Theme Of Feminism In Young Goodman Brown By Nathaniel Hawthorne

731 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women in greek myths

Throughout literary history, the depiction of women has taken on various forms. One may attempt to assign feminism to a distinct category. However, it can be analyzed that even within one author’s collection of writings, contradictions are present. Within many of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works women are portrayed as vulnerable, weak and submissive, this image of women was accepted by many during Hawthorne’s time. Conversely, this image of vile and submissive behavior was disrupted when Hawthorne came out with Scarlet Letter, which depicted women as the heroine rather than the damsel in distress. Feminism was not particularly favored during the Puritan period, causing for a stereotypical view of women to be valueless, therefore, disposable. The …show more content…

The reoccurring theme of evil is directly related to the behavior of the women within the stories. On the surface society is presented as innocent bliss, what you do not know will not hurt you. Goodman Brown has decided to go on a journey through the forest. Of course, a hindrance that presents itself is that of a woman’s need for man. Hawthorne portrays Faith, Young Goodman Brown’s wife, as clingy and obsessive, not wanting her husband to go, in order that she will not be left alone. Hawthorne states, “he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air.” The scene of Goodman Brown leaving depicts Faith as an innocent young girl empty without her husband. Through Goodman Brown’s journey through the forest he stumbled upon a ceremony, inference can be made that a Satanic ritual was taking place. In this moment, Goodman Brown’s view of innocence has been destroyed, seeing the evil within society. Brown tones in his anger on the behavior of the women of the village, particularly Faith and Goody Cloyse are seen for their wrongdoing, which may have been only in his dream. “Had goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting…” this again reinstating Hawthorne’s sense of ambiguity leaving reasoning up to the

Show More
Related

  • Free College Essays - Allegory and Symbolism in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1487 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne is a nineteenth-century American writer of the Romantic Movement. Hawthorne was born is Salem, Massachusetts, and this is the place he used as the setting for some of his works: such as "The Scarlett Letter", "the Blithedale Romance" and "Young Goodman Brown". In writing, Hawthorne was known for his use of allegory and symbolism, which made his stories a joy for everyone to read. Hawthorne was said to be the first American writer who was conscious of the failure of modern man to realize his full capacity for moral growth. His stories contain much about the life he knew as a child being brought up in a Puritan society. As Hawthorne's writing continued it was filled with the same amount of sin and evil as his first writings. Evil that was revealed through his works. "Young Goodman Brown" was said to be one of the best stories ever written by Hawthorne (Adams70). "The Marble Faun: and "the Scarlett Letter were some of the other stories written by Hawthorne, and they were said to be "Young Goodman Brown" grown older. In this selection there is a question of maturity for Goodman Brown and whether he is good or evil. There is also a transition from childishness to adolescence to maturity. This short story in particular has a feeling of adultery, betrayal, and deception as in some of his other works. It was said by Richard P. Adams that "young Goodman Brown" was a germ for nearly all his best work that followed (Adams 71).

    Read More

  • Janie and Hester: Dealt Unfair Hands But Played the Game

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Beginning with the very first words of The Scarlet Letter the reader is thrust into a bleak and unforgiving setting. “A thong of bearded men, in sad-colored garments,” that are said to be “intermixed with women,” come off as overpowering and all-encompassing; Hawthorne quickly and clearly establishes who will be holding the power in this story: the males (Hawthorne 45). And he goes even further with his use of imagery, painting an even more vivid picture in the reader’s mind. One imagines a sea of drab grays and browns, further reinforcing the unwelcoming feeling this atmosphere seems to inheren...

    Read More

  • Sinful or Feared?: An Exploration of the Reasons Women Were Accused of Witchcraft

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e to the Puritan ideas that women were more vulnerable and evil than men, their sexuality was more obvious and sinful, and the fear of women gaining power and authority.

    Read More

  • Witchcraft: Jumping to Conclusion Ruins Lives

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, the main character, Young Goodman Brown, jumped to the conclusion that everyone in his village was working with the devil after he had a dream about a meeting in the forest. The first piece of evidence that Young Goodman Brown jumped to conclusion is how he treated his wife when he came back from the forest compared to how he treated his wife in the beginning. In the beginning, Faith was “a blessed angel” (“Young Goodman Brown” 1) and he said when he got back he would follow her to heaven. Then afterward, often at mi...

    Read More

  • Young Goodman Brown Analysis

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hawthorne skillfully uses Goodman Brown’s wife’s name, Faith, as a symbol of Goodman Brown’s strong faith when Brown’s reassuring response to Faith imply that his faith cannot be weakened: “Amen!’ cried Goodman Brown, “Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee” (Hawthorne 22). Brown leaves Faith; whom he describes as a “blessed angel on earth,” and journeys to the forest (Hawthorne 22). Taking the dark, dreary road into the forest symbolizes his act of jumping into the path leading to despair. The forest represents sin, and the evil grows stronger and stronger as Goodman walks further into the

    Read More

  • Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1518 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1846 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Symbolism and Allegory in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne uses different people as symbols throughout "Young Goodman Brown." The largest symbolic roles in the story are goodman Brown and his wife Faith. Both of the characters' names are symbolic and representative of their personalities. "'With Heaven above and Faith below, I will stand firm against the devil!' cried goodman Brown," is just one of many quotes that directly relates goodman Brown's personality with his name (189). Goodman Brown is truly a good man. Faith, goodman Brown's wife, also has a name that is indicative of her nature. The story directly supports this point in the phrase "Faith, as the wife was aptly named . . . " (184). Faith is persistent in trying to keep goodman Brown off the path of sin in the first part of the story: " . . . pr'y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night" (184). Hawthorne does an excellent job of turning the main characters into symbols that are prominent throughout the story.

    Read More

  • Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown – The Theme

    2297 Words  | 5 Pages

    Clarice Swisher in “Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography” states: ”When Hawthorne called his stories ‘romances,’ he meant that they belong within the romantic movement that . . . . emphasize imagination and personal freedom” (18). It is the purpose of this essay to interpret the theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and determine where this “personal freedom” leads.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Woman as an Occasion for Disillusionment in “Young Goodman Brown”

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    In several of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories, “Young Goodman Brown” in particular, the female character seems to be the occasion for the disillusionment of the protagonist. Young Goodman Brown desires order and predictability because he wants control over his existence. However, intangibles such as emotions, the future and especially his mortality provoke anxiety in Brown, because they are unpredictable and not concrete. If Brown could control the intangible, he could establish order and predictability in his world. Woman is the ideal substitute for the intangible, for she is mysterious, and yet she is concrete and subject to control particularly because of the conventions of the marriage relationship. For Brown, then, to master woman is to master the intangible.

    Read More

  • The Feminist Scarlet Letter

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    With a strong female protagonist and two mentally weak males, it is hard to consider Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter anything but a feminist treatise. He obviously intended to put down not only Puritanism, which is an obvious aspect of the novel, but to establish a powerful, secure female in American literature. Hester proves, although she has sinned in the past, she can confront her mistakes, take care of herself and her child, and help others at the same time. She can withhold a position in society that many can respect because of her character something the males of the story obviously could not succeed at doing.

    Read More

  • Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour and Feminism in the 1800s

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    156. The 158. Driscoll, Kerry. A. The "Feminism" - "The 'Feminism' American History Through Literature, 1870-1920. Ed.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Written At The Close Of Spring By Charlotte Smith

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been hardly recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman of society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women character in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a

    Read More

  • The Evolution of the Role of Women in British and American Literature

    1818 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Feminism In Young Goodman Brown By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Open Document