Symbols In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Recommended: In “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne

Young Goodman Brown is typically a short story published in 1835 by an American Author Nathaniel Hawthorne. This story emphasizes on the public morality in the society that weakens the religious faith of the people. It is critically viewed as an allegorical tale written to contradict the beliefs of the society. Symbols have been used in the story to represent objects that suggest an idea, experiences as well as relationship. The common symbols used include, the staff as well as the Faith’s pink Ribbons. Therefore, this essay evaluates the use of symbols in the story as well as how they serve the purpose of the story. The Staff This aspect is drained from the biblical point of view since a curved serpent encircles the devil’s staff. Essentially, …show more content…

For instance, the color of the ribbon is associated with the innocence as well as cheerfulness whereby the ribbons themselves represent the modest of decoration. At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown mentions Faith’s pink ribbons in a number of occasions, which implies his character while he was a young man full of youthfulness and happiness. He introduced the ribbons while in the forest where he struggled to make ends meet about the goodness of the people he knew very well hence doubting them. The fluttering of the ribbon down from the sky is perceived in such a way that Faith has been fallen into the hands of the devil. The significance of the ribbon as a sign of purity as well as innocence is also noticed when Faith greets Goodman as he returns from the forest. The picture of Faith wearing the ribbon as she returns from the forest suggest the return of her innocence she had at the beginning of the story hence casting down the doubts as well as the experiences of Goodman Brown. This act of Goodman is through his inherent corruptibility, which suggests the events took place in the forest in view of the fact that they were perceived as a dream. Instead of Goodman being corrupted by other forces, he ends up being corrupted by the

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