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Religion discussed in young goodman brown
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Hawthorne’s stories young goodman and rappaccini's daughter both compare to the biblical tale of the garden of eden. in the next few paragraphs you will see how they are alike.
These three stories take place in a garden or a garden type setting. in the olden days gardens and forest symbolized evil. The evil in Young Goodman Brown is all the people at the sabbath. in Rappaccini's Daughter the evil is the plants. In the Garden of Eden the serpent was the evil
Another comparison would be how the men love the woman so much they suffer for it, and by suffer i mean death. In the Garden of Eden, Adam's love for Eve was very strong. He did whatever she said, so in the end they both suffer harsh life and death. In Young Goodman Brown, he leaves faith
Stallman, Laura. Survey of Criticism of 'Rappaccini's Daughter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne {with class response and discussion}. 29 Many 2000 <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/rappcrit.htm>.
In reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, many issues come up that arouse interest in topics of knowledge, evil, reality, amongst other things. During my experience reading this text, how Goodman Brown's outlook changed based on information revealed to him that may not even be the "reality" of the people he knows was fascinating. That knowledge gained outside traditional and physical realms can affect the mind and the perception of the world is a fascinating subject. I also found this interesting in conjunction with some of the concepts of literary critics we reviewed this week, as the question of what literature is and what it should do becomes important in the discussion of what happens to Goodman Brown, but subsequently what happens to the reader of his story.
Hawthorne’s stories “Young Goodman Brown” and “Rapaccini’s Daughter” share common themes amongst the characters throughout the two stories. In “Young Goodman Brown,” Brown meets an old man, which turns out to be the devil. In a similar way, Giovanni in ‘Rapaccini’s Daughter” finds out that Rapaccini is a very dangerous man and that the garden that he owns is poisonous. I would argue that Brown and Giovanni are similar characters because they both face a Devil like figure and come across a major conflict with good and evil. In “Young Goodman Brown” Brown faces the decision of whether to join in the sinful rituals and join the Devil after seeing his own wife join. Brown is a good man and is a good Christian but still faces a tough decision as
Many readers see the story as an allegorical tale. Rappaccini’s garden, allegorical to the Garden of Eden. It is important to note the characters as they symbolize Adam and Eve, and God and Satan. Rappaccini is a scientist who studies the medicinal properties of plants. He plays God with the life of his daughter and with his “natural” creations.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an extraordinary writer, who used real life experiences in every one of his stories. However, growing up in a Puritan society during a reformation gave Hawthorne a distorted view on God’s character. Hawthorne was intelligent, but by no means a people person, which created a pathway for him to become an author. There were a few key points in his life growing in a religion zealous society that lead him to abandon his faith. Hence, the short story of “Young Goodman Brown” representing that humans are cynical and evil, and the dangers of losing your faith in God.
His name also becomes a multilayered metaphor. Being known as “young” represents Goodman Browns innocence and virtue. He is also condensed to represent his own consciousness. But, by leaving his wife, Faith, Young Goodman Brown is giving into the unconscious. " He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind" (Kelly, 191).
The story of “Young Goodman Brown” presents a struggle with the clash of Goodman Brown’s cultural fate of being a Puritan and his mind that is exposed to unholy acts. He goes from a prisoner of only what his society has shown him to a prisoner of the fate to live in it even after he learns it’s potential evilness. By not succumbing to the sinfulness of his journey, Young Goodman Brown in turn succumbs to the struggle within his mind. He is trapped by taunting thoughts and allows his life to be guided by the confusion that has caused him to forever question reality.
A romantic work focuses on the individual and his inner struggles as well as his external conflict. “Young Goodman Brown” accomplished this through the title character whose journey is followed over the course of the story. Though Young Goodman Brown meets many others on his trip, the focus never wavers from him and his internal struggle. For instance, when Goodman Brown witnesses the minister and deacon riding into the wilderness, the story immediately cuts to his reaction to them, “Young Goodman Brown caught hold...
In “Rappaccini’s Daughter” the main microcosm is that Rappaccini’s garden represents the garden of Eden. Nathaniel Hawthorne presents this both literally and figuratively within the text. While Giovanni looks down from the terrace, he wonders if “this garden was the Eden of the present world” (Rappaccini’s 2). When Giovanni first sees Rappaccini, he is confused because of Rappaccini’s demeanor near the plants, he acts as though the plants, if touched or inhaled, “ would wreak upon him some terrible fatality” like the serpents in Eden ( Rappaccini 2).
The primary setting of “Young Goodman Brown” is the forest. The Puritans believed that the woods were evil because of the presence of Indians and witches, that they believed performed satanic rituals in the forest. Goodman Brown says to himself “There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree” (317). Goodman Brown also tells his fellow traveler “My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of hon...
The names of the characters Young Goodman Brown and his wife Faith are both symbolic. “Young" infers the title character is naive and new at life. Brown’s youth suggests that he is an uncorrupted and innocent young man. Moreover, "Goodman" suggests his self-righteousness thinking he is a good man. Furthermore, "Brown" indicates he is a commoner. Thus, the full name implies he is the average naive and self-righteous Puritan. Faith’s name in the story represents his need to cling to faith. She symbolizes everything that is good and Christian to Goodman Brown. Brown’s marriage to Faith is symbolic of how he clings to faith in good in the world.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown,” the author uses danger and mystery to represent the struggle of good versus evil. Young Goodman Brown journeys into the night and comes to realize an unforgiving truth. Everyone is in danger of abandoning their faith or is inherently evil. Nathaniel Hawthorne has filled this story symbolism, after reading this story the reader may have questions about Young Goodman Browns’ determination to journey towards his evil purpose. Nathaniel Hawthorne implies strong faith can endure but when that faith is destroyed, what view does a person have towards mankind? Let us take a look at Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of significant symbols throughout “Young Goodman Brown.”
In order to grasp the allegory Hawthorne uses in Young Goodman Brown, the story needs to be considered in a way that recognizes the blending of its historical background at the time of the Salem Witch trials and its relationship to religious symbolism within that perspective. By understanding the Puritan beliefs about sin, the forest and their own inherent faith, it becomes easier for the reader to understand the deeper meaning of Goodman Brown’s journey into the forest.
Dual Aspects of Good and Evil in Rappaccini’s Daughter “Hawthorne shows in the tale that the inner world of human experience is a complex and ambiguous mixture of good and evil (Stallman 2).” Hawthorne portrays that the existence of good and evil is part of life and that a person can make a decision on which way to go. From the story, Hawthorne presents to the reader the character of Doctor Rappaccini, a scientist who experiments with poisonous plants and later on injects poison into his daughter Beatrice to transform her into achieving superhuman qualities. The transformation of Beatrice as well as her lover, Giovanni, into a poisonous being raises the question whether they are good or evil. In the novel “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates figurative language, descriptive details, and allusions to portray the dual aspects of good and evil in each character to convey to the audience that humans embody both goodness and evil.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work is unique. His writings are full of subtle imagination, analysis, and poetic wording. His short stories are known for their originality and for their ability to provoke the reader’s thoughts. Although a large portion of his stories are allegories, Hawthorne’s preference is to draw more heavily on symbolism (Pennell 13). His use of symbols adds depth to his stories and helps to reveal different aspects of his characters. In Rappaccini’s Daughter, Hawthorne uses symbolism to create a modern day tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.