Does Hawthorne Use Ethos In Young Goodman Brown Anti Transcendentalism

Is man born evil? The Anti-Transcendentalists believed so. The aspects of Anti-Transcendentalism are: man is born with the stain of original sin and man is inherently evil, man is the most destructive force in nature and one can only find God through good works and life experience, there are no universal truths, just individual truths and there is no over-soul, just heaven and hell. Anti-Transcendentalism is the opposite of transcendentalism. It was a literary movement that essentially consisted of only two writers, one of which was Nathaniel Hawthorne who wrote “Young Goodman Brown.” In “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne’s argument most effectively demonstrates his Anti-Transcendentalist theory. Hawthorne’s Anti-Transcendentalist theory is

This shows ethos is being used because Goodman represents a good man and appeals to the reader as seeing the author as a credible source. When Hawthorne writes, he is writing about himself. He saw himself as a good man who still is guilty of seeking out evil. Hawthorne believed he inherited the guilt of ancestors’ wrongdoings. He had puritan ancestors that participated in the Salem witch trials. Since Hawthorne was writing about himself, ethos comes into play. The reader is able to see Hawthorne as a credible source because he is writing about his guilt from his own

Through his use of symbolism and allegorical devices of the characters, such as Young Goodman Brown, Faith, the pink ribbons, and the old man’s staff, the reader is able to truly understand what point Hawthorne was trying to get across. Hawthorne effectively used ethos, logos, and pathos in “Young Goodman Brown.” When he uses the fact that he believed he inherited the guilt of ancestors for ethos, Goodman Brown seeking out evil in the world as pathos, and the fact that Goodman Brown’s ancestors participated in evil as logos, Hawthorne was able to most effectively demonstrate his Anti-Transcendentalist