Interpretation of Young Goodman Brown

A detailed Summary of Interpretation of Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne in Young Goodman Brown uses foreshadowing, irony, symbolism, and setting to advance the theme of good versus evil.

Throughout the short story, there are many examples of foreshadowing. One of these is at the beginning of the story when his wife, Faith, confronts him. She says, " Dearest heart, prithee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she's afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all the nights in the year!" (273). Either in a dream or in her gut, Goodman Brown's wife has a feeling that something bad is going to happen. Another example of foreshadowing is when Goodman Brown is starting his journey and he says to him, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" (273). After he says this to himself, he is confronted by the figure of a man. This man ends up walking with Goodman throughout his journey only to find out that this man is the evil, or devil, that he

that he is a "good man" and ironically, he ends up going with the evil on his journey. Another example is the setting of the story in the opening sentence. Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset, into the street of Salem village..." (272) allows the reader to tie Salem to the famous witch trials. These same trials are symbolic of the evil that Goodman Brown faces on his journey. One last example of this irony comes after he has been walking with the man he met on the path and says to him "Too far, too far! My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the day of..." (274). Ironically, he is trying to defend the Christianity in his family before him, but in this story, evil always prevails.

In conclusion, Hawthorne effectively advances the theme of good versus evil by using foreshadowing, irony, symbolism, and setting.

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worried about. Both of these quotations help advance the theme of go!

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Approximate Word count = 733
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Interpretation of Young Goodman Brown

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