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Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism throughout his short story Young Goodman Brown to impact and clarify the theme of good people sometimes doing bad things. Hawthorne uses a variety of light and dark imagery, names, and people to illustrate irony and different translations. Young Goodman Brown is a story about a man who comes to terms with the reality that people are imperfect and flawed and then dies a bitter death from the enlightenment of his journey through the woods. Images of darkness, symbolic representations of names and people and the journey through the woods all attribute to Hawthorne's theme of good people sometimes doing bad things. The use of dark imagery throughout the story gives you a sense of fear of the unknown that lies ahead of Goodman Brown on his journey. The beginning sentence of the story illustrates an image of a sunset and the approaching of night as Goodman Brown sets off on his mission. ?Young Goodman Brown came forth, at sunset, into the street of Salem village, but put his head back, after crossing the threshold.? (196) Here, the light of the sun represents the knowledge that Goodman Brown already has. The imagery of darkness setting in is the unknown knowledge Goodman Brown is out to discover. Goodman Brown must first travel through the darkness of the unknown before he reaches the light of enlightenment and truth that is why he is embarking on his journey throughout the night hours. ?My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done ?twist now and sunrise.? (197) The next use of symbolism is the setting of the journey and meeting in the woods. Early Americans looked at the woods as a test of strength, bravery and endurance. It took a lot of courage for someone to enter the forest because it was unknown territory and they would not emerge the same. ?He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all gloomiest trees of the forest?that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks?he may be passing through an unseen multitude.? (197) Goodman Brown does not face the dangers of Indians but faces the danger of reality and truth. Goodman Brown does not emerge from the forest tougher or braver but hateful and spiteful because he becomes enlightened to the ways of world. He comes to terms with the reality tha... ... middle of paper ... ...er swell of those familiar tones, heard daily in the sunshine, at Salem village, but never, until now from a cloud of night.? (202) The use of light and dark imagery in this particular sentence helps you understand Goodman Brown?s despair. He has realized the truth that the people he sees in the daylight hours pretending to be pure and good are the total opposite in the dark. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolic imagery throughout his story Young Goodman Brown to impact the theme of good people sometimes do bad things. Hawthorne takes us on a journey of truth and realization. Goodman Brown was not open to the truth or the reality that the world is filled with evil and people are imperfect. His perception of the world was it was a fun loving happy place and when he was exposed to reality he turned away from people and lost faith in them. His faith should have been in God because God will never let you down but his faith was in people and people are imperfect and subject to disappoint you. Works Cited: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." 1835. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Lexington: Heath, 1944. 2129-38.
But, was Goodman Brown just dreaming or did these events actually happen. These events could not have happened so he had to be dreaming this whole time. Goodman Brown had been questioning his faith for some time and had a very realistic dream. In the story, Goodman Brown is confronted with much more evilness rather than good which ultimately causes him to question his faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne is believed to be the author with the most symbolic messages and the symbols that he uses in "Young Goodman Brown" are strong with great meaning behind them. Symbols are a prominent part of nearly every story, they help improve the story by branching out on the main idea with other meanings in the
The use of symbolism in "young Goodman Brown" shows that evil is everywhere, which becomes evident in the conclusion of this short story. Hawthorne's works are filled with symbolic elements and allegorical elements. "Young Goodman Brown" deals mostly with conventional allegorical elements, such as Young Goodman Brown and Faith. In writing his short stories or novels he based their depiction of sin on the fact that he feels like his father and grandfather committed great sins. There are two main characters in this short story, Faith and Young Goodman Brown. "Young Goodman Brown is everyman seventeenth-century New England the title as usual giving the clue. He is the son of the Old Adam, and recently wedded to Faith. We must note that every word is significant in the opening sentence: "Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street of Sale, Village; but put his head back, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his young w2ife.
When he goes into the forest, he believes he is talking to the devil and looks much like his grandfather. The devil is feeding him bad thoughts about everyone he knows, even his own father and his wife, Faith. Next, I believe that Goodman Brown has had a rough past and in order for him to overcome this within himself, he must search for attention. This attention may not be needed from his wife or community members, I believe it is needed from him. He is feeling overwhelmed with obligations from his wife and peers, and he has no time to decide whether this type of life is right for him.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory. Hawthorne’s moral story is told through the perversion of a religious leader, Goodman Brown. Goodman is a Puritan minister who lets his excessive pride interfere with his relations with the community after he meets with the devil. The result is that Goodman lives the rest of his life in exile within his own community.
innocence. Images of the sunset and of a journey and several others appear throughout the story to amplify the theme of Young Goodman Brown.
...ssed though the use of setting, foreshadowing, and symbolism. William Graham Sumner once said “Men never cling to their dreams with such tenacity as at the moment when they are losing faith in them, and know it, but do not dare yet to confess it to themselves.” (brainyquote.com). This statement holds many truths to the thoughts and actions of the young Goodman Brown in Hawthorne’s allegorical story. Brown was quick to go on his foreboding quest, knowing what his meeting with the devil may lead to, and only when threatened and scared attempted to turn back to hold on to both Faith physically and psychologically. Whether his journey into the forest was an illusion or not, Brown’s perception of faith in society have been dramatically altered, as he may have lost all faith in humanity.
In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of man's inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthorne's deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of humanity and in the existence of moral absolutes. According to Nancy Bunge, Hawthorne naturally centers his story upon a Puritan protagonist to convey the "self-righteous" that he regards as the "antithesis of wisdom"(4). Consequently, Young Goodman Brown is unable to accept the indefinable vision of betrayal and evil that he encounters in the forest. The uncertainty of this vision, enhanced by Hawthorne's deliberate, yet effective, use of ambiguity, is also seen in the character of Faith, the shadows and darkness of the forest, and the undetectable boundaries that separate nightmarish dreams from reality.
The short story, "Young Goodman Brown" is a fascinating rendition of the battle between good and evil. The reader must delve into the depths of his/her own beliefs to understand what the symbolism is. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes an entire lesson in life as one big symbol using allegory. The various examples are fruitful and will be presented throughout this essay.
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.
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 conclusion, it is obvious that there is a proliferation of familiar literary motifs in “Young Goodman Brown.”
In the story of young Goodman brown the Author of the story, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses symbolic characters that represent life. In the story, Young Goodman Brown goes into a journey into the cold, dark, and lonely forest. Faith, his wife is rejected by young Goodman brown when she asks him to stay with her that night and to forget about the journey. Young Goodman Brown tells her that she will be all right without him and that he has to go into that journey. This is an image of what many people do, if not all people. We do not listen to our sin or to people who only wants the best for us, for example, our family. In Young Goodman Brown, Faith does not only resemble Young Goodman Brown’s religion, but it also resembles his support and security
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman Brown struggles with staying pure and not giving in to the devil. Hawthorne utilizes allegory and ambiguity to leave unanswered questions for the reader.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig. 5th Compact ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2012. 329-37. Print.
In 'Young Goodman Brown,'; Hawthorne makes the reader believe that Goodman Brown has learned that truth about the world and how evil it really is. In the story the accounts of Goodman Brown let you believe that he has truly seen the evil in the world and knows what lurks behind everybody masks. He makes you realize that even though the person may look holy and religious that evilness is all around us and most people will never ever find out the truth. The character Young Goodman Brown written by Nathaniel Hawthorne finds many issues of evil concerning the town's people in which he lives, about himself, and the reality behind the evil.