In both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” and the excerpt from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, the topic of sin is prevalent. Despite this commonality, Hawthorne and Edwards have different approaches towards this idea. The writing styles of both authors are reflective of the time periods in which they were born. Hawthorne was born in the early 19th century and much of his work was dedicated to displaying the issues of the Puritan values. In contrast, Edwards was born in the early 18th century and his work contained and supported many Puritan values.
Inside the World of Hawthorne During the time period of the 1800’s, Puritans obeyed their censorious moral beliefs, focusing on worship of one’s God. Honor, honesty, and virtue were heavy traits that Puritans could be defined as. Within the seventeenth century, it was unlikely for Puritans to break the laws, and commit severe crimes; one of the most disapproving being adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American author during the 1800’s published one of the most impactful novels describing Puritan society and the downfall of characters who have committed the sin, adultery. His work takes readers on a journey through a different time period, style of living, and laws that people in today’s society do not have a connection with.
Nathanial Hawthorne wrote many novels and short stories that focused on themes of sin. Two of these works, “The Minister’s Black Veil” and The Scarlet Letter, both discuss this theme which is one of the many connections that the two works share. Through multiple pieces of evidence, these works demonstrate a focus on the fight beginning in “The Minister’s Black Veil” between servants of the Lord and the devil. In his story “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathanial Hawthorne uses knowing diction to depict strong religious tones that represent the way he uses his sin and the sins of others to leave a positive impact on his parishioners in a direct comparison with how Chillingsworth’s sins become a negative representation of sin in The Scarlet Letter.
In “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses diction and imagery to show how revelation often leads to corruption. Initially, Goodman Brown’s character is portrayed as a kind and innocent Puritan by Hawthorne’s use of diction. For example, by saying “my sweet, pretty wife” (1), Brown demonstrates his adoration towards his wife; he even goes as far to compare her to an angel.
THESIS: In the literary pieces The Scarlet Letter and “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne emphasizes the negative effects of guilt and sin through the presence of Puritan ideals, the symbolism of sin, and the motif of the nature of evil. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s experiences within the Puritan community greatly impacted his writing style. The Scarlet Letter and “The Minister’s Black Veil” each contain Puritan ideals that are used to convey the negative effects of guilt and sin. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Puritan ideals to create a strict, judgmental community where sins are taken very seriously.
The Danger of A Walk With the Devil: The Consequence of Sin and Guilt in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” As Canadian author William Paul Young once said, “sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside.” In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown’s life and entire being is demolished by his sins, never to return to what it once was. Through a guilt-filled journey of sin, Goodman Brown struggles with his faith, his grasp on reality, but most importantly, life as he knows it. By losing everything, Young Goodman Brown suffers the ultimate punishment of lifelong pain and suffering.
Has your mind ever played tricks on you? In the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character, Goodman Brown, seems to experience just that. He’s travelling through the forest with another man who can only be described as the devil himself, and at the end of the story the reader is left to wonder if anything that took place even truly happened. Hawthorne uses many literary devices to convey that deception comes in many shapes and forms, the worst of which can be your own mind.
To the Puritans, they believed in collective guilt and that one should repent for their sinful actions till their death; they viewed sin as a socially unacceptable crime. Hawthorne himself agrees with the idea of ‘doctrine of original sin,’, however, he opposes to the Puritanical traditional thinking and suggests how sin is an educative effect that alters one into an incomparable wise figure before the ‘sinful’ act (Mills 97).“‘Among all its bad influences, the black veil had the one desirable effect of making its wearer a very efficient clergyman. By the aid of his mysterious emblem---for there was no other apparent cause---he became a man of awful power over souls that were in agony for sin”’ (Hawthorne 262). Through the use an awe tone, Hawthorne illustrates how the effect of the veil has transformed Minister Hooper into a more effective minister than before.
One writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, presents this relation between good and evil in his novel, The Scarlet Letter, and in his short story, “Young Goodman Brown.” Hawthorne’s development of Roger Chillingworth and Goodman Brown introduces the theme of good vs. evil. In Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, the protagonist, Goodman Brown, struggles in a battle between good and evil. Goodman Brown shows both innocence and corruptibility when
The story “Young Goodman Brown” was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is about a man named Young Goodman Brown who pays a visit with the devil in the woods one night. He ends up having a much different experience than he thought would happen. As Brown was in the woods conversing with the devil he sees a few people from his town cross his path. Along with them held a secret sin that he did not know existed in his very own community.
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.
Sin is inevitable. Every person sins, one way or another. Sinning is impossible to avoid even with “practice.” “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows readers that. Goodman Brown wants to believe he is a good man, and perhaps he is; but he is tempted by sin all the same.
Never the less, it left him unable to see the good in anything or anyone. He lived out his life with Faith in misery, suspicious of everyone he thought he once knew including his beloved wife. At the same time as Goodman Brown’s beliefs are stunned, Hawthorne aims for the reader to question their own way of thinking. Can we really trust the trustworthy and are good people actually as they appear to be, or do we all have some sort of concealed
Through the Minister he wants to show that even those that humans deem to be “good” or “holy” have that sinful nature too. Those whom lead have their own conflicts with human nature too, therefore one cannot expect any leader to never take a misstep because everyone takes missteps everyday. Hawthorne’s goal in this text is to teach readers that the persecution of sinners that the Puritans were committing in Salem was foolish and irrational because no one is able to be perfect, it is human
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