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Internal Conflict In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Young Goodman Brown Analysis In Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Goodman Brown must conquer his internal conflict within himself in order reach a level of clarity. Goodman Brown must choose to believe in his dreams within the forest within himself or his daily reality. Goodman Brown says farewell to his beloved wife Faith. Faith attempts to persuade him to stay, but to no avail. He insists he must leave for one night. Goodman Brown travels through the darkened forest. As he is is traveling fear takes over, and he finds himself wondering what devilish creatures are out there watching his every move. Then he meets a man deep in the forest who carries a serpent like staff. Goodman Brown is displeased to have met the man, but he has agreed to do so regardless. Goodman Brown informs the man that his family have all been good Christians for many generations, which the man replies saying he knew the man's father and grandfather, as well as other members of the New England church, and the governor of state. This statement confuses Goodman Brown. In …show more content…

The story is taking place in Goodman Brown’s thoughts, “What a wretch am I, to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams, too. Methought, as she spoke, there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done to-night. . .” Goodman brown feels guilty for the journey he is about to embark on, and he fears that Faith might know that he is about to take a journey into his darkest thoughts. Most people have thoughts, and fears they don't want to face. There are things that go through our minds that we don't want anyone to know. Goodman Brown had these thought as well. He wanted to keep them inside, yet he also wanted to figure out what they meant to him, therefore, he did what most of us are too scared to do. For better or for worse Goodman Brown chose to face his

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Brown has an errand to attend to and Faith doesn 't want him to go. Faith is afraid of the dark and she thinks something bad will happen to her. Brown tells her to pray and go to bed. Brown has no fear and Faith is afraid at this moment. Brown walks into the forest and meets an Old Man, who looks remarkably like Brown.

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“Young Goodman Brown.” : An Annotated Bibliography “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Gregory, Leslie. " The Text of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "Young Goodman Brown". " American Literature Research and Analysis.

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Passage #1 This quote shows a turning point in the story. The devil has been using methods of persuasion to make Young Goodman Brown feel isolated. Once he sees his catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, he begins to feel isolated in the world which the devil has entrapped him in. In addition, he feels frightened because the devil has had influence on him indirectly through Goody Cloyse.

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At the time the forests, were seen as the home and witches and devils, aware of this Goodman Brown willingly enters. He witnesses the most upstanding members of his community participate in witchcraft. Brown observes even the most innocent person he knows, his wife Faith, participate. His perspective is altered to a position, he can not amend regardless of the His Faith, actually implies a double meaning, his wife whose innocence he clasps onto and his faith in God which he is determined to keep even after seeing Church members disrespect his God. Brown who once showered her with affection, “looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting.”

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(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.

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Young Goodman Brown tries to resist villainous temptations, thus the reader can conclude that Brown is not morally strong. Rather than confronting the story's corrupt characters, Goodman Brown just watches from a distance and break down internally. He's constantly standing in the background. In other words, he "deemed it advisable to conceal himself within the verge of the forest" (41). This quote demonstrates that Goodman Brown is not a man of action and thus is a weak and targetable character.

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As Goodman Brown ventures into the dark woods, he is accompanied by an old man. This man states that he is good friends with the devil and offers to lead Goodman Brown on his way, allowing him usage of his snakelike walking stick. Later on their

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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

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In Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown" it can be described as a moral allegory that illustrates the puritan doctrine of inherent depravity as the Brown. He tests his faith by entering the forest primeval by joining the man "of grave and decent attire" for an evening in the wilderness. It is apparent the symbols are of a religious nature. Hawthorne wrote in the time period known as the Romantic Period. Hawthorne's rejection of the Puritan belief system is the primary message of this story.

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When he finds the pink ribbon of his wife in the forest, Goodman Brown’s faith is weakened even further. Again Goodman Brown’s wife is used as a symbol of his own faith: “‘My Faith is gone!’ he cried, after one stupefied moment. ‘There is no good on earth, and sin is but a name. Come devil!

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Sin will evade or persuade a person into allowing evil in men's and women's hearts, using honeyed words and trusted people against that person. Brown had possibly chosen to speak with the devil for something in return, but he starts to have second thoughts upon entering the forest. He never told Faith of his journey, only telling her that he must go despite her warnings and pleas. It's seen clearly here: “So they parted; and the young man pursued his way, until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons.” (1) Brown had just told his wife, Faith, that he was leaving for a journey in the night and would be back the next day.

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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!”

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(para 7) This is illustrating that Goodman Brown knows that it was wrong of him to lie to her and leave her so late in the night yet he does it anyways. Once he enters the forest he states that “Faith kept him back a while.” (para 12) Brown is not only referring to his wife Faith but his actual faith.

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Brown reflect this when returning home from the forest and see Faith in which his reaction was “ But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without greeting” (70). He displays this further by “Often, awaking 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.” (72) because his wife caused him to his loss of faith which he displays by not praying publicly or privately showing faith in

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879 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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