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On the characterization of rip van winkle
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The Journey Beyond
The characters in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorn both leave their wives to embark on a journey for different reasons, experiencing different conflicts, and return home with a different attitude about their life. On their journey, both characters encounter bizarre, unnatural events. Throughout both stories, the authors construct a clear picture of how society was, the role of gender, and religion.
Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown both take place in small, early American villages. Rip Van Winkle is a resident of Catskill, New York, just next to the Hudson River. He was a kind-hearted, willing to please, neighborly man who was greatly admired by the women, children, and dogs of the town. Rip Van Winkle was always willing do favors and help neighbors out whenever they asked, but never wanted to do any work on his own farm. Rip Van Winkle was married to Dame Van Winkle. Dame was a short tempered woman who spends all of her time criticizing and nagged Rip about his responsibilities to the family and farm. Rip and Dane did not get along and the relationship continued to get worse. He would often leave the house to go to the bar or hunting in the woods to get away from his nagging wife. Goodman Brown is a resident of Salem, Massachusetts. He came from a Christian family that is known in the community as being godly men. He newly married to his wife, Faith. Faith wears pink ribbons in her hair, representing innocence. Like Goodman Brown, Faith is pure-hearted and religious. He viewed her as beautiful, trusting, and representation of purity and high moral standards.
Both Rip Van Winkle and Goodman Brown have different motives as to why they are departing from t...
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... world. He cannot believe the words of the minister and does not fully love his wife which lead him to live his life in sadness and dismay.
The characters in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorn both leave their wives to embark on a journey for different reasons, experiencing different conflicts, and return home with a different attitude about their life. Rip Van Winkle left his wife on a journey to get away from her, facing many obstacles like the old man with the keg, and returned home happy with his life away from work, King George, and his wife. Goodman Brown sets out on a journey away from his wife because he promised to meet someone, he too facing many obstacles such as the old man with the staff who turns out to be the devil. He then returns home believing that everyone is bad and there is no good in the world.
Written two centuries separated, "Youthful Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne and "Where Are You Going; Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates are two apparently distinctive stories. Nonetheless, if took a gander at nearly, a few components could be entwined. Every story has a comparative perspective, yet the story is told from two alternate points of view. A few topics are one of a kind to the stories, however profound inside similitudes could be found. The creators close their stories in two separate ways, however the endings are to some degree the same. These two stories hold components that are clearly differentiating, yet similar in the meantime.
Irving and Hawthorne’s stories are quite similar because of the sinisterness the two share. However, Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is far better written because it exploits the use of symbolism, character development and theme. Irving fails to use those elements to their full potential by not incorporating or weakly using them. Hawthorne’s exploitation gives the reader a better read and a far superior story.
In RIP Van Winkle, Dam Van Winkle is abusive, nagging, and sarcastic. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving states that “but what courage can with stand the ever-during and all besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue.” He seems to imply that he did not like women who gave their opinions and spoke their mind. It seems that Rip is going into the woods to escape his wife.
...ther serves to excite and stimulate our senses as we travel into the deranged mind of a killer ? offering us a unique perspective through the first person point of view. Similarly, the ending of ?Young Goodman Brown? offers a moral, but leaves the main character in a state of discord and callousness towards his wife, and his religion. The story is didactic, because the main character is punished for his transgressions. Symbolism, evident especially in Hawthorne?s allegory, and the repetition of Poe?s suspenseful tale serve to further the goals of each writer. Ultimately, Hawthorne?s Goodman Brown becomes isolated from humanity, an issue of the head and the heart, and Poe?s narrator withdraws inside himself, an issue purely of the mind. Recognizing this discord from the self and humanity is essential to understanding the behavior of these troublesome characters.
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.
While the changes may have been caused by different factors, we can see that both of these men never wishes to return into their communities once their view changing experience occurred. Bartleby removed himself from his work, and from life, by not doing anything which required effort, and Goodman Brown removed himself from his community and his own wife, by no longer interacting with any of them. The problem with the stories of Bartleby and Goodman Brown is they both end with one very dark ending, the death of the main character. Light needs to be shined on why, as this is a writer’s way of saying to the readers that we should not allow ourselves to become distant from our society, otherwise, expect your death to not affect the world. Both of the men in these stories affect those around them, while remaining unaffected by others once their minds had been made. Hawthorne and Melville share a similar view in this case, as they both have the idea that our sense of purpose is to give purpose to the world we live in, and if we do not do so that we will end up like the men in the stories, alone at death. Bartleby and Goodman Brown set themselves at an impasse, never willing to change again, once their situation changes. They both become so mysterious to the outside world that it eventually it gives up on them, just as they did
Goodman Brown heads into the forest for an undetermined journey. Which is assumed that he is going out to do one last act of sin then come back and stay faithful to his wife Faith. Goodman Brown 's wife Faith is a symbol for his religious faith. Before his voyage he is held up by Faith. " 'pr 'y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone women 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 nights in the year!" ' (Hawthorne ). Goodman Brown goes on his journey in the woods and when he talks to the man that he comes across in the forest he says that he knows Goodman Brown 's family. " 'Well said, Goodman Brown! I have been as wee acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that 's no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker women so smartly through the streets of Salem. And it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, In King Philip 's War. They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight. I would fain be friends with you, for their sake. '" (Hawthorne ). Goodman Brown then begins to see all of the
In the story "Young Goodman Brown", Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a dream to illustrate a young man’s loss of innocence, understanding of religion and his community. Through this dream, the main character Young Goodman realizes that the people that he surrounds himself with are not who he believes them to be. The story of “Young Goodman Brown” focuses on the unconscious mind. The characters in this short-story are able to represent the struggle of Young Goodman’s superego, ego, and id.
In “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving he writes about a simple man, Rip Van Winkle, who does just enough to get by in life. He lives in a village by the catskill mountains, and is loved by everyone in the village. He is an easy going man, who spends most of his days at the village inn talking with his neighbors, fishing all day, and wandering the mountains with his dog to refuge from his wife the thorn on his side. On one of his trips to the mountains Rip Van Winkle stumbles upon a group of men who offer him a drink, and that drink changes everything for Van Winkle. He later wakes up, twenty years later, and returns to his village were he notices nothing is the same from when he left. He learns that King George III is no longer in charge,
The dialogue, action and motivation revolve about the characters in the story (Abrams 32-33). It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate the types of characters present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” whether static or dynamic, whether flat or round, and whether protrayed through showing or telling.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” captivates the reader through a glimpse of the Puritan church. The story also shows the struggle of good versus evil in the main character Goodman Brown. The role of the Puritan church is crucial in shaping Goodman Brown’s personality and helping the reader understand why he was reluctant to continue his journey.
Irving, Washington. “Rip Van Winkle.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Bayn. New York: Norton & Company, 1999.
Goodman Brown, a young man who was only married for three months, left his home and his wife, Faith, to go into the forest and spend the night on some mission that he will not explain. Even though Faith has strong feelings about his journey and begs him not to leave, Brown has made his decision and leaves everything behind. Faith is appropriately named, because she represents Browns faith and what he believes in. The name is genuine, religious and hopeful. It represents the good side of Brown and his hope for life. He feels bad for leaving her because he knows what he is about to do is evil and goes against his faith. Brown swears that after this night he will be good and not do anything evil again and vow his life to Faith. Brown is upset about leaving her because he knows that what he is about to do in the forest is evil and goes against his Faith. Hawthorne describes Browns journey as "crossing the threshold", meaning that he is going from one part of his life to another, he is leaving the genuine good side to go to the bad evil side.
Both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s young Goodman brown and Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle have meaning beyond what you read on the surface. Young Goodman brown is on a hero quest, but is searching for himself. When Young Goodman Brown meets with the devil he blames being late on his faith, you would think he meant his wife faith. What he really meant was his spiritual faith stopping him from being on time with the meeting with the devil. After his community, did not like Young Goodman Brown, and eventually he was exiled from his community.
21st century, we live in the era of technology-driven world. Human never stopped the development of technology, because we always have a natural tendency to pursue a higher level of human being. Technology is the best evidence of human intelligence, has shown that we are different from other animals. We live with technology since we born. Although it has intervene our daily life heavily that we can’t no longer live without, nobody can deny the achievements it has brought to us.