Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
the character of young goodman brown
the character of young goodman brown
themes in nathanial hawthorne
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: the character of young goodman brown
Posthumous Rating of Hawthorne and “Young Goodman Brown”
This essay intends to trace the main literary criticism of the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and “Young Goodman Brown”since the author’s death in 1864.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s acclamation as a great writer by both critics and the general public was not an overnight occurrence. The Norton Anthology: American Literature states that “he was agonizingly slow in winning acclaim” (547).
Initially, of course, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s literary works went unranked among those of other American and British writers. But his reputation grew gradually even among contemporary critics, until he was recognized as a “man of genius.” The question in this essay is this: How does he and “Young Goodman Brown” fare since 1864 when Hawthorne died.
The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote a poem commemorating Hawthorne for the funeral in 1864:
. . . . There in seclusion and remote from men
The wizard hand lies cold,
Which at its topmost speed let fall the pen,
And left the tale half told.
Ah! who shall lift that wand of magic power,
And the lost clew regain?
The unfinished windows in Aladdin's tower
Unfinished must remain!
In 1871 James T. Fields published Yesterdays With Authors, in which Chapter 3 deals with his evaluation of Nathaniel Hawthorne:
I AM sitting to-day opposite the likeness of the rarest genius America has given to literature,--a man who lately sojourned in this busy world of ours, but during many years of his life
"Wandered lonely as a cloud,"--
a man who had, so to speak, a physical affinity with solitude. The writings of this author have never soiled the public mind with one unlovely image. His men and women have a magic of their own, and we shall wait a long
time before another arises among us to take his place. Indeed, it seems probable no one will ever walk precisely the same round of fiction which he traversed with so free and firm a step.
What lovely thoughts! What a tribute to Hawthorne’s genius! The very next year Henry James wrote a review of Hawthorne for the Nation:
Our remarks are not provoked by any visible detriment conferred on Mr. Hawthorne's fame by these recent publications. . .His journals throw but little light on his personal feelings, and even less on his genius per se.
The film Casablanca centers on an American man by the name of Rick Blaine who flees a German-occupied France during World War II to a city in Morocco by the name of Casablanca. (Casablanca, 1942) This city is a territory of France at the time and is out of full German jurisdiction due to this status. (Casablanca, 1942) Many citizens of German-occupied countries in Europe sought refuge here due to the lack of control Germany had on other countries’ territories early in the war. The general intent of refugees in Casablanca was to flee to even further countries such as The United States of America, which they could not achieve in their home, occupied countries. As the film’s plot develops, the viewer is introduced to refugees very important to the freedom-fighting movement France, and we learn that Rick originated in New York, U.S.A.
... try to secure the downtown area, they were quickly overrun by the zombie horde. After hiding in a burned-out tank, Rick is eventually recused by a group of survivors who have been making risky supply runs into the city. When he returns to the group’s camp outside the city limits, he discovers that his wife, son, and best friend are also part of this rag-tag band. After the tearful reunion, the question of what to do next drives the subsequent episodes.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1997. 298-308.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography.” The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Waggoner, Hyatt H. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In Six American Novelists of the Nineteenth Century, edited by Richard Foster. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1968.
... resided in their first permanent home, The Wayside, at Concord. Hawthorne’s health eventually began to fail him, but since he refused to submit to medical examination, the details of his health issues remain unclear. He eventually died in Plymouth, New Hampshire on May 19, 1864 (Magill 1; Campbell 1; “Nathaniel Hawthorne”; Eldred 1).
Hawthorne’s Romantic writing ability allures his readers into deep thought of the transforming characters creating himself as a phenomenon. His ability to transform Puritan society in a dark world “attracts readers not only for their storytelling qualities, but also for the moral and theological ambiguities Hawthorne presents so well” (Korb 303). In “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Romantic characteristics such as artificiality of the city, escape from reality, and the value of imagination.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol1. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. New York: Norton, 1994. 1198-1207.
Leavis, Q.D. “Hawthorne as Poet.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
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.
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.
McCabe, Michael E. “The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”.”
The point-of-view shot, also used by Curtiz was intended to place the audience directly ...
Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.
He constantly provokes Rick, urges him to do the unthinkable (at the time) in order to survive), reaches his breaking point with Rick's decision-making and decides he has to kill Rick. He thinks Rick is weak and is slow to shake his idealistic view of what is right (something he struggles with throughout the show). Shane, on the other hand, has quickly adjusted to the new world in which they are living and is in full survivor mode already. The two continuously butt heads regarding the best course of action for the group, with Shane growing increasingly irritated by Rick's approach to things. One night, Shane stages a threat to the group in order to lure Rick deep into the woods. It doesn't take long for Rick to suspect that the man who used to be his best friend is going to make an attempt on his life. Rick realizes he can’t be the good guy anymore. He confronts Shane under the moonlight and ultimately rushes him with a blade and stabs him to death while screaming “Damn you for this making me do this! This is you, not me!” With no other choice, Rick decides to use Shane as a test to confirm Dr. Jenner’s (from the event at the CDC) troubling information. After Shane turns, Rick fully understands the world he lives in and becomes aware of his and everyone’s ultimate fate. Rick’s son, Carl, shoots Shane and the two run away from the oncoming horde of