The story of Young Goodman Brown is the story of a tale about the main character becoming aware of the hypocrisy of his faith as a Puritan. Through his travels in the woods at night, he unveils the truths, or what he believes as truths, about his wife Faith, neighbors, and fellow Christians. By the end, Brown loses all trust in his Faith, both literally and spiritually, and refuses to see any good in the world. The beginning scene where Goodman Brown meets the old man has the most significance in the story’s resolution. This is where his mistrust starts to form and where he experiences his first temptations to sin. As a Puritan man married to “Faith”, his choice to continue into the unknown leads him to contemplate and create new opinions of his religion. This scene also shows many instances of symbolism that refer to the devil and sinning. Goodman Brown encountering the old man is significant in his transformation because it displays his crucial decision that leads …show more content…
His opening phrase in this scene is, “ “Faith kept me back a while” replied a young man, with tremor in his voice” (406). Although Goodman Brown’s conversation with his wife delayed him, he was referring to his faith in Puritan beliefs. In the beginning, he is uneasy with the idea of darkness and the unknown because that is all he has learned is to stay true to God. His faith is all he has known his whole life and deviating away from that ideal lifestyle is a foreign yet tempting idea. This is evident when he says, “ “Too far! Too far!” exclaimed the goodman, unconsciously resuming his walk” (406). His brain knows it is a bad idea to continue forward, but his subconscious is eager to know what lies ahead. Brown is experiencing his first real conflict of the story with accepting temptation and the battle between his faith and
In this time period they wanted everyone to have a pure belief in God. If this time people would have not occurred when this writing was written, Edwards probably would have gone a different way with it. “Young Goodman Brown” was written during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. This time period affected the story. We know that this time period affected the writing because along the path the “devil” is talking to a witch and Young Goodman Brown was shocked to see what he did not know.
Goodman Brown however, isn’t very fond of this evil darkness and begs for forgiveness and help to escape this dark evil forest of sin. He calls to his wife for aid starting, “With heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand against the devil!” (Hawthorne 11). As Goodman Brown is plunged deeper into the forest of sin, he fights this evil darkness and
With people basing what they believe as their own individuality on the expectations and opinions, there is no individuality. This is how deceptive society can be to an individual, causing someone to believe that they are different when in reality, they are altering their differences to fit the expectations of others. Similarly in Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character bases his faith on the faith and expectations of others. By basing his faith on others expectations he was conforming to societal expectation. In this instance the character’s faith symbolizes
(pg. 453)” Young Goodman Brown is a man living in the puritan era who has a wife and family, and is deep in his Christian faith. Young Goodman Brown lived in a town that is all connected to through the local church. Early in the story Young Goodman brown would set out to meet a person who would later be labeled as the devil by one of the locals. Young Goodman brown would have a vision of everyone in his community that would show him their wicked sins.
Goodman goes to unknown errand in the forest leaving his wife Faith. His wife pleads with to stay behind but the decisive husband insists that he must complete his journey to the forest that night where he
While there are as many possible interpretations of a work as there are readers, a reader should not have to go beyond a work to understand an author’s intentions for a work. They should be able to have a somewhat similar interpretation to the author’s intended interpretation, given that the author was successful in their rhetoric and stylistic devices. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s case with his short story “Young Goodman Brown”, one does not have to go far to understand what he wanted to achieve. Hawthorne was a master of societal criticism, symbolism, rhetoric, and narration. Hawthorne meant for his readers to feel conflicted and confused.
Once Young Goodman Brown is in the woods, he comes across his innocent Faith’s symbolic ribbon of innocence, it “fluttered down, through the air and caught on a branch of a tree. A young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon. ‘My Faith is gone! There is no good on Earth!’” is Goodman’s last call out to his dear Faith as he realizes that there truly cannot be a person that is so pure on this cruel earth, As for Connie, she yells out at Arnold “Shut up!
For many years, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing of “Young Goodman Brown” has been used frequently when discussing the topic of a moral allegory. This story is both a literal and metaphorical journey of a man who is walking to a spiritual crisis, with the devil himself. The use of symbolism and imagery help to set the tone for the reader, when going along with Goodman Brown on his “soul-searching” journey. Herman Melville once wrote that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” has only been improving over time. He said “like wine, was only improving in flavor and body.”
In the text, “Young Goodman Brown”, Brown’s gloom and withdrawal is justified by the shocking events in the forest. This is because, during his time in the forest, be bears witness to supernatural events in which he sees that many people he knows from the path of god are in reality on the path of the devil. For Brown to be justified in his feelings, the events in question must be deemed events that were real. To start, when Brown first exited the woods after witnessing the ritual, he heard Deacon Gookin, a man at the ritual, praying.
Goody does everything she can to try to get Goodman Brown to stay home. When the companion walking with Goodman Brown arrived, it startled him. When the companion tried to get him to go into the woods, Goodman said, “My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of martyrs…” (Hawthorne 222).
Web. 2 May. 2012. The research of “Young Goodman Brown,” explains the various images found in Young Goodman Brown. Some of them clarifies the author criticisms are the Salem Village, the pink ribbons on Faith’s hat, the fellow traveler, the staff, and using of the term “faith”, and the forest.
“There is no good on earth… Come, devil! For to thee is this world given.” (Hawthorne). Goodman's wife is his actual faith which is where the symbolism happened and with his faith gone there is no hope for the world. The symbolism that is used through is the wife who is named faith, as she is the most pure hearted person, and without her he feels as if there is no hope.
This talk of devilish acts from people known to Goodman Brown as holier than all causes Goodman Brown great pain and confusion even to the point where he was “ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburdened” from what he had just witnessed (5). In the short time from when Goodman Brown enters the forest, sees Goody Cloyse, and sees the minister and the deacon, his entire life and upbringing is
In “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown is naïve. At first, he is stuck on the idea that everyone is good but still chooses to meet with the devil in the forest out of curiosity. He knows that the devil is evil and a bad person, but feels as long as he clings to Faith once he gets home he will be safe. Goodman Brown encounters several people that he knows while on his walk in the
The setting appears to symbolize the world outside Puritan Salem, and thus, outside Goodman Brown’s capacity. The forest’s ambience triggers his acknowledgment of the true portrayal of life, embodying his fears and suspicions of what truly stands out of the norm. The path Goodman Brown journeys upon not only represents an embodiment of his fears and angst, but also as a passage of unavoidable sin and duality that later becomes the epitome of his pride’s destruction and ultimate recognition of the nature of life. During his solitary expedition through the woods, Goodman Brown also faces numerous Puritan citizens whom he originally assumes to be solely pure, such as Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin. He later realizes that the journey he has commenced upon is a ceremonial form of a sinful congregation; by encountering his fellow citizens, he fully acknowledges the nature of life.