The Downfall Of Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a descendant of Puritan immigrants who dedicated his life to writing. It was through his short story “Young Goodman Brown” that Hawthorne uses it to explain Young Goodman Brown’s excessive pride. This excessive pride interferes with the relationship of his wife Faith and the community, which ultimately causes Young Goodman Brown’s downfall.
“Young Goodman Brown” sets up his journey that his wife asks him to “pr’y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in his own bed to-night” (Hawthorne 614). However, Goodman Brown tells Faith “of all nights in the year, this one night must tarry away from thee” (614). The first sign of excessive pride is when Goodman Brown leaves his loving wife and goes on the journey that he does not know what to expect when he told her he would “cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” . Goodman Brown let his wife down because of his journey. This journey led him directly to the Devil who was the first person Goodman Brown met. Goodman Brown did not know this man was the Devil, therefore, he followed his every lead. The Devil leads Goodman Brown down a “dreary road” that made Goodman Brown skeptical. Goodman Brown was afraid a devilish Indian would be in the woods when all along the Devil was walking beside of him. Goodman Brown did not know this because he was so curious to see everything the journey had in store for him. However, the Devils journey was already working because Goodman Brown had left his newlywed wife to go with the Devil. Ironically, the Devil knew Goodman Brown was going on the journey because he showed up fifteen minutes late and brought it to his attention. Then, Goodman Brown lied on Faith and said she kept him back awhile (614). However, Faith physically kept him from being on time for his meeting with the Devil, but it was his faith in God that psychologically delayed his meeting.
On the other hand, Goodman Brown should have known something was wrong when the Devil greeted him with a snakelike staff. This staff was a sign of evil because of its reference in the Adam and Eve story. A snake is what led Adam and Eve to their destruction from the Tree of Knowledge, which is similar to Goodman Brown because they both were seeking an unknowing understanding amount of knowledge. Once...
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...ssing given by his former teacher. He is so exemplified with anger that he passes by Faith who is excited to see him without greeting her. Goodman Brown could not stand to look at Faith because of the service. Needless to say, his excessive pride leads him to feel he is better than everyone else even though he was at the Devil’s service. Although no one is certain if this story was factual or a dream, it shows how a person’s life can be destroyed because of stupidity or lack of knowledge. If Goodman Brown had accepted the obstacles that were thrown at him and overcome God’s tests, he would not have lost his faith and the people who cared about him the most.
Work-Cited
Crew, Frederick. The Sins of the Fathers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966, 114.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown”, The Story and Its Writer, 4th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1995, 595-604.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown”, The Norton Anthology, 5th ed. New York: Norton and Company, 1999, 613-622.
Walcutt, Charles Child. Seven Novelists in the American Naturalist Tradition. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1963, 341.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown," in Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience, eds. Richard Abcarian, Marvin Klotz, Peter Richardson, 7th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998), p.62.
This was shocking for Young Goodman Brown because everyone from town who were claiming to be Christians were here worshipping the devil. The symbolic part of the story is that all people will sin and even Jesus has sinned. But in Goodman Brown anyone who has sinned cannot be trusted because they follow the devil. The devil is at the altar and a basin which is like a big bowl, but what was in it “Did it contain water, reddened be the lurid light? or was it blood?” (12). As the devil was going to mark them with the liquid from the basin. Goodman Brown yelled “Faith! Faith! Cried the husband, look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one”(12). Goodman Brown did not know if Faith had heard him. This conflict is when Goodman Brown finds out that everyone worshipped the devil and that he was the only one who had stayed true towards his religion. This is ironic because there is no one in the world who has not sinned, and for Goodman Brown to think that he is the one and only one to have not sinned is the reason it is
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
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol1. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. New York: Norton, 1994. 1198-1207.
The main characters in Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown" are Goodman Brown, his wife Faith and the stranger who accompanies Goodman Brown in the forest. At the beginning of the story Brown is bidding his wife, Faith farewell at their front door. Taking a lonely route into the forest, he meets an older man who bears a fatherly resemblance to both Brown and the Devil. Later that night Brown discovers to his amazement, that many exemplary villagers are on the same path including, Goody Cloyse, a pious old woman who once taught him his catechism, but who readily shows that she certainly knew the Devil and practiced witchcraft. With Brown still confident that he could turn back, his older companion departs, leaving behind his curiously snakelike staff and fully expecting that Brown would follow.
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 Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”.” Online, Available @ http://itech.fgcu.edu/facualty/uzapart/alra/Hawthorne.htm  
At the beginning of his journey, Goodman Brown’s will and pride were both embedded in the belief that he was a pious man. Goodman’s pride in piety evidently fails him, as he discovers that his faith was based on the principles of individuals who had sworn allegiance to the devil. This deplorable truth destroyed his conviction, and in this sense the devil prevailed against Goodman Brown.
Goodman Brown in the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne goes on a journey into the woods to meet a stranger which ultimately changes his life. His blind faith in his religion makes him believe that all people are good. Goodman Brown is a trusting, naive man in the beginning if the story but witnesses a witch ceremony that changes his personality drastically. Seeing his family and his neighbors taking part in the sinful act changes his outlook on life and his outlook on their personalities as well. Brown’s blind faith in people and his naivety make the shock of what he sees in the woods turn him into an untrusting, paranoid man.
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...Brown, like all humans, sees that everyone can be corrupt and immoral, that it is possible for people to make mistakes. This is extremely disappointing to brown and ruins him. Brown felt that he made the right decision and did not follow the devil, but everyone else around him did. Even his own wife follows the devil. She is supposed to represent holiness and faith, and she is just as corrupt as everyone else. This portrays how even the church, which is supposed to be holy, can be corrupt. The story symbolizes that everyone in society is flawed and no one is perfect. However this idea drives Goodman brown to become insane. He dwells on this fact and loses his ability to see the good in people as well as the bad. Brown couldn't realize that even if people are evil at times, they can still be good people. This is what caused brown to change so drastically.
Late one night he finds himself in the middle of the woods with the Devil, on his way to a meeting of the Devil's followers. After seeing respected townsfolk at the Devil's meeting, including his minister and his wife, Faith, he loses hope in humanity and all that he had known to be true or real. Goodman Brown wakes up in his bed immediately following the Devil's meeting and wonders if what had happened was reality or simply just a dream. Despite his confusion about the events that took place, he was unable to forget what had happened and lost faith in religion and his com... ...