Young Goodman Brown 3
"Young Goodman Brown", by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story that has a lot of allegories. "Young Goodman Brown" is a moral story which is told through the corruption of a religious leader. In "Young Goodman Brown", Goodman Brown is a Puritan minister who lets his excessive pride in himself interfere with his relations with the community after he meets with the devil, which causes him to live the life of an exile in his own community."Young Goodman Brown" begins when Faith, Brown's wife, asks him not to go on an "errand". Goodman Brown says to her "My love and my Faith ... this one night I must tarry away from thee". (DiYanni 273) When he says his "love" and his "Faith", he is talking to his wife, but he is also talking to his "faith" to God. He is venturing into the woods to meet with the Devil, and by doing so he leaves his unquestionable faith in God with his wife. He resolves that he will "cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven."( DiYanni 273) This is an example of the excessive pride because he feels that he can sin and meet with the Devil because of this promise that he made to himself. This promise is not without irony though, because when Goodman Brown comes back at dawn; he can no longer look at his
When Goodman Brown hears this he he becomes weak and falls to the ground. He "begins to doubt whether there really was a Heaven above him" and this is a key point when Goodman Brown's faith begins to wain.( DiYanni 276) Goodman Brown in panic declares that "With Heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!" Again, Brown makes a promise to keep his faith unto God. ( DiYanni 277) Then "a black mass of cloud" goes in between Brown and the sky as if to block his prayer from heaven. Brown then hears what he believed to be voices that he has before in the community. Once Goodman Brown begins to doubt whether this is really what he had heard or not, the sound comes to him again and this time it is followed by "one voice, of a young woman". ( DiYanni 277) Goodman believes this is Faith and he yells out her name only to be mimicked by the echoes of the forest. A pink ribbon flies through the air and Goodman grabs it. At this moment, he has lost all faith in the world "My Faith is gone1" and declares that there is "no good on earth." ( DiYanni 277) Young Goodman Brown in this scene is easily manipulated simply by the power of suggestion. Not only is his wife gone but also his faith, because to him his wife was the only one who was innocent, but now she was taken open by the evil in the town. Goodman Brown almost quickly declares that he kept his meeting with the Devil and no longer wishes to continue on his errand with the Devil. He says that he comes from a "race of honest men and good Christians" ( DiYanni 274) and that his father had never gone on this errand and nor will he. The Devil than pointed out however that he was with his father and grandfather when they were flogging a woman or burning an Indian village, respectively. These acts are ironic in that they were bad deeds done in the name of good, and it shows that he does not come from "good Christians." ( DiYanni 274) "Young Goodman Brown," in Short Stories for Students, Vol. 1 Gale Research, 1997. Reproduced in Literature Resource Center
Some common words found in the essay are:
Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown's, Brown Faith, Goody Cloyse, Brown Brown, goodman brown, Hawthorne Brown, Christians DiYanni, Deacon Gookin, God DiYanni, Brown Puritan, excessive pride, diyanni 279, diyanni 277, faith god, diyanni 280, evil goodman brown, evil goodman, brown comes, diyanni 273, diyanni 274, goodman brown begins, studies short fiction, sermon leader informs, short fiction newberry,
Approximate Word count = 2560
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
