Formalistic Approach to Young Goodman Brown
The Formalistic Approach can be found throughout "Young Goodman Brown," a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Formalistic Approach is one of the most frequently used approaches. It concentrates on the concepts of form, tension, image, and symbol; as well as point of view, irony, and paradox. These styles appear throughout the story. Form in the past has meant what is now known as external form, the way one identifies the work. This type of form is usually associated with poetry. Organic form is important to critics. "Emphasis on organicism is not just in literary forms but in a broader, philosophical context, where the world itself is organic..." Point of view is another device in the Formalistic Approach. Point of view, " preserves the internal form, the organic quality of the work." (Handbook pg.87) Tension, irony, and paradox are "the resolution of opposites. " "The basic terms -tension, irony, and paradox- are often nearly indistinguishable, so closely do they work together."(Handbook pg. 90) "A term introduced by Allen Tate, meaning the integral unity that results from the successful resolution of the conflicts of abstraction and concreteness..." (Handbook pg. 90)
Ambiguity is also present in "Young Goodman Brown." "Paradoxical as it may seem, we suggest that ambiguity is a formal device in 'Young Goodman Brown'."(Handbook pg.97) One way to see ambiguity in the work, as suggested by the Handbook of Critical Approaches, is to trace the relationships of light and dark. The daylight and darkness of the town and the (dark) forest is important.
"Young Goodman Brown" is a story that is easily understood. The broad use of symbolism jumps out to the reader making the story fun and interesting, while displaying the meaning and ironic twists of events. In "Young Goodman Brown," the "image" almost immediately takes on symbolic qualities. For example, the pink ribbons in the hair of Faith, Brown's wife. This is a reference to and has the same meaning as Hester Prynne's scarlet "A". Another good example of ambiguity and symbolism is the fact that Faith's ribbons are pink, an in between color. Red is a symbol of evil or being provocative and white is a symbol of purity and innocence. "Like the admixture of light and dark in the tale... the ribbons are neither red nor white. They are somewhere between: they are ambiguity objectified.
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).
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.
The complete loss of control over Nicole and over her illness is the ultimate demise of Dick. "She hated the beach, resented the places where she had played planet to Dick's sun. Why I'm almost complete, I'm practically standing alone, without him"(321). Nicole's realization of her freedom leads her away from Dick, and his only success was in the end his greatest failure, the loss of love of his wife and his loss of the life he knew.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, Young Goodman Brown is a story of sex, sin, and the Devil, all the entertaining things in life. Hawthorne uses many literary devices to impress strength in his work. Hawthorne uses these techniques to bring out the religious themes within the story.
work can make the theme more apparent. “Images emerge as more and more important…certain images, or colors…keep coming up…. Bit by formal bit, we think we begin to see a theme emerging from the work.” (Guerin, 74-75). Young Goodman Brown is the story of an innocent young man who realizes the imperfections and flaws of the world and its people,
Young Goodman Brown is a story written by a well known Dark Romanticism writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne is known for his unique symbolism and dark writing.Part of Nathaniel Hawthorne's influence in writing Dark Romanticism is Hawthorns embarrassment of his family and the ways of his ancestor.While on one's journey towards faith and religion, they have to face it themselves and understand what they are doing. In Young Goodman Brown there was many symbolisms including Goodman Brown's wife, the snake staff,the forest and Faiths pink ribbon
The Chambered Nautilus written by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1858 has been one of the most popular poems written about a sea creature. This entire poem describes how the creature moves and grows.
The ambiguity surrounding Young Goodman Brown's wife, Faith, immediately becomes apparent at the story's beginning. As Young Goodman Brown is leaving his comfortable and reverent Puritan home to embark upon this mysterious journey, Faith unexpectedly plunges her "pretty head into the street" allowing the wind to tousle and "play with the pink ribbons of her cap"(1199). Hawthorne uses natural imagery, such as the image of the wind "playing" with Faith's pink ribbons, to convey Faith's attachment to nature; the dark and mysterious part of life that is somewhere outside the constraints of Puritan society. In fact, the image...
The setting of Young Goodman Brown is in Salem, where the Salem witch craft trials were held in the 1600’s. This is the first symbol Hawthorne uses throughout the story as a test of who is innocent at this present time and who is not just as they did during the witch trials. Brown set off to the forest for an unknown ceremony leaving his new wife Faith behind. The name Faith symbolizes his personal faith in his own life and in his spirituality. Faith represents youth and innocence that was carried in his childhood. As we get further into detail the pink ribbons she wore in her hair were of some significance to the tale being conveyed. The pink ribbons exemplify the mix between red and white: red meaning evil and white innoce...
Symbolism in “Young Goodman Brown” is not discrete. This makes analysis of this piece seemingly simple. We can observe the various roles that Goodman’s wife, Faith, holds in the story. In “Young Goodman Brown” Faith holds the major roles of purity and protection as Goodman embarks on his journey through the wilderness.
In The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the stereotypes and roles in society are reexamined and made new through the characters in the book. Chaucer discusses different stereotypes and separates his characters from the social norm by giving them highly ironic and/or unusual characteristics. Specifically, in the stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale, Chaucer examines stereotypes of women and men and attempts to define their basic wants and needs.
Before Diver becomes involved with woman, he is a Rhodes Scholar and a promising young Psychiatrist. By the end of the novel he is a middle-aged drunk chasing young women. Dick Diver, flaw credible, possesses an excess of charm, which leaves him vulnerable to women who lead him to moral and emotional bankruptcy. Diver meets Nicole Warren, the rich heiress. Their relationship is almost incestuous. The unsteady daughter figure/wife/patient seeks approval from her father figure/husband/doctor. The relationship is clearly based on the control Dick Diver has over Nicole. Nicole was already a mess from the sexual abuse she encountered from her father. She was looking for a father figure, someone to take care of her. Her choice of mate was the likely one: her doctor. While Diver does seem to love his patient, he nonetheless "handles" her, always treating her like a patient over whom he has power. During their courtship, the letters he sends her mostly tell her to "be a good girl and mind the doctors." (130) He is a doctor who has control over his patient while corresponding with her; he knows she will follow his directions and obey his commands. After he weds her, he becomes increasingly torn betw...
...He no longer practiced medicine and he was not helping Nicole get any better. His drinking went on to cause him further unhappiness by making things with Nicole even worse, and was the reason that he lost both his social standing and his career.
Metamorphosis is a common theme in pieces of literature because the author needs the readers to understand if a character was dynamic or static or in other words, whether a character changed thought the piece or remained the same. If a character underwent great and significant changes throughout a story, then the concept of metamorphosis needs to be implying to reflect changes in appearance, personality or even outlook on life.
Symbolism is a literary technique that is used to clarify the author's intent. Sometimes it is used to great effect, while other times it only seems to muddle the meaning of a passage. In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses objects and people as symbols to allegorically reveal his message to the reader.