Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was an excellent and creative user of allegory and symbolism in his writings. Examples of allegory and symbolism can be drawn from many of his stories such as "Young Goodman Brown", and "The Minister's Black Veil". The story I will touch on will be "Young Goodman Brown". In this story Hawthorne uses allegory, or religious symbolism to make certain connections with the characters, places, items, and situations. "Hawthorne, in his metaphysical moods, is nothing if not allegorical" (James 1879, 310). "Young Goodman Brown" is a short story about a young man named Goodman Brown, living in a Puritan town in New England. Goodman has to go into the woods for a night, to meet the devil. His wife, Faith, pleads with him not to go, but he tells her that he has to. Goodman goes off into the woods following a trail, until he meets the devil. They start talking, and the devil tells Goodman how he can make his life better with his help. After hearing what the devil has to say, Goodman refuses any help from him. "This makes Goodman feel strong until they meet his childhood catechism teacher and see her turned" (Mikosh 2000, 1). The devil also goes on to tell Goodman that in the past, he has made deals with
many of his relatives. Hearing this, and seeing his catechism teacher turned evil shakes his faith in God a little, but he is still able to hold off the devil's advances. Goodman walks on, until he hears a noise. He doesn't want to be seen in the woods by anyone, so he ducks into the bushes. He looks out and sees the village's minister and another well respected townsperson riding by on horses. Goodman starts wondering if everyone in the village has turned evil. At this point he hears chanting noises far off, and goes to see what's going on. He comes to a clearing, where he sees his wife and "the rest of the community there participating in satanic acts" (Mikosh 2000, 1). The next morning, Goodman wakes up in the forest. Everything that he saw the night before, he thinks really happened. When he returns to the village he sees his wife Faith running up to hug him, and he just brushes by her. His attitude and his perception of the town changed completely over night, thinking they are all evil, he no longer trusts anyone. In "Young Goodman Brown", Hawthorne uses a lot of symbolism, most of which is religious. First, the naming of the main character, Goodman, and his wife Faith. "The names alone serve as an indication of what Hawthorne puts as an obvious religious allegory with the goodman and faith soon to be pitted against an unspeakable evil" (Segura 1999, 1). Hawthorne was thinking ahead when he named Goodman's wife Faith. Faith means the unquestioning belief that does not req
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Approximate Word count = 1001
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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