In many cases, sin becomes guilt in a matter of seconds, though the repercussions of that sin may never end. In the short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the devil haunts one man with his startling words, and those words leave the young man unable to be himself for the rest of his life. Goodman Brown portrays as the average Puritan with an unknown want to speak with the devil. It is because of the simple walk he takes into the woods with a new companion that enlightens him of the problems in his community. The problem being that he is not the only one to travel with the companion, and that means that nothing is just as he thought. Goodman Brown proves that it is through his own sin and guilt that he is able to see the sin within his community, past and present. In the short story, the realization that Goodman Browns family is not as pure as he thought comes about through his own sinful actions. In going into the woods with this stranger, Goodman Brown knows that what he is doing is bad, and he realizes that it is not what a good Puritan does. This interaction b...
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne introduces Goodman Brown, who doubts himself and reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. His struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can handle. This story is about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before the sunrise.
In the late 17th century, John Locke was one of the most influential people of his age. He was a renowned philosopher who established radical ideas about the political, social, and psychological ideals of mankind. One of his philosophical ideas, which he is said to be the founder of, is British Empiricism. This idea holds that "all knowledge is derived from experience whether of the mind or the senses" ("Empiricism" 480). In any man’s life, there arises such a point in time where he comes to the realization that there is a sense of evil in the world. Whether it is by something as subtle as locking the door at night before going to bed or being directly confronted at gun point as a man demands your tennis shoes, at some point man will realize that the innocence of his childhood does not last forever. Locke believed that people gain knowledge from their own personal experience. For Young Goodman Brown, this experience comes with his journey into the forest with the fellow traveler as chronicled in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story. Initially, Brown was, as his namesake foretells, a "young, good man" who believes in man’s basic goodness, yet within the inner desires of his heart wishes to see what all the world had to offer. Therefore, he set off on a "journey" into the forest to explore the world of this unknown evil. The story of "Young Goodman Brown" is a classic example of the empiricist ideas of Locke in how the intrigues of the unknown beckoned Young Brown as he experienced the transition between his initial idea of man’s basic goodness to the reality that evil exists in the heart of every man.
Nathaniel Hawthorne often emphasizes the ambiguous nature of sin, that good and evil do not exist in parallel with each other but at many times intersect with each other in his fiction. In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne applies what he believes is the virtue of recognizing cosmic irony of taking into account the contradictions inherent in the human condition, to his portrayal of Young Goodman Brown.
As soon as Goodman Brown hears the Devil’s sermon he doesn’t seek to refute it. Instead, he easily accepts that his father, grandfather, and the whole community were acquainted with the Devil. He then gradually begins to believe that the community of visible saints is corrupted and that they are performers of evil-doing. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of Young Goodman Brown says “‘Goodman Brown stepped forth from the shadows...and approached the congregation, with whom he felt a loathful brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart”(50). Brown feels he is somehow connected
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” displays secret sin as portrayed in the secrecy and duplicity of the townspeople. Their impiety is out where others can see it with a simple invitation, yet it is normally hidden from the mainstream. Young Goodman Brown discovered that although many of the townsfolk are active members of the church during the day, they take
In “Young Goodman Brown” Hawthorne uses the hypocritical nature of Young Goodman Browns neighbors and friends to show the hypocritical nature of the puritan people. In the story, Young Goodman Brown is led by the devil to a witching party in the woods. At the witching party he sees all the people he thought to be honorable and pious. He sees his minister, and Goody Cloyse, the woman who taught him his catechisms, meeting with the devil. He even sees his wife about to join the commune but doesn’t see whether she does or not because he resists the devil and wakes up by a tree. After witnessing these things in the woods Young Goodman Brown can’t look at the people he loved and looked up to in the same way anymore. He becomes a bitter and distrustful old man because of their hypocr...
Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous Young Goodman Brown is one of the most interesting, yet creepy short stories written. Within this beautifully structured story of the 19th century, is a man whose curiosity started the fight between good and evil inside each individual human being. In addition, the story tells the tragic relationship between the main character Young Goodman, and his young wife. Throughout the story, Goodman's character development is affected by the experiences he goes through. At the beginning, Goodman is a good young man with faith in everyone's "pure intentions." He innocently believes in the good in everyone, but towards the end of the story, he's view on the world changes. He ends up having a dark perspective and finds himself unable to trust those around him.
It is impossible to fairly analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Young Goodman Brown" around a single literary approach. American novelist, essayist, and poet, Herman Melville, once wrote about Hawthorn's short story that it over time, like wine, it only improves in flavor and body (The Life and Works of Herman Melville). Hawthorne's short story continues to get better with age, and carries today's readers into a world filled with a plethora of meanings for them to pick from its symbolism. Modern readers have interpreted the meaning of Goodman Brown's experience in many ways, but to pigeon hole the story into one view would destroy its veracity.
The irony of his own wife being corrupt is an indicator of the evil that lives inside Goodman brown. Evil lives inside even the most purest hearts just as much as innocence does, it is what you act on that defines your morals. The tale itself focuses on the hypocrisy of puritan society, and what lies beneath the mask of lies. Goodman continues on back to his village but with a different mindset and belief of humanity. Goodman's naive mindset in the beginning of the tale to the pessimist view at the end of the tale, generates Goodman into the isolated bitter old man he becomes is one of the many allegory's this tale
“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, delves into the classic battle between good and evil; taking the protagonist, Goodman Brown, on a journey to test the resolve of his faith. Goodman ventures out on his expedition deep into the sinister forest, in order to repudiate the attempt of the devil to sway him from Christianity; a test he believes his devout faith is prepared to confront. Goodman Brown is forever altered in ways unforeseeable by taking a stroll with the ultimate antagonist, the devil himself. The prevailing theme in this literary work, which is common in Hawthorne’s gothic writing, is the realization that evil can infect people who seem perfectly respectable. Throughout the course of his journey, Goodman Brown discovers that even highly reputable people of Salem are vulnerable to the forces of darkness.
In life we tend to see the good in people, try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Some time people do not turn out to be who they say are. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown”, Young Goodman Brown discovers that his whole village is full of evil people that worship the Lord during the day and worship the devil at night. Throughout the story Young Goodman Brown sees everyone differently and does not know who he can trust. This paper will be analyzing the story “Young Goodman Brown.”
As he is traveling down this narrow and dark forest with his guide he has many moments of hesitation. The devil, as Goody Cloyse exclaims when he surprises her tells Goodman the relation he holds with many prominent members of the community. “I have a very general acquaintance here in New England. The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest”. The devil also states the relationship he holds with Goodman’s family. “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans”. Still reluctant to continue on this path Goodman Brown sits to clear his head. There is when he discovers the truth while hidings behind the bushes when the minister and Deacon come down the path. He saw for himself the devil tells the truth. When Goodman heard the voice of Faith at the ceremony the temptation became too great. There he saw the most prominent people from his
The Discovery of Evil and Fear “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story that delves into the idea that humans have the capacity for great evil. The story is interesting in this aspect because the characters are Puritans; a very conservative religious group from the 16th and 17th centuries in Salem, Massachusetts. Puritans were a holy and somewhat legalistic people who strove to commit no sin and follow God in everything. The title character of Hawthorne’s tale is a Puritan man named Young Goodman Brown. For three months he has been married to his
In his short fiction, “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates how a man isn’t depraved by nature. In fact, the story becomes an allegory of the power of reason and how it can destroy a person’s life, if one only trust on reason alone. Through his tale, Hawthorne is speaking to his intended audience, the Calvinist Puritans, whose belief of predestination, Hawthorne disagrees with. In his attempt to shed light into the past transgression of the Puritan community, regarding the witch trials, Hawthorne is trying to make their wrong doing known through his story. In this story, the main character of the story, Goodman Brown is a representation of the Puritan community, who becomes blinded by his own reliance on reason which leads
Symbolism in “Young Goodman Brown” is not discrete. This makes analysis of this piece seemingly simple. We can observe the various roles that Goodman’s wife, Faith, holds in the story. In “Young Goodman Brown” Faith holds the major roles of purity and protection as Goodman embarks on his journey through the wilderness.