Psychological and Formal Analysis of Young Goodman Brown Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne provides the reader with a unique insight into the lives of people in an early Puritan community. By the use of psychological and formal analysis, we capture a deeper sense of the story of a young man's struggle between his undeniable desires and his morality. Freud speculated that the repression of our sub consciousness and that, which we are unaware of, is manifested into the id, ego, and superego. These three super powers in our brain are responsible for the influence life has on us. Surfacing through our personal choices, and consequently our reaction to life, they form who re really are. We will discuss the interpretation of these three powers in Brown through the psychological approach to literary analysis. Formalistically, Hawthorne writes a wonderful story full of description, imagery, and symbolism. When Hawthorne writes, "Faith, as she was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons", we envision a wholesome, loving wife. The liturgy used by the author invokes emotion from the reader to empathize with her deep commitment to her husband and the passionate plea she makes to her husband to remain home and not make this journey. The expressive detail used to describe the gathered congregation and the stone alter provide a vivid and concrete setting in the reader's mind and provides a perfect example of paratactic literature. On the other hand, the description of the four blazing pines (HCAL pg.383) subtly leads the reader to envision the biblical burning bush with definite symbolism. It is through this detailed narrative that we are ... ... middle of paper ... ...ugh he returns home to where it seems nothing has changed, he has. Brown is not able to live the happy life he once had after his experience. There is now an overwhelming sense of doubt. His perfect world has been brought down around him as he realizes that all that he thought was moral and right was merely an allusion. It is this conflict that destroys Brown. He is tormented by this apparent revelation for the rest of his life. "A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream." Brown lost all faith in himself, every person, and everything around him. For Brown, the superego he used as a balance to his id was destroyed that night. With no superego, the ego is lost and has no job to perform. Goodman Brown spent the rest of his life unhappy and scornful.
In the late 17th century, John Locke was one of the most influential people of his age. He was a renowned philosopher who established radical ideas about the political, social, and psychological ideals of mankind. One of his philosophical ideas, which he is said to be the founder of, is British Empiricism. This idea holds that "all knowledge is derived from experience whether of the mind or the senses" ("Empiricism" 480). In any man’s life, there arises such a point in time where he comes to the realization that there is a sense of evil in the world. Whether it is by something as subtle as locking the door at night before going to bed or being directly confronted at gun point as a man demands your tennis shoes, at some point man will realize that the innocence of his childhood does not last forever. Locke believed that people gain knowledge from their own personal experience. For Young Goodman Brown, this experience comes with his journey into the forest with the fellow traveler as chronicled in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story. Initially, Brown was, as his namesake foretells, a "young, good man" who believes in man’s basic goodness, yet within the inner desires of his heart wishes to see what all the world had to offer. Therefore, he set off on a "journey" into the forest to explore the world of this unknown evil. The story of "Young Goodman Brown" is a classic example of the empiricist ideas of Locke in how the intrigues of the unknown beckoned Young Brown as he experienced the transition between his initial idea of man’s basic goodness to the reality that evil exists in the heart of every man.
This prompted Colborn to change the focus of her research, and instead she decided to look for co...
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol1. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. New York: Norton, 1994. 1198-1207.
Finally, the bitter end of Young Goodman Brown and William Wilson illustrates that the inability to properly handle duality results in self-destruction. Brown ponders whether or not Faith, his wife and assumed moral guide, is dual in nature and has converted to the dark side. Brown’s experience in the forest convinces him that Faith is human after all and thus has duality. This shatters his fantasy that Faith is “a blessed angel on earth” (367). This is the moment in which Brown does not know who or what is his version of real and sincere. He therefore succumbs to questioning the reliability of humanity; consequently, he does not know who to trust and is suspicious of everyone. In turn, Brown will never be able to return to his old way of
Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous Young Goodman Brown is one of the most interesting, yet creepy short stories written. Within this beautifully structured story of the 19th century, is a man whose curiosity started the fight between good and evil inside each individual human being. In addition, the story tells the tragic relationship between the main character Young Goodman, and his young wife. Throughout the story, Goodman's character development is affected by the experiences he goes through. At the beginning, Goodman is a good young man with faith in everyone's "pure intentions." He innocently believes in the good in everyone, but towards the end of the story, he's view on the world changes. He ends up having a dark perspective and finds himself unable to trust those around him.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an extraordinary writer who sought to describe the Puritan values he felt was lost. Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Young Goodman Brown" is shown as an allegory of the threat essential in forsaking one's Christian conviction, even for one night. As one would assume, the story is infatuated with characters going through the endless trial of sin and guilt. There is a lack of subtlety in this theme, as the main character, Goodman Brown, hopes to accomplish something revolutionary in his travels. Hawthorne uses the theme of sin and guilt, the theme of the psychology of sin, and a nightly quest in order to display the controversies that overwhelmed Goodman Brown.
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.
There is a distinct contrast between Andre’s mother and Cal, Cal seems to be at peace with the situation and finally let’s go of Andre’s spirit. Andre’s mother on the other hand is as reluctant as she has ever been, she does not seem any closer to accepting her son’s life at the end of the play but she lets go and maybe this is an indication that she is on the road to acceptance. In the end, the simple message in the play was to accept the Homosexual community even if we did not understand an individual who was gay at the time.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, “Young Goodman Brown,” is rich in symbolism, as this essay will amply illustrate.
A great majority of Americans has sung the Star-Spangled Banner before; it demonstrates patriotism and the values in which America was founded for. One line in the national anthem includes, “…[America is] the land of the free.” Freedom and liberty is something that Americans tend to pride themselves with, especially since the United States is most commonly known as “Land of the Free.” Most Americans do not think twice about freedom here in the United States because the first people who discovered America wanted religious and governmental freedom. Most Americans feel that everyone has the freedom and right to do what they want; however, upon closer inspection we see that it is actually untrue for thousands of people. Very few realize that slavery has never truly ended since the Civil War, only taking on the more modern kind—human trafficking.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” captivates the reader through a glimpse of the Puritan church. The story also shows the struggle of good versus evil in the main character Goodman Brown. The role of the Puritan church is crucial in shaping Goodman Brown’s personality and helping the reader understand why he was reluctant to continue his journey.
Young Goodman Brown is a short story where the main purpose is to show the social issue of religion during the Puritan time. Although the author Nathaniel Hawthorne had not being living in that time, he came from a long line of Puritans. He wrote Young Goodman Brown to show the flaws of the Puritans’ view of religion. They made God seem heartless and mean spirited, someone who just used humans for entertainment. The short story Young Goodman Brown demonstrates that people should test their faith of their religious beliefs and even people considered upright can fall short of their own religious faiths from temptations and imperfections. In addition, the story shows that there is some degree of evil nature in everyone because of the freewill to choose right or wrong.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, Young Goodman Brown, Brown goes on a journey through the forest that drastically changes him. While we never know the real reason why Brown went to the forest, the experience in the forest caused him to become a bitter, sad, and lonely man who couldn't look at life the same after that night. There were many events that occurred in the forest that caused this change in him.
In 'Young Goodman Brown,'; Hawthorne makes the reader believe that Goodman Brown has learned that truth about the world and how evil it really is. In the story the accounts of Goodman Brown let you believe that he has truly seen the evil in the world and knows what lurks behind everybody masks. He makes you realize that even though the person may look holy and religious that evilness is all around us and most people will never ever find out the truth. The character Young Goodman Brown written by Nathaniel Hawthorne finds many issues of evil concerning the town's people in which he lives, about himself, and the reality behind the evil.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2007. 1289-98. Print.