Themes And Symbolism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown has perhaps inspired more controversy than any other of the author 's work. Most people have chosen two paths in which their choice determines the meaning they give to the short story. Those who think that Goodman Brown 's experience in the forest is not a daze say that he is the victim of an evil world in which he finds himself, the people who think that Brown 's experience is a dream put the fault for his hopelessness on Brown himself.

It is the purpose of this paper, which is in agreement with the conclusions of the latter, to show that Hawthorne 's method in Young Goodman Brown is that the full meaning cannot be determined by the story itself. Rather, the reader must be mindful of a trio of representative patterns

First, Faith, Brown 's wife, represents religious faith and faith in humankind; second, Brown 's journey into the forest represents an inward journey into the darkside inside himself and hopeless depths of his soul; third, the devil represents Brown 's evil, disbelieving side, which eventually believes that evil is the nature of human kind. The symbolism of the forest scenes is from the heart and love of Faith to the loss of faith, which involves misery and hopelessness. From the village of Salem which shows belief to the dark of the forest of loss, and from a windling balance of Brown 's personality to the complete submergence of the brighter side into the darker side, which objectifies the disparity. These three sets of symbols or patterns tell the story of a man, young and naive in the world, who finds that men are not all good and pure and became convinced they are all bad that he could not remove the doubt of universal wickedness from his

When he meets the devil, he declares to him that “Faith kept me back awhile '.”(44). As he goes deeper into the forest, his mind continues to disturb him. At one point of the story he holds regret at the fact that his action will break Faith 's heart, while at another he asks himself why he should quit Faith. But still treks forward, going deeper and farther until his senses defeat him. He tries to find himself against overwhelming thoughts by gazing above to the sky. He convinces himself that he is safe as long as he has