ipl-logo

Goodman Brown Figurative Language

476 Words2 Pages

A married man during the Puritan times who makes the decision to wander in the woods to meet a stranger who shows Goodman Brown the truth about his faith and religion. The author describes this interaction to be dark/evil/suspicion.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne” uses fear to develop the main idea. Fear can be seen in Goodman when he steps into the woods as he knows nothing good ever comes out of the wilderness. Goodman brown beliefs as a Puritan is that the new world is something to fear rather than dominate “(Overview).” His beliefs make him fear the world just like the fear of God since it is the only way to keep us from sin. It is said that all kinds of good will flow into the life of a person who fears God. When Goodman Brown is walking through the woods his mind makes him fear that the Devil could be walking right by his side. When …show more content…

This can be seen when he talks about missing his wife's faith while in the woods. He then hears a voice that he recognizes as her voice, this could be described as having strong faith, but in this instance this means that Goodmans Brown faith has left him because of the crying sorrows he hears from his wife's voice. This is a result from leaving his wife faith and also leaving the faith of God and following the devil to the forsaken land. Goodman Brown realizes that everyone must regularly choose good and evil, this makes him realize that many people failed to follow the path of righteousness making him question his own faith. The devil shows Goodman Brown these things to make him give up his faith and religion so that he will stride further from God. Previously when he mentioned the devil, an old man appeared carrying a staff of serpents. The old man is a symbol for the Devil and the staff the man carries with the serpents also represents the Devil's

Show More
Related
2225 Words | 9 Pages

(Maus 2005) In the story of “Young Goodman Brown”, the traveler carries a serpentine staff and towards the climax of the story, he makes a new stick by stripping twigs, wet with dew. However the moment his fingers touch them they withered and dried up. The traveler is as destructive as they come; he is feared by Puritans. The whole point of the Puritan’s journey into that forest, although each individual’s is different, is so they can get a glimpse of this traveler and what he is capable of and in turn realize how much they actually need God. The serpent on his staff is a symbolization that he is like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

The short story concludes with Goodman Brown strolling through the village the morning after and seeing all the townspeople returning to their daily lives. The story of “Young Goodman” Brown shows personification, imagery, and allegory, Hawthorne expands his storytelling by using many literary devices. Personification gives the character’s life a fantastical view, it is what makes the short story falter from reality. A prime example is near the end when Hawthorne states, “Nature

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

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).

Read More
843 Words | 4 Pages

Goodman Brown is accompanied by the old man carrying a walking stick in the shape of a snake. The snake is a symbol which represents the devil and his evil works. Continuously, both Goodman Brown and the old man walk down the trail, and while doing so, Goodman Brown states, “We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept-”(Hawthorne 3). This statement ironically foreshadows how Goodman Brown takes the path and falls under evil works. Goodman Brown is led to the devils ceremony of which ultimately

Read More
489 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1728 Words | 7 Pages

During his journey of sin, Young Goodman Brown and the devil come upon Goody Cloyse, Young Goodman Brown's catechism teacher, and, still believing that she is a “pious and exemplary dame” Goodman Brown tries to stay away from the woman by pleading with the devil “I shall take a cut through the woods… being a stranger to you, she might ask whom I was consorting with” (3). Because of Young Goodman Brown’s beliefs of her innocence, it is even more jolting to him when she “knows her old friend,” the devil, and speaks about stolen broomsticks, recipes including “the juice of smallage and cinquefoil and wolf’s-bane,” and even the same devilish meeting that Young Goodman Brown and his accomplice are to attend (3). With signs that all point to sin and witchcraft, Young Goodman Brown’s shock in saying “That old woman taught me my catechism” had “a world of meaning” as he cannot possibly believe that a woman known to be so holy and righteous in the community could be so evil within. As Goodman Brown moves past the shock of Goody Cloyse’s actions, he is exposed to the sins of the holiest members of their Puritan community, the minister and Deacon Gookin. While Goodman Brown shamefully “[conceals] himself within the verge of the forest… he recognized the voices of the minister and Deacon Gookin” who speak of the same evil “meeting” as Goody Cloyse and even remark that “several of the Indian powwows” will even be present (4,5).

Read More
1344 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

Although he blames his evil and hypocrisy on others he leaves his faith first. He develops this thought in the allegory and in many symbols, particularly the sunset, the walking stick, and the path. When Goodman Brown say, "Of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee," he is saying in other words that he needs to be away from his wife Faith that night. “of all nights in the yea”' means possibly that he is home most other nights and that tonight is significant because he has something important to do away from

Read More
512 Words | 3 Pages

Goodman Brown enters the forest knowing of such evil, he states in the story “what if the devil himself should be at my very elbow” (Hawthorne 322). Goodman Brown sees the minister and Deacon Gookin as well as many other townspeople making their way into the dark forest towards the ceremony. At this time, Nathaniel Hawthorne is displaying that many people of all ranks in religious and governmental society are sinners despite their external appearance. He holds on to the thoughts that as long as Faith remains holy, he shall find it in himself to resist the temptations of evil, but when he sees the pink ribbons from Faith’s cap his Christian faith is weakened. Hawthorne is using Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, as a symbol of his own when he yells out “my faith is gone!”

Read More
501 Words | 3 Pages

Goodman Brown is being skeptical about his faith as he goes deep into the

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

As Goodman Brown faced the evil man with the serpent staff, we too face sin with temptation. The author also makes a point to include Brown’s wife, Faith, as a representation of the puritans and “people in faith” that fall under evil and sin that surrounds them every day. Throughout the book Nathaniel Hawthorne uses diction in order to create imagery that creates scenery and sets the mood as well as symbolism to represent the aspects of the theme of evil in daily life that Hawthorne is trying to indirectly deliver to the

Read More
267 Words | 2 Pages

One way or the other we all have a part of the devil in us, which is what Goodman Brown realizes. Goodman Brown sees the truth, and the truth can sometimes be considered a sin as well, so he is forced to question all morals and his faith, causing him to become a "a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man." He has left the world of innocence. Goodman

Read More
1433 Words | 6 Pages

Goodman Brown shows he has some confidence by going to chapel, however he just feels the wretchedness of the gathering 's evil and bad faith: "On the Sabbath day, when the assembly were singing a sacred hymn, he couldn 't tune in, in light of the fact that a song of praise of transgression surged noisily upon his ear, and suffocated all the favored strain". At the point when Hawthorne expresses, "Regularly, arising abruptly at midnight, he shrank from the chest of Faith", once more, the name of Goodman Brown 's better half is utilized as a source of perspective to Goodman Brown 's confidence. This entry proposes Goodman Brown still has some confidence remaining yet his insight into the murkiness on the planet makes him indeed pull back from whatever remains of the world. Despite the fact that he carries on with a long existence with Faith and has youngsters and fantastic kids, it is obvious Goodman Brown never loses his anger toward society and the insidiousness on the planet, "for his withering hour was

Read More
1005 Words | 5 Pages

The use of symbolism is largely used in the story to further display the theory of good vs evil. This quote in particular, illustrates the first encounter of evil that Goodman Brown meets. He meets this random strange man in the deep dark forest quickly notes the odd staff that he carries using precise detail stating how intricately it is made that it appears to be moving. This serpent staff has biblical symbolism in which it is symbolic of evil and manipulation while the man who carries this staff is used to symbolize the devil who manipulates and lures Goodman Brown deeper into forest which is used to represent hell and plunges Goodman Brown further into sin. Goodman Brown is used to represent the good in people, which is evident in his name, and how easily the evil and darkness can manipulate the good in others.

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More

More about Goodman Brown Figurative Language

Related Topics

Open Document