Nathaniel Hawthorne leaves it to our own opinion to believe if Goodman Brown was dreaming or awake. In the beginning of the story it’s believed they saw Goodman Brown was awake before going into the forest. Then when he going into the forest, Goodman Brown had fallen asleep. So, the story has us believe that his worst fears came to reality. In the end it leaves us to question in what we thought from the beginning.
Web. 2 May. 2012. The research of “Young Goodman Brown,” explains the various images found in Young Goodman Brown. Some of them clarifies the author criticisms are the Salem Village, the pink ribbons on Faith’s hat, the fellow traveler, the staff, and using of the term “faith”, and the forest.
Young Goodman Brown blames the devil for his loss of faith but in a resigned manner. At this point of the story, Young Goodman Brown has accepted the world of sin and its follies. He believes that the devil has been given the world by God to corrupt it with sin. Once he overcomes his initial shock from losing his faith he capitulates to this world of sin. Young Goodman Brown has crossed a threshold and can never turn back to the ignorant world he has known
Conveying Symbolism Through Theme When analyzing a short story, poem, novel, or any piece of literature, a few key components work together to create the plot of the work. For me specifically, the overall theme of the story usually tops the list. In Young Goodman Brown, author Hawthorne uses many symbols to convey the themes of the story: the weakness of public morality and loss of innocence. Firstly, perhaps the most obvious symbol in the story, is the staff.
Goodman’s journey in the woods is symbolic of our journey through life, where each individual loses his innocence gradually, as a result of exposure to the sins of humankind. Young Goodman Brown left home one evening, to take a walk in the devil’s territory, and discovered that sin exists in every human heart. When he woke up from this evil dream, he is changed. He felt “there is no good on earth; and sin is but a name” (392).
In the story “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorn uses symbolism and imagery to present the idea that messing with good versus evil is a dangerous decision. The reader is able to take away that Young Goodman Brown made the decision to choose evil and in the end he ended up dying an unhappy man. This vivid imagery and symbolism shown in the short story wasn’t enough to frighten Brown, but
I’m going to choose the motif of a forest. The idea of forest seems to signify an unexplored realm full of the unknown. It stands for the unconscious and its mysteries. The forest is traditionally a place of darkness or evil. This is particularly true in works set in the Puritan time.
As a consequence of Young Goodman Brown’s decision to walk in sin with the devil, he loses faith in his entire world.
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.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, the author uses themes of suspense and mystery to keep readers entertained. Throughout the story from beginning to end, Hawthorne uses many forms of symbolism that make the story what it is. The most important of all symbols is his dying faith. The author makes it very clear that faith should be of all importance to any man or women, without faith your outlook on the world will be turned around and full of skepticism and doubt. Goodman Brown’s faith began to be compromised and destroyed the second he stepped foot into the woods.
According to Irving Howe, “the knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable.” This quote pertains to the actions of the protagonist in the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The protagonist, Goodman Brown, a naïve young man, goes on a life changing journey where he gains knowledge of the people he looks up to, which in turn, makes him question their integrity. Throughout this journey he goes from seeing those he loves like they are faultless to seeing that even they make mistakes; thus Brown loses his innocence. As Goodman Brown gains knowledge, his beliefs and actions begin to change; therefore, his innocence begins to fade away and his life is never the same. Goodman Brown starts his journey,
The woods evoked fear and the unknown. He met the devil on the path and he told Goodman Brown that he was late. The response from Brown of “Faith kept me back awhile”, depicted Brown’s own personal faith and uneasiness with the journey he was taking. Goodman Brown soon realized that the upstanding Christian people that he was familiar with in New England, were actually acquaintances with the devil. The serpent’s staff in this section was a symbol of evil which was handed to Brown by the devil.
There is not a righteous man on earth who does not possess the proclivity to sin. Given the freedom to do God’s will or his own, man will instinctively choose to pursue his own. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Prodigal Son” are two such men who soon realize that “The greatest temptations are not those that solicit their consent to obvious sin, but those that offer them great evils masking as the greatest goods” (Merton, Thomas, 1955). Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Apostle Luke reveal the sinful nature and spiritual transformation of their protagonists using conflict, symbolism, and irony. Comparatively, temptation is the root cause of the internal and external conflicts the confronting protagonists in “Young Goodman Brown “and “The Prodigal Son”.
Goodman Brown loses his faith in his humanity when evil prevails itself in many forms, leaving him to speculate the behavior and beliefs of everyone encircles around him. This story also contains similar Biblical characteristics of the sinful nature in man. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to define that wickedness exist in all humanity and nothing is the way it seems. The story begins with Goodman Brown and his wife named Faith bartering a goodbye kiss.
Symbolism is when an author uses a specific symbol to represent an idea to the reader. Symbols are used to include a deeper meaning of an ordinary object. In “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses several examples of symbolism to portray ideas of evil, innocence, and darkness. In the story, goodman brown goes on a symbolic journey that leads him questioning his faith.
