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Setting And Symbolism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

626 Words3 Pages

Infamous Salem
Nearly two hundred people were persecuted and accused as witches, and about twenty of them were executed during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The short story “Young Goodman Brown” presents the decision of a pious, Christian local citizen who takes a journey through the forest of Salem in order to find the real face and the truth about the people who he really cares. Nathaniel Hawthorne's subtle usage of setting, theme, and symbolism allows his audience to have a closer look at the hypocrisy of the prominent citizens of his hometown-Salem. The story is set in Salem, a religiously restrictive town in the state of Massachusetts, and it takes place during the end of the 17th century, around the time of infamous Salem Witch Trials. The setting itself plays a crucial role in reader’s creation of expectations of what may occur in the story. Salem hosted one of the notorious events in the American history called Witch Trials, at the core of which some sort of hypocrisy of the prominent citizens and other people of the town was evident. Therefore, to assume that Salem was infected with “mania of persecution” and its good, pious people were conjured by evil, wouldn’t be …show more content…

So it doesn't matter how good-hearted or good-willed the people are, they always have a hidden wickedness inside them which is going to be revealed at some point in their lives. “Young Goodman Brown”, the protagonist of the story, decided to take a journey through the forest of Salem to put his faith and Christianity to test upon encountering with the devil, but what he didn’t know was that he already faced the devil inside himself. This devil was his own temptation to meet evil within the forest that led him to lose his faith and religion because of witnessing the communion of the most pious and good citizens of Salem including his wife, with the

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Salem Witch Hunt Analysis

1001 Words | 5 Pages

Causing many suspicion of demonic activity throughout the salem village, hysteria spread quickly as the population ascended to witchcraft creating the act of cynicism. Most conducted these suspicions though dissecting their physical and mental image meaning that most of the civilians would convert to supernatural explanations in order to assume the act of demonic possession and I quote “Good also had a reputation for holding a grudge and for muttering curses against those who crossed her, which would have alarmed her neighbours, not least because many people believed that such curses would work” ( The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69). This quote taken from Sarah Good’s bibliography confirms the suspicions of witchcraft as these sign were depicted as supernatural to the puritans perspective. Being fearful of the devil, most puritans believed that the abnormal should endure punishment as for these acts were created against the church law leading to christian ignorance and disbelief and I quote “They also show how easily people could become convicted that hostile neighbours were wielding occult forces against them”(The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69).

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Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt Of 1692

1540 Words | 7 Pages

The hysteria that occurred in Salem was driven largely by fear. People were frightened by these strange afflictions, recommenced Indian attacks, and the increase of Quakers and Anglicans in the area (Godbeer 166). Consequently, the infamous Salem Witch Trials arose, leading to dozens of accusations and a shocking number of convictions. Its legacy has led many to believe that all early New Englanders were quick to accuse and condemn suspected witches without any concrete evidence. Escaping Salem shatters this belief.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

In Massachusetts during 1692, Salem Village underwent a time of grief, trial, death, and Witchcraft. The chaos in Salem Village began when young girls would have what they called “fits” and they would scream vey vulgarly and fall onto the ground and shake uncontrollably (Magoon 6). These fits frightened the surrounding people and the Doctors of Salem couldn't find a diagnosis. After studying and trying to understand the illness they had, the people of Salem came to the conclusion that these girls were possessed by the Devil (Magoon 7). The result would lead to one of the most recognized events in American History, the Salem Witch Trials.

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Annotated Bibliography Of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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I founded interesting that the author noticed that the Salem village is the center of the witchcraft misbelief. By everything the evil noted in Goodman Brown; it makes sense that Hawthorne would use a Salem village for this story. In my reflection about the story, I realize that is a place where the events continuously happened because it has a different incidents or devices that are widely found in the literature and recognized as motifs appear. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "

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The Salem Witch Trials “The Salem witch trials of 1692 stand as a dark chapter in American history, marked by fear, paranoia, and tragic injustice. In this tumultuous time, the small Puritan community of colonial Massachusetts found itself involved in a frenzy of accusations and hysteria, leading to the wrongful persecution of numerous individuals accused of witchcraft. This tragic episode was not merely a result of random events, but rather, it was deeply rooted in the beliefs and social norms of Puritan society. The rigid religious doctrines, strict social hierarchies, and constant fear of the unknown all contributed to an environment where even the slightest deviation from the norm could be interpreted as evidence of witchcraft. The Salem

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