Symbolism and Relationships Found in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Writings Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote many short stories, including “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Birthmark,” and “The Minister’s Black Veil”. There are many noticeable connections found in all three of these short stories that give each story merit because Hawthorne uses his writing style of using symbolism and newlywed and young relationships in almost every story. Symbolism is seen many times throughout each story and plays a part in emphasizing certain objects to create a theme or mood. Hawthorne includes young relationships in his writings which shows a change in characters’ reactions depending on relationship status and types of love. These connections between his writings show …show more content…
He returned to the town solemn and changed and afraid to look at his wife the same again because of the images the Devil showed during his “nightmare.”For example, “...and bursting into such joy at the sight of him that she skipped along the street and almost kissed her husband before the whole village. But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed without a greeting.” (“Young Goodman Brown”) The meaning of this scene is to show that after experiencing a visit with the Devil or sinning, the stability and domestics of Puritan life might not cause the usual assurance and happiness of coming home or returning to Faith and Puritanism. The romance involved has diminished due to Goodman Brown’s sinning, which goes to show that sinning leads to a change in a relationship strength in a Puritan lifestyle. Overall, Romance and relationships are also found in the other Hawthorne’s writings, such as The Birthmark and The Minister’s Black Veil where newlyweds are involved and they endure a relationship changing …show more content…
The symbolism found in this short story is Minister Hooper’s black veil which represents the public sins. For example, “... Mr. Hooper, a gentlemanly person, of about thirty, though still a bachelor, was dressed with due clerical neatness, as if a careful wife had starched his band, and brushed the weekly dust from his Sunday's garb. There was but one thing remarkable in his appearance. Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil. On a nearer view it seemed to consist of two folds of crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things.” (“The Minister’s Black Veil”) In this scene Minister Hooper starts to wear his black veil and the public opinion is not in favor of his decision to wear it. He wears the black veil to make up for a grave sin and he pledges to never take it off. The public starts to notice his veil so much that they complain and gossip about it and forget about their own sins. This a close connection with “The Birthmark” and how Aylmer looked at his wife’s imperfections and overlooked his own. People did the same with Hooper’s veil and they soon
Both of these stories revolve around a lot of symbolism. These stories, since they really don't make a lot of sense on their own, force the reader to look deeper in an attempt to understand the ideas that Hawthorne tries to get across.
In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hooper’s wife begs him to take off the veil but to no avail. The secret sins symbolized by the black veil, he wears will not go away on earth so in turn he refuses to take it off. As a result, his wife leaves him. In “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman Brown leaves his wife, Faith, at night. Goodman Brown is leaving because he wants to commit an evil deed in the night. In the gloomy and evil night, Faith describes herself as “A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she’s afeard of herself sometimes” (36). His wife is a symbol of Goodman Brown’s faith which waivers because of his secret sin. Also pertaining to Faith, Goodman Brown discovers his wife was worshipping the devil. Their relationship suffers as a result. The author describes,“Often walking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith”(45). Goodman Brown is not able to see his wife in the same light because he is afraid of her secret sin. He ends up dying as an alone and downcast
Within “Young Goodman Brown”, the naive and malleable character’s intoxication of grief and dread lead him upon the revelation of the town’s hypocrisy. The fact of the initial impact upon Brown’s mentality and changed outlook of the town’s people revolves around the imagined forest meeting which leaves him bitter and spiteful. Satan’s true intent was to make him: “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream”. Whether the forestry scene did in fact occur is truly a matter of the readers insight, however the overall impact that the scene had upon the story’s primary thematic detail of hypocrisy does evolve around the secrets of which the townspeople in turn remain to hold to themselves. Hawthorne’s works primarily emphas...
In “Young Goodman Brown” The woods are characterized as devilish, frightening, and dark as said in the story, “..the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and thick boughs overhead, so that, with lonely footsteps, he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude.” (Hawthorne 3) In this Hawthorne shares the point of view of 17th century Puritans, who believed that the New World was something to fear and then dominate. He as well mentions Salem in context to the Salem Witch Trials. For example, Hawthorne uses the names of Goody Cloyse and Martha Carrier. Two of the “witches” killed at Salem, for townspeople in his story. The devil refers to seeing Goodman Brown’s grandfather whipping a Quaker and handing Goodman Brown’s father a flaming torch so that he could set fire to an Indian village during King Philip’s War. Hawthorne usage of this shows that the Salem Puritan town has always had a dark dubious side lurking behind them. His wife Faith, is, of course, symbolic of his faith, and is used as a foil to develop Goodman’s fall into evil. “Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons on her caps while she called to Goodman Brown” (Hawthorne 1 ). The pink ribbons that Faith has on her cap represent her purity. The color pink is associated with innocence and ribbons are a modest, innocent decoration Faith is a stand in for the beliefs of his Christian faith. All the evil people he meets in the woods are trying to lead him away from her/it, but he resists. Still, the awful things he sees means that, when he eventually returns, he finds her/it not as comforting as before. Hawthorne also conveys allusion and allegory within his story by the reference of Genesis from the bible. As well as the story
In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne analyzes the Puritans’ consciousness and the hidden wickedness of their nature. He takes a naïve Puritan man and takes him on a journey into the dark forest to meet an old man whom we presume, is the devil. As the naïve Puritan embarks on his journey, his wife "Faith" kisses him good bye. The Puritan has an overwhelming feeling of guilt as he is entering the forest to meet with the Devil. He realized what he is doing was forbidden and none of his forefathers or fellow Puritans would ever commit such a sin. During his meeting with the Devil his naïveté dissolves. He sees Deacon Gookin, his old catechism teacher, and other upstanding members of the community, whom he looked up to and feared, dancing around the Devil’s fire. He is told that the Devil has helped his father and Grandfather in years past. His innocence is completely destroyed when he sees his own wife Faith dancing around the Devils circle . He screams in agony: "My faith is gone. There is no good on earth; and sin is but a ...
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...
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, Young Goodman Brown, illustrates the extensive impact and lifelong results that a supposed dream had on the main character. In this dream, Young Goodman Brown essentially meets the devil in the forest and plans to take communion with him at his evil ceremony. However, along his journey, Brown meets religious leaders from his community and the devil states that in previous years, he had met with Brown’s forefathers as well. Though Brown is surprised to hear this, he is most taken aback when he later sees his wife, Faith, at the same ceremony with the devil because she was the most important and noteworthy Christian in his life. While at the ceremony, just as they were about to take part in communion, Brown
During Goodman Brown’s journey, he recognized Goody Cloyse, his catechism teacher, the preacher, and Deacon Gookin is going to the devil’s meeting. However, after seeing his church members at the devil’s meeting, Goodman says, “My Faith is gone! and There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come devil! for to thee is this world given” (Hawthorne 27). “But, where is Faith?”, asked Goodman Brown (Hawthorne 29). As hope came into his heart, he trembled when he found the pink ribbon of his wife, Faith, in the forest. At that moment, Goodman Brown lost his faith in his family and church members. Goodman becomes unforgiving of others and believes only evil can be created from evil and there is nothing that anyone can do to change it. Here, Hawthorne demonstrates that a naive faith in our family, friends, and church member’s righteousness could lead to distrust. While, “Young Goodman Brown” lives a long life with Faith, he never loses his meanness toward humanity and the evil in the world, “for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne
In “Young Goodman Brown” Hawthorne uses the hypocritical nature of Young Goodman Browns neighbors and friends to show the hypocritical nature of the puritan people. In the story, Young Goodman Brown is led by the devil to a witching party in the woods. At the witching party he sees all the people he thought to be honorable and pious. He sees his minister, and Goody Cloyse, the woman who taught him his catechisms, meeting with the devil. He even sees his wife about to join the commune but doesn’t see whether she does or not because he resists the devil and wakes up by a tree. After witnessing these things in the woods Young Goodman Brown can’t look at the people he loved and looked up to in the same way anymore. He becomes a bitter and distrustful old man because of their hypocr...
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.
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.
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.
It is impossible to fairly analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Young Goodman Brown" around a single literary approach. American novelist, essayist, and poet, Herman Melville, once wrote about Hawthorn's short story that it over time, like wine, it only improves in flavor and body (The Life and Works of Herman Melville). Hawthorne's short story continues to get better with age, and carries today's readers into a world filled with a plethora of meanings for them to pick from its symbolism. Modern readers have interpreted the meaning of Goodman Brown's experience in many ways, but to pigeon hole the story into one view would destroy its veracity.
The story “The Minister’s Black Veil” is symbolic of the hidden sins that we hide and separate ourselves from the ones we love most. In wearing the veil Hooper presents the isolation that everybody experiences when they are chained down by their own sins. He has realized that everybody symbolically can be found in the shadow of their own veil. By Hooper wearing this shroud across his face is only showing the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.
Young Goodman Brown is a newlywed Puritan who leaves his wife, Faith on what he terms “an errand,” which the reader later learns to be a meeting with the devil. Brown believes he can face and resist the devil. Initially, his wife, Faith, begs him to stay, and Brown patronizingly soothes her only to discover her as one of the devil’s converts. Ultimately, Brown holds Faith most culpable for his disillusion with the supposed elect of his community.