Young Good Man Brown

A detailed Summary of Young Good Man Brown

"Young Goodman Brown", by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an allegorical story just like Hawthorne's another allegorical novel, the Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne's writing style appears to be the same in both "Young Goodman Brown" and the Scarlet Letter. For instance, Hawthorne leaves us ambiguity in the end for both stories. For "Young Goodman Brown", he does not let us know if Brown's whole trip with the Devil is a dream or reality. Scarlet Letter, at the same time, does not explain which interpretation of Dimmesdale's scarlet letter in the final scaffold scene is true. Hawthorne even leaves the interpretation optional by saying, "The reader may choose among these theories." In addition, these two stories are allegories, which people, things and happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning which are often used for teaching or explaining ideas, moral principles. Therefore, both stories are definitely trying to teach us a lesson, and they, in fact, are talking about the same issue. They are conveying that both good and bad exist, and it is impossible that only one stands on its own.

Before Young Goodman Brown's meeting with the Devil,he says to Faith, his wife "My love and my Faith, of all nights in the year, this one night must

"In Adam's sin, we sin all," so we are born with sin. It is natural to have both good and bad part of our humanity, and Young Goodman doesn't realize that they are the natural reality. In fact, he doesn't even know himself has the bad part of humanity. For example, he doesn't realize that he also accompanies with the Devil when Brown is accusing it is his spiritual advisor's fault to go with the Devil. Moreover, he blames his wife going to the Devil's ceremony while he doesn't even recognize he is also part of the ceremony. Therefore, it is important to look at ourselves before we make any judgements, so we will not follow Brown's wrong path that he only acknowledges the existence of good.

Brown believes he will be able to challenge the Devil and will come back without losing his faith in God. After Brown meets with the Devil, Brown sees a woman who "taught him his catechism in youth, and was still his moral and spiritual adviser", Brown's faith in God has been challenged because what he considers to be a good person happens to be with the Devil. Brown then tells himself that why should he "quit my dear Faith, and go after her." After the Devil leaves Brown with the serpent-like staff, Brown even "applauds himself greatly, and thinking with how clear a conscience he should meet his ministerKAnd what calm sleep would be his in the arms of Faith!" He still trusts his faith in god, and he believes that it is the woman's fault that she accompanies with the Devil.

However, the story of Adam and Eve also reflects the same idea. Adam and Eve are naked, but they were not ashamed since they don't know the fact that they are naked. The story is implying that both Adam and Eve do not realize the bad part of humanity while they do not notice they are naked at all. Young Goodman Brown, at the same time, is very similar when he has faith in god that simply means that Brown only considers good part of humanity. Adam and Eve live in the garden and can eat whatever they want except the Tree of Knowledge that god has forbidden them to eat. Then, the serpent tricks Eve to eat it by saying that she will not die which is totally untrue. Then, Eve gives some to Adam, and they begin to see they are naked. Knowing they are naked is implying that they now see the bad part of their humanity. Just like Adam and Eve,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Scarlet Letter, Goodman Brown, Metaphorically Brown, Adam Eve, Eve Brown's, Faith Devil, Brown Scarlet, Devil Brown, Hawthorne Dimmesdale, Brown Faith, faith god, adam eve, goodman brown, scarlet letter, bad humanity, devil brown, nature mankind, devil's ceremony, brown saying, story adam eve, opposite ideas, perfect utopia faith, utopia faith god, goodman brown scarlet, opposite ideas exist,

Approximate Word count = 1569
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels