Psychoanalytic Criticism: Young Goodman Brown

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“Young Goodman Brown” is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a story based on human nature and the temptation to evil. During Goodman Brown’s journey into the woods with evil, he is repulsed by immortality, and becomes unaware of his involvement. Brown dreams about being encountered by evil because unconsciously he is scared of his own capabilities of evil like his forefathers. Goodman Brown engages in a defense mechanism, projection because he is paranoid of the evil he can conjure. From a psychoanalytic perspective Young Goodman Brown is a story about searching for self, which leads to gain and losses to the young seeker in the story.
In the beginning of the story Brown leaves his wife, Faith to an overnight expedition. Faith begs him to wait until sunrise, but he does not listen and proceeds to leave. Faith is simply a symbol of hope throughout the story. In fact, for leaving Faith in the beginning of the story, he abdicates all his hope in God and the good of people.Even though Brown was ready for his venture with the devil, his faith in God holds him back, contemplating where he should go through with it or not. Goodman Brown is relying on his wife to redeem him after he arrives from his journey with the devil. Without his wife, Faith, Goodman Brown believes in nothing, his faith relies upon her, “She's a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night, I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven” (Hawthorne 330).
The first person who appointed flaws in God was a fellow traveler who had a staff in the shape of a serpent. Symbolizing the presence of evil, which can lead to chaos and destruction (Laurie Anne Jacobs). The traveler led Goodman Brown to the Devil’s commemoration, leading to a gruesome destruction of Brown’s ...

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...ecause he is… a “Good-Two Shoes’, that he is so easily destroyed be that dark side of life which Jung calls the shadow”, as stated by Richard Predmore in the article “Young Goodman Brown and The Psychology of Projection”.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Laurie A. "Undergraduate Research Journal." Undergrad Research Journal 2002. N.p., 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Predmore, Richard. "'YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN' Night Journey Into The Forest." Journal Of Analytical Psychology 22.3 (1977): 250-257. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 5th ed. Boston: Longman, 2012. 329-37. Print.
Tritt, Michael. "'Young Goodman Brown' And The Psychology Of Projection." Studies In Short Fiction 23 (1986): 113. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

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