"Young Goodman Brown" was published in 1835, when Nathaniel Hawthorne was 31 years old. Hawthorne was born and reared in Salem, Massachusetts, a village still permeated by its 17th century Puritanism. When he was four, Hawthorne's father died, and from that point on he was surrounded mostly by females: two sisters, a maiden aunt, and a retiring mother who was not close to her children. He had little contact with his deceased father's family, but his maternal relatives were supportive and saw to
The Puritan Conundrum Throughout Hawthorne’s short stories which examine secret sin based in Puritan societies, the protagonist, Mr. Hooper, a preacher in Milford, describes to his wife “Do not desert me though this veil must be between us here on earth” (32). Hooper who has arrived at a point where his community and wife have abandoned him while on his deathbed realizes that he is deserted because of his secret sin. This description of utter loneliness is in contrast with Hawthorne’s portrayal
Puritan doctrine taught that all men are totally depraved. And the young Puritan Goodman Brown accepted this principle, after his in-the-woods experience, as applying not only to the Salem village rank-and-file but even to his faultless wife Faith. Is this notion of sin correct? This essay seeks to compare this moral depravity doctrine of the Puritans as seen in “Young Goodman Brown” to the Catholic Church’s teaching on sin, a recognized standard. The influence of Puritan religion, culture and
Several of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story settings are during the time of the Puritans in the early settlement of America. In a couple of Hawthorne’s stories, his characters commit a sin so grave that, in the views of the Puritans, they are isolated from the community. This study will analyze one of Hawthorne’s short stories, “Young Goodman Brown” as well as his novel The Scarlet Letter to show the hypocrisy of the Puritan’s treatment of sin. In these stories, the Puritans treat sin with such severity
prolific writer, weaving some of the best-known stories in American literature. While Hawthorne’s works tend to focus around the Puritan themes of sin, he was usually critical of Puritan ideals. Some of Hawthorne’s works (“Young Goodman Brown”, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and The Scarlet Letter) have characters living life outside of their Puritan communities and can be classified as outsider narratives. Young Goodman Brown, Reverend Hooper, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne are all outsiders in their
Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about revealing true evil and the loss of one man's faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne left "Young Goodman Brown" up for many interpretations. After reading the story a couple of times, one thing became clear to me. What I absorbed from this story was that evil exists in everyone, does not matter how good we may think we are. Things aren't always what they seem. I say this because the people who attended the devil's meetings, were the ones who attended
It is no secret that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” is a parable. Hawthorne intended it as such and even gave the story the subtitle “a parable.” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” however, was not Hawthorne’s only parable. Hawthorne often used symbols and figurative language to give added meaning to the literal interpretations of his work. His Puritan ancestry also influenced much of Hawthorne’s work. Instead of agreeing with Puritanism however, Hawthorne would criticize it through
writings, contradictions are present. Within many of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works women are portrayed as vulnerable, weak and submissive, this image of women was accepted by many during Hawthorne’s time. Conversely, this image of vile and submissive behavior was disrupted when Hawthorne came out with Scarlet Letter, which depicted women as the heroine rather than the damsel in distress. Feminism was not particularly favored during the Puritan period, causing for a stereotypical view of women to be valueless
“Young Goodman Brown,” Goody Cloyse and Catechetical Ministry This essay intends to compare the author’s disparaging slur of Goody Cloyse, Puritan catechism teacher, Deacon Gookin and the minister – all of whom are catechists - in “Young Goodman Brown,” with “In Support of Catechetical Ministry - A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops” from June of 2000. The influence of Puritan religion, culture and education is a common topic in Nathaniel Hawthorne's works. Growing up, Hawthorne could
Hawthorne's Puritanical Beliefs Revealed in The Scarlett Letter and Young Goodman Brown When an author depicts a person or group of people in his or her work, the opinion of the writer most often sifts into the descriptions, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Some writers are very guarded regarding their feelings toward any particular subject, while others are very open and happy to share. Nathaniel Hawthorne belongs to the latter group. The purpose of the majority of his literary work