention on the narrative. Moreover, the writers show how the world, which is familiar to the characters, gradually falls apart. In particular, Goodman Brown sees how the ideals such as faith or devotion lose their value. In turn, Edgar Poe describes the decline of Roderick Usher and emotional response of the narrator. This is one of the key details that should be considered.
Finally, it is important to examine the style of both authors. One can argue that Edgar Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne try to make sure that every detail throws some light on the characters, their inner world or at least the setting. This is one of the similarities in the style of these writers. Yet, there are some distinctions. In particular, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows that his characters use the archaic words or phrases such as “thou” or “sayest” (Hawthorne 11).
The speech of these people indicates that these characters could be living in the Puritan New England (Hawthorne 11). Additionally, the characters have such names as Faith or Goodman which were very popular in the seventeenth century. In this way, the author wants to show that the residents of the village wanted to showcase their piety. In turn, Edgar Poe prefers to use various epithets and metaphors which can intensify the feeling of suspense.
The following quote illustrates the writing style of this author, “feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes” (Poe 8). This passage shows that Poe wants to create vivid images that produce a long-lasting impression on the reader. He wants the reader to imagine the dreary house in which the action takes place.
Overall, these examples indicate that Edgar Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne attach much importance to the psychological development of the characters. They can perfectly describe how they responds to the collapse of something that they have taken for granted.
Goodman Brown is forced to accept that his neighbors and even his wife are not as virtuous and pious as they claim to be. In turn, the unnamed narrator of Edgar Poe’s story is forced to see the decline of his friend. One can argue that both characters suffer from significant psychological trauma. This is one of the main details that be identified.
First published in 1835, “Young Goodman Brown” is a poem by Nathaniel Hawthorne to reveal the corruptibility ensuing from the Puritan society’s emphasis on public morality. Leveraging the formalist, feminist, and postcolonial literary approaches, subjective analysis of the Young Goodman Brown poem highlight the motifs, techniques, and methodical and systematic styles utilized in the reading. First, the formalism approach advocates for methodical and systematic reading of the texts to delineate the figurative languages employed in a poem, such as an allegory, illusion, and symbols (Darma 17). Allegory is the interpretation of hidden meaning, and Hawthorne illustrates the allegory of the fall of a man. Symbolism is evident in the naming of Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith. For instance, Goodman told Faith: “Say thy prayers dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk,” (Hawthorne 1). The description of how Pharaoh’s court converted staves to serpents illustrates illusion in the poem.
Feminism or gender equality is highly featured in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” to depict women as discriminated against, powerless, non-influential, and powerless members of society. At first, Hawthorne was a protagonist perceiving women as saints. Hawthorne (3) reads: “There is my wife, Faith. I would break her dear little heart; and I’d rather break my own”. However, he gradually realizes women are not righteous as he thought, and women gain a negative connotation as cunning. Relevant to the poem, feminism sets the ground for Hawthorne’s journey to self-criticism.
Post colonialism is employed in “Young Goodman Brown” to distinguish cultural identity. The postcolonial aspects of race and identity when Hawthorne describes the dark figure narrating to the children the postcolonial identify of the black race as awful and miserable (Hawthorne 8). Postcolonial aspects of race and identity create an awareness of colonialism’s influence on social structure in the poem highlighted through the formalist, feminist, and postcolonial literacy.
Works Cited
Darma, Budi. “Literature: Human Reality.” Welcoming Remark from the Chair Of The Organizing Committee. The 1st International Conference on Education Language and Literature (ICON-ELITE). (2018). Web.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Short Stories & Classic Literature for Readers & Teachers, n.d. Web.
“Young Goodman Brown” is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1835 and depicting the mid-18th century Salem, a town near Boston sadly known for its “witch hunts” when women were sentenced to death on charges of witchcraft. The writer’s great-grandfather was a judge who participated in these processes, and shame for his ancestor’s deeds forced Nathaniel Hawthorne to change his surname by adding “w” in the middle of it. This paper explores how Hawthorne uses Gothic elements in his writing and argues that the “Young Goodman Brown” short story contains all the necessary elements to be considered Gothic fiction.
Elements of Gothic Fiction
Traditionally, Gothic fiction contains the following essential elements: mystery and fear, omens and curses, atmosphere and setting, supernatural activity, romance, villain, emotional distress, anti-hero, damsel in distress, emotional aesthetics based on the fear of unknown, morbid scenery, medievalism, and mysterious imagination. The story utilizes plenty of Gothic elements from this list. For instance, it starts with scenes of two lovers’ farewell – Goodman Brown and his wife Faith, who warns him not to go to the forest at night and stay with her.
Gentle and trusting relationships between young spouses Goodman and Faith represent the element of romance in the story. Faith also embodies the virgin lady or benevolent lady, incapable of evil, beautiful inside and with her appearances: “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 while she called to Goodman Brown” (Hawthorne 211). She is also depicted as a “damsel in distress” when Goodman hears in the forest how the townspeople lead her to the devil’s communion.
The short story features the anti-hero, a guide of Goodman, who leads him through the forest. The author describes this character as “the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree,” and says that most remarkable thing about this man was “his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent” (Hawthorne 212). Advancing on the forest path, after several attempts to abandon the venture, Goodman himself turns into an anti-hero when the devil takes possession of his heart.
Hawthorne presents a horrifying transformation: “Goodman Brown flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him” (Hawthorne 218). Goodman becomes a hostage of his guide, who brought Goodman to evil when he witnessed the devil’s sacrament.
The story is replete with ominous elements of scenery, such as the night forest and the darkness, in which the silhouettes of travelers cannot be made out. The forest trail gets narrower and almost indistinguishable as Goodman walks deeper into the forest. Sounds are part of the scenery and even more important than the images. Hawthorne says: “The whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds — the creaking of the trees, the howling of wild beasts, and the yell of Indians; while sometimes the wind tolled like a distant church bell, and sometimes gave a broad roar around the traveler, as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn” (Hawthorne 218). Initially, Goodman hears a passing carriage with the deacon and the minister, who hurry to the forest sacrament, clearly distinguishing their voices.
Then he hears the distant hum of the townspeople’s voices, which seem to persuade the young girl to move on a path that is disgusting and difficult for her. Goodman realizes that this is his wife Faith and calls her, but in return, the wind brings him only a pink ribbon from her hat. Discouraged, he rushes forward towards evil; since everything is evil, Goodman will also become a part of it. Reaching a clearing and a high rock surrounded by four flaming pine trees, Goodman sees the townspeople in the flickering red light of the fire, and then the dark figure of the priest – or the devil himself – makes a speech before the communion of the proselytes.
Hawthorne uses the unknown as a reason for horror and part of the Gothic emotional aesthetic. The reader does not know for what purpose Goodman plunges deeper into the forest thicket, who is his nameless companion, whose voices the hero hears – human or demonic. Faith’s character becomes controversial after Goodman hears her voice in the woods and sees her at the devil’s sacrament. Upon returning home, Goodman prefers to consider everything he saw as a dream, and his forest walk really feels like a dream, precisely because of the use of the Gothic element of the unknown.
The story contains supernatural powers, like when Goodman flies through the forest towards the clearing where the townspeople gathered for the devil’s communion. The sounds surrounding Goodman are supernatural, and so are the images he sees in the clearing. Goodman’s companion uses a magic staff, with which he moves the older woman to the clearing. Another staff becomes magical right in a companion’s hands, and Goodman flies over the forest using this staff. Nature also behaves abnormally – Goodman sees a black cloud appeared in the sky, which rushes in the north’s direction, despite the calm weather. The author uses dreams as omens at the beginning of the story when Faith warns Goodman against walking in the woods.
Hawthorne often criticizes Puritan mores as hypocritical in his writings and uses related Gothic symbolism. The story contains vicious priests – a deacon and a saint and a lady who teaches children the catechism. Likewise, the old woman and other ladies who came to the forest may be the embodiment of the “old stupid woman,” another element of Gothic prose. In the story, there is also an “evil local man” – Goodman’s guide.
Hawthorne Vision of Gothics in the Plot of the Story
Emotional tension, Gothic emotional aesthetics are important elements of any Gothic story. Authors often place characters in frightening circumstances and make them challenge threatening events. In Gothic fiction, heroes often die at the end of the story. In “Young Goodman Brown,” the hero remains alive, although, for the rest of his life, he does not trust anyone and is disgusted with his once beloved wife. Years later, he dies in the gloomy hour, and friends who gather to take him on his last journey do not find comforting words for his gravestone inscription.
Interestingly, according to the plot, the hero’s words that his Faith is gone are not a culmination. The culmination happens when Goodman reaches the clearing and hears the black-clad figure’s invitation to the devil’s sacrament. The denouement comes when Goodman asks Faith to raise her eyes to the sky and renounce the devil, after which he finds himself in the city square. Such a sharp turn of the plot corresponds to the feeling of horror that grips the hero and allows keeping the line between reality and fantasy blurred.
The storyline is characteristic of a Gothic novel that seeks to evoke a sublime sense of romantic fear and horror. The use of emotional aesthetics allows the author to discover the character’s depth and exaggerate their inner experiences. Noteworthy is the phrase “he was himself the chief horror of the scene, and shrank not from its other horrors” (Hawthorn 218). It is one of the few phrases that symbolize hope as a new guide for the traveler Goodman.
Based on it, one can conclude that Hawthorne was not a Puritan, but he understood the desire of the soul to explore the attractive and unsightly sides of life, the beautiful and the terrible in human nature. In this light, it is interesting that the author chose the forest scenery since the forest is an even more ancient symbol than the Gothic castles in the Emily Bronte style or the Gothic slums in the Dickens style. The thicket has always symbolized the dark, unexplored corners of the human soul, and Goodman Brown’s journey through the forest symbolically reflects his exploration of his human nature.
Goodman is disappointed when he sees Faith in the forest, surrounded by godly and unbelieving townspeople, “whom he had met at the communion table, and had seen others rioting at the tavern” (Hawthorne 217). Faith cannot limit her understanding and knowledge of life to the illusion of purity and the walls of their home, but for Goodman Brown, this is a severe blow since Faith is his spiritual guide. Now, after the journey, he must find a new guide for his future life. But according to the plot and within the Gothic genre framework, Goodman Brown sees no meaning in life after he lost his faith.
It is noteworthy that Hawthorne’s great-grandfather was a judge in the famous Salem Witch Trials. The author deliberately references the atrocities of Goodman Brown’s ancestors to express his remorse for his ancestors’ crimes. Hawthorne’s narrative also uses an additional element of traditional Gothic stories to express the author’s political position and attitude towards the ruling class of the mid-18th century. According to Goodman’s companion, local high society, starting with the governor, was all about evil and depravity.
Interestingly, an allusion to “Young Goodman Brown” is used in the Netflix series “Salem.” There is a scene in the series when one of the main characters, the minister Mather, looking back at his wife Anne Hale, leaves for the forest searching for those who participate in the witch’s ritual. In the series, Mather does not know that Anne is a witch, and he considers her a model of virtue; they have been married for no more than a month. As a result of his wanderings in the forest, Mather loses faith in people, although he retains faith in God.
Overall, the series makes extensive use of Hawthorne’s ideas, criticizing puritanical mores and lifestyles. The series also features Judge Hawthorn’s character, which directly references historical facts and Nathaniel Hawthorn’s literary work. The screen version makes it possible to see characters in great colors in a historical setting, but reading allows one to imagine more individual images and possibly more authentic ones.
Thus, it was discussed how Hawthorne uses Gothic elements in “Young Goodman Brown” short story. The narrative contains all the necessary elements to be considered Gothic fiction, including romance, godly lady, damsel in distress, anti-hero or villain, frightening scenery, omens, and supernatural powers. The author also depicts vicious priests, a stupid older woman, and an evil local person as additional elements. Emotional tension is achieved through an obsessive environment, an ominous course of events, and uncertainty.
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Hawthorne’s short stories. Vintage, 2011.