Symbolism, Allegory And Personification In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Don’t Believe All That You See

Young Goodman Brown unveils the hidden secrets of his fellow citizens during his journey through darkness. As the protagonist reaches his breaking point, he starts to wonder if his townspeople are whom they say they are. In the short story “Young Goodman Brown”, Nathaniel Hawthorne proves that appearances are deceiving by his use of symbolism, allegory, and personification.

Hawthorne’s use of color symbolism helps the reader truly understand that not everything one sees is actually true. Throughout the passage, the author uses various colors to depict certain situations. In the beginning, the author introduces Faith as Young Goodman Brown’s wife. As Goodman Brown is about to set foot on his journey, Faith peaks her head out to say a few words to her husband, “letting the wind play with her pink ribbons” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 1). The author wants the readers to see that the pink ribbon represents Faith’s innocence. On Goodman Brown’s course through the

When Goodman Brown comes to face that Faith is not who he believes her to be, it is “as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn” (Hawthorne 5). As this was going on, Goodman Brown feels intimidated “when the wind laughed at him” (Hawthorne 5). The humanlike characteristics given to nature expresses how Goodman Brown feels about his experience. He witnesses the wickedness that surrounds himself after his faith disappears. When the author mentions that the staff “might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent”, he elevates the staff’s capability to completing such actions (Hawthorne 2). The author then shows the reader how “[t]he cry of grief, rage, and terror was [] piercing the night”, portraying the horrid experience Goodman Brown goes through (Hawthorne 5). The heaviness of fear shows through the humanlike actions given to an