A major theme in “Young Goodman Brown” is the battle of good vs. evil in man. Throughout the story, Goodman Brown struggles with the choice to either stay good or to follow the devil into the forest. People in real life also struggle with this choice every day. It’s always a lot easier to stray from the good path than it is to stay on it. Just like today, he is tempted by those around him; like his grandfather, his father, his wife, and mainly, the devil himself. Goodman Brown is tempted many times to choose evil during his journey through the forest.
Goodman Brown is first tempted by evil when the old man, who symbolizes the devil, tells him that his father and grandfather had once taken this same journey. This influences his choice to continue the journey. We sometimes choose to do things that we know are wrong because others are doing it. If it’s okay for them to do it, then it must be okay for us to do it! Most of the time this only leads to trouble. It didn’t help Goodman Brown as he continued to go even deeper into the forest. As he went deeper into the forest, he becomes more deeply involved with the devil, or evil. It became darker and he loses the light of his beliefs.
Goodman Brown met the man in a forest outside of Salem. The forest represents evil and danger. Forests are normally dark with many scary creatures lurking in them. As he is walking, Goodman Brown says, "There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree... What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" (Literature pg. 91). This statement foreshadows that the man he meets is the devil. His journey through the forest represents his walk into the evil side, as he gets deeper into the forest, he strays further and further from God.
The old man carrie...
... middle of paper ...
...len from his faith in God. For the rest of his life he has a hard time trusting anyone, because he thinks that even if they seem like good, moral people on the outside, they could be evil on the inside. Although he may have resisted evil, the devil still seems to have won in the end.
Works Cited
"Essay on Good and Evil (based on Nathaniel Hawthore's Young Goodman Brown)." Essay on Good and Evil (based on Nathaniel Hawthore's Young Goodman Brown). N.p., n.d. Web. 24
Mar. 2014. .
Kennedy, X. & Gioia D. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing. N.p.: Pearson Education, n.d. 90+. Print.
SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014. .
Young Goodman Brown is about a young, newly wedded man who leaves his wife, Faith, and to go on a journey into the forest one night. Young Goodman Brown has an innocent and maybe even naïve soul and was looked upon by townspeople as a “silly fellow” (Hawthorne 83). He is accompanied by a mysterious, older man who is later on revealed to be the devil. As they are walking, Young Goodman Brown tries to turn back several times and at one point succeeds in getting rid of the devil. However, when he sees that even his wife has surrendered to the same evil path that he was on, he stops resisting and continues into the forest. He ends up at a witches’ sabbath where he sees familiar faces of people whom he previously looked up to for spiritual guidance; he also finds Faith there and becomes devastated. In the end, he cries out to resist the devil and then wakes up to find himself alone in the forest.
This example reflects the change in environment for Goodman Brown after he left the positive world of the village. He felt he was passing through an unseen multitude since he could not know if there was someone concealed by the trees. This situation makes him question: "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow" (p. 62). Goodman Brown, who wasn't aware of the existence of an evil side to the world, is being introduced to it through the natural objects in the woods, which provided a warning sign of the evil to come.
Young Goodman Brown was a man who was naïve to the world around him. Ever since he was a child, he had always practiced a very Godly life. Not only does he believe that everyone around him follows the same path, but he also believes that it is the only path. This naivety and innocence was taken from him by the Devil, who opened his eyes to the world of evil around him. After the pagan ceremony, which Brown attends, the Devil even states “Now are ye undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind” (Hawthorne 9). By saying this, Hawthorne is trying to say that it is better to know the whole truth than to live a lie. By not knowing the truth about evil existing in Salem village, Brown has essentially been living a life that is not complete or accurate. This perfect and fair world that was found in the Bible is not the real world that surrounds him. When his innocence is stolen from him so abruptly, he begins to lose both his faith and stability in the world.
In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of man's inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthorne's deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of humanity and in the existence of moral absolutes. According to Nancy Bunge, Hawthorne naturally centers his story upon a Puritan protagonist to convey the "self-righteous" that he regards as the "antithesis of wisdom"(4). Consequently, Young Goodman Brown is unable to accept the indefinable vision of betrayal and evil that he encounters in the forest. The uncertainty of this vision, enhanced by Hawthorne's deliberate, yet effective, use of ambiguity, is also seen in the character of Faith, the shadows and darkness of the forest, and the undetectable boundaries that separate nightmarish dreams from reality.
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.
The story of “Young Goodman Brown” presents a struggle with the clash of Goodman Brown’s cultural fate of being a Puritan and his mind that is exposed to unholy acts. He goes from a prisoner of only what his society has shown him to a prisoner of the fate to live in it even after he learns it’s potential evilness. By not succumbing to the sinfulness of his journey, Young Goodman Brown in turn succumbs to the struggle within his mind. He is trapped by taunting thoughts and allows his life to be guided by the confusion that has caused him to forever question reality.
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.
Let us begin with the opening lines of the story: “YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN came forth at sunset, into the street of Salem village. . .” What is Goodman Brown symbolic of? 1. According to Levy, he “is Everyman. The bargain he has struck with Satan is the universal one . . . . Initially, he is a naive and immature young man who fails to understand the gravity of the step he has taken . . . [which is] succeeded by a presumably adult determination to resi...
When he goes into the forest, he believes he is talking to the devil and looks much like his grandfather. The devil is feeding him bad thoughts about everyone he knows, even his own father and his wife, Faith. Next, I believe that Goodman Brown has had a rough past and in order for him to overcome this within himself, he must search for attention. This attention may not be needed from his wife or community members, I believe it is needed from him. He is feeling overwhelmed with obligations from his wife and peers, and he has no time to decide whether this type of life is right for him.
Goodman Brown embarks on his journey into the forest with the fervent belief that his potent dedication is indomitably ironclad, and thus will be able to overcome even the most tempting persuasions of the devil. As Goodman and the devil continue sauntering along the serpentine path, they encounter Goodman’s old catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, and it is eventually revealed that she is heading to the satanic occult meeting at the core of the forest. Goodman is absolutely confounded at the sight of her, as he had always considered Cloyse as a moral and spiritual guide in his life. Goody Cloyse’s appearance is the first moment where Goodman begins to question his faith. Brown's illusions about the purity of his society are finally obliterated when he discovers that many of his fellow townspeople, including religious leaders and his wife (aptly named Faith), are attending a Black Mass or “witch-meeting”. At the end of the story, it is not clear whether Brown's experience was a nightmare or biting reality, but the results are nonetheless the same. Brown is unable to forgive the possibility of evil in his loved ones, and as a result spends the rest of his life in desperate loneliness and gloom.
In the story, Young Goodman Brown, the character, Goodman Brown changes throughout the story. In the beginning he was a kind man, loving husband with nothing holding him down, not even the warnings of his wife, Faith. As he walked and talked with the Devil, he became more aware of what had happened in the past with his own family. When he saw the Devil talk with Goody Cloyse on the path in the woods, he figured out by the nature of their conversation that the Devil was more mischievous than he thought. He started to have uncertainties about the errand he was on. At that point, Goodman Brown told the devil he was not going another step. Shortly after the Devil left him in the path, Brown found a ribbon on a branch of a tree
"Why did Goodman Brown leave his wife to fulfill an evil purpose?" "What was his evil purpose?" "Who did he meet in the woods?" "Was it a dream or was it reality?" These are just a few of the questions that ran through my head after reading the short story, Young Goodman Brown. After several nights of reading, rereading, thinking, and debating I've received many revelations of this story; one being the true identity of the "fellow-traveler" mentioned throughout this adventurous tale. You see, he was not just any man, he was the devil himself.
In the beginning of the story Hawthorne uses the name Faith for Young Goodman Browns’ wife. Faith is a symbol of her husband’s strong faith in God. Young Goodman Browns’ own name is a symbol for the innocence of young, good men, and the journey represents the loss of their innocence. Faith urges him to stay and not journey into the forest, but Goodman Brown reassures her by saying “Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee”(cite) Goodman Brown believes his faith will help him overcome what the devil has to offer and while still maintaining his puritan faith. Puritans believe the forest to be inhabited by the devil and the woods in "Young Goodman Brown" are an obvious symbol of his journey into sin and darkness. Even Goodman Brown supports this idea when he says to himself as he is walking along, "There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree... What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" As Goodman Brown enters the forest he meets a traveler who is waiting there for ...
The short story, "Young Goodman Brown" is a fascinating rendition of the battle between good and evil. The reader must delve into the depths of his/her own beliefs to understand what the symbolism is. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes an entire lesson in life as one big symbol using allegory. The various examples are fruitful and will be presented throughout this essay.
...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.