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The symbols used in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
The symbols used in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
The symbols used in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
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Furthermore, Hawthorne uses the snake, staff, and the devil as symbols to depict Brown’s descent into corruption. When his acquaintance states that his snake-like staff will “help him along” (5), it foreshadows what will happen to Brown. Once he has a revelation of the true nature of mankind, Brown calls out for the Devil (6), knowing that there is no longer any good in the world. Hawthorne strategically incorporates the snake, staff, and devil. These symbols are generally associated with evil, which further enhance the corruption within the story. As such, Brown’s once-naive viewpoint towards people is now tainted with cynicism; Brown rapidly develops a pessimistic view of his wife, colleagues, and humanity in general. Due to his horrific
Fifteen years separate Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown.” The two share an eerie connection because of the trepidation the two protagonists endure throughout the story. The style of writing between the two is not similar because of the different literary elements they choose to exploit. Irving’s “Sleepy Hollow” chronicles Ichabod Crane’s failed courtship of Katrina Van Tassel as well as his obsession over the legend of the Headless Horseman. Hawthorne’s story follows the spiritual journey of the protagonist, Young Goodman Brown, through the woods of Puritan New England where he looses his religious faith. However, Hawthorne’s work with “Young Goodman Brown” is of higher quality than Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” because Hawthorne succeeds in exploiting symbols, developing characters, and incorporating worthwhile themes.
The next character is the man who Brown meets up with in the woods. This man is described as, "one who knew the world, and who would not have felt abashed at the governor's dinner table or in King William's court" (Kelly, 191). This man can be seen as the devil. He possesses features that illustrate him as the devil. For example his walking staff is described as having "the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent" (Kelly, 191-192).
As stated earlier, Hawthorne’s goal is to show the discovery of evil can lead one to utter desperation and cynicism. Brown is the medium through which he is able to achieve this goal. He is successful in teaching his audience a moral lesson; which is that in denying the idea that good exists and is capable of overpowering evil, Brown has committed the worst sin of all. Bereft of spiritual faith, “his dying hour was gloom” (2216).
...he trees and brushes NOT PATH? in the forest, along with the imagery of the serpent associated with the mysterious traveler's staff, are symbolic of a mind that is just about to be exposeD to reality. As his allegory ALLEGORICAL name implies, the virtuous nature of Goodman Brown deters him from seeing his community in a different light. His devotion to his own faith results in a detrimental yield to reality. In the end, he himself becomes evil HE DOESN'T BECOME EVIL. HE JUST AVOIDS THE EVIL. as he rejects everyone in his community. The use of nature by Hawthorne demonstrates the conflict between the world of fantasy versus the cruel nature of reality. The fantasy in the story is the faith of a sinless society; however, the reality is that sin is a part of human nature, which parallels the beliefs of Calvinism.
The devil in Young Goodman Brown represents temptation and all the evil in the world. Throughout this story and throughout the Bible the devil tempts Goodman Brown and Jesus, respectively. The devil says: “[T]his is a dull pace for
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolic imagery throughout his story Young Goodman Brown to impact the theme of good people sometimes do bad things. Hawthorne takes us on a journey of truth and realization. Goodman Brown was not open to the truth or the reality that the world is filled with evil and people are imperfect. His perception of the world was it was a fun loving happy place and when he was exposed to reality he turned away from people and lost faith in them. His faith should have been in God because God will never let you down but his faith was in people and people are imperfect and subject to disappoint you.
Many American writers have scrutinized religion through their works of literature, however none had the enthusiasm of Nathaniel Hawthorne. A handful of Hawthorne's works are clear critiques of seventeenth century Puritan society in New England. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown and The Scarlet Letter illustrate his assessment by showing internal battles within characters, hypocrisy in religious figures, atypical punishment for crimes, and accenting women's roles in Puritan society. Firstly, Hawthorne's literature often stresses internal battles in main characters. In both Young Goodman Brown and The Scarlet Letter, these battles are between morals and sin (both past and future). In Young Goodman Brown, Brown goes into the woods and meets Satan. Satan, in the form of Brown's deceased grandfather, asks the weary Brown to take his staff. The staff "bore the likeness of a great black snake... almost be seen to twist and wriggle... like a living serpent" (Hawthorne 1237). The comparison of the strangers' staff as a snake is very reminiscent of the Bible's story of Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God made" (Genesis 3:1) and as we know Eve ate the fruit from the forbidden tree and succumbed to the serpent's temptation. However, unlike Eve, Brown did not take the serpent-like staff because he knew he was being tested. Goodman Brown was also ethically confronted when he sees his wife, Faith, among a group of high standing community and church members in a circle of religious converts who plan to switch to Satanism. Seeing his adored wife ready to worshi...
At some point in time everyone is faced with the inevitable loss of innocence. A lot of people have a hard time accepting that, just like the main character of “Young Goodman Brown”. Some people feel they have lost their innocence when they find out that Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy are not real people. Others may feel that they have lost their innocence when they figure out how cruel the world really is. Goodman Brown loses his innocence when he ventures into the forest and takes the devil’s staff. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, the devil’s staff is used to symbolically represent Goodman Brown’s temptations and path toward evil.
Another sign that upholds the fact that the traveler is the devil is the staff that he carries. It bears "the likeness of a great black snake" and it seems at times to move "like a living serpent" (Hawthorne 384). Ever since the beginning of time, serpents have been an accepted symbol of evil. In the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by the devil in the form of a snake; and when she gave into the temptation, she caused all of humanity to fall into the bondage of sin. In the same way, the fellow-traveler tempts Goodman Brown by constantly persuading him onward into the forest, which in turn would crush his Faith.
Hawthorne’s story, “Young Goodman Brown,” appears to be a story about original sin with a lot of symbolism tied in to make it an allegory. An allegory is a story that can be interpreted in different ways to find the hidden meaning behind the symbolism in the story. The three things focused on throughout the short story is Faith, the forest that Goodman Brown takes his journey through, and the staff, which the old man who leads Goodman Brown on his way carries. The short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” uses several symbols such as: Faith, the forest, and the staff to contribute significantly to the allegory.
Hale, John K. “The Serpentine Staff in ‘Young Goodman Brown.’” Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 19 (Fall 1993): 17-18.
Within Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, age becomes an important component to the characters of the story. Hawthorne uses age to show if one is innocent or experienced. In Young Goodman Brown, Brown as he walks down the forest, he realizes even his “father never went into the woods on such an errand” (Hawthorne 2). To Brown, the stranger replies, “I have been as well acquainted with your family” (Hawthorne 2). In the scene, Brown represents innocence and consciousness because of the fact that he says his father would not even make an attempt, to walk on the road with the Devil, who beguiles as an old man. To contrast innocence, Hawthorne uses the Devil as its opposite, being experienced. And so the Devil replies in the manner of experience. He dates all the way back towards the time of Brown’s “grandfather, the constable” who “lashed the Quaker woman” along “the streets of Salem” (Hawthorne 2). Hawthorne illustrates the negative idea of experience, how sin starts to grow as life goes on and how sin can be genetic. Brown, being the grandson, he should have known his grandfather more than the Devil. The knowledge in which the Devil resides particularly is of the far past instead of the recent past. Thus it proves the Devil is the mascot of experience. Even though he acknowledges the far past, the Devil, in the present state looks “about fifty years old” (Hawthorne 2). Knowing his age is abnormal, the Devil beguiles his age and
One element of Young Goodman Brown is a criticism of Puritan self-righteousness; the devil points out to Brown that he has “a very general acquaintance here in New England” and then proceeds to cite instances of hypocrisy, prejudice, and persecution (Hawthorne 5). The devil also reveals that he is familiar with Brown’s ancestors, leading them toward sin (Hawthorne 5). All of this is disturbing to Brown and the issue of evil is f...
...ed by the devil tempting Brown to join the dark side. The way in which the devil lures Brown is by convincing him that his relatives and town's people have already crossed over to the dark side and denied their faith. The struggle that Brown is now facing is whether to follow is relatives and town's people or to follow his faith in god and deny the devil, that is Brown's internal conflict. These internal and external conflicts are what turned Brown into a dynamic character by the end of the story. Instead of believing and trusting that his relatives and friends are godly, he now knows that they have all been tempted by the devil and many have crossed over to the dark side; he went from being trusting to skeptical of his friends and his faith.
At this stage in the story the reader still has hope for the goodman who must now deal with what he feels is his duty honor-bound. A "good man" in Hawthorne's day was a person who came from a proper lineage. This very lineage Hawthorne exploits as he begins the goodman's discourse with the devil. The goodman claims that he is from a family of good men that have never been into the forest on such an errand to meet the devil; Hawthorne depends upon this defense to criticize the patriarchal lineage upon which a person places his worth. This view is quickly derailed as the devil himself states that all of his ancestors were with him as they tortured women in Salem or burned to the ground Indian villages, and afterwards the devil and his ancestors would go for a friendly walk. Hawthorne has derided the institution of Young Goodman Brown's lineage, and his society's view of honor by pointing to some simple facts. The question remains as to whom or what is the devil.