Young Goodman Brown: The Evils of Puritanism

1722 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Conflict in "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Puritanism dominated 17th century history and literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne born in 1804 was an American writer who sought to resolve his conflicts with Puritanism through his writing. Hawthorne wrote several stories showing the world the horrors of the Puritan faith and the isolation of individuals who failed to uphold the faith. For Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown illustrates the difference between Puritan teaching and practicing and reflects his own guilt about the mistreatment of men at the hands of his forefathers.
Young Goodman Brown protagonist struggles with Puritanism is a reflection of Hawthorne personal conflicts with Puritanism. Hawthorne uses the story of Young Goodman Brown to illustrate Puritanism's disconnection between their espoused beliefs and the application of their beliefs in their everyday life. In addition, Hawthorne uses events in his life in the story to help the reader understand the horrors visited on individuals deemed as sinners by the community. Goodman Brown's father and grandfather mirror the events of Hawthorne's forefathers. By using his personal experiences, Hawthorne allows the reader to glimpse his own guilt and guilt over his forefathers' actions through Goodman Brown. From the beginning, Hawthorne lets the reader know the importance of this family connection as he states: "the second traveler was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance perhaps more in expression than feature. Still, they might have been take for father and son" (Hawthorne 387). Ronan compares the "biographical details [in] the narrative about Brown’s family indicate that he is a Hawthorne... Hawthorne’s great-great-great grandfather, Major Will...

... middle of paper ...

...an Brown." The Norton Anthology American Literature 8th Ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2012. 386-395. Print.
Jamil, S. Selina. "Carnivalesque Freedom In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown." Explicator 65.3 (2007): 143. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Milder, Robert. "Hawthorne and the Problem of New England." American Literary History 21.3 (2009): 464-491. Project MUSE. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Mills, Barriss. "Hawthorne and Puritanism." The New England Quarterly 21.1 (1948): 78-102. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Neary, John. "Shadows And Illuminations: Spiritual Journeys To The Dark Side In "Young Goodman Brown" And Eyes Wide Shut." Religion & The Arts 10.2 (2006): 244-270. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Ronan, John. "Young Goodman Brown" And The Mathers." New England Quarterly 85.2 (2012): 253-280. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Ambiguity of The Minister’s Black Veil

    3124 Words  | 7 Pages

    Sullivan, Wilson. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In New England Men of Letters. New York: Macmillan Co., 1972.

    Read More

  • Dark Romanticism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    Young Goodman Brown is a story written by a well known Dark Romanticism writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne is known for his unique symbolism and dark writing.Part of Nathaniel Hawthorne's influence in writing Dark Romanticism is Hawthorns embarrassment of his family and the ways of his ancestor.While on one's journey towards faith and religion, they have to face it themselves and understand what they are doing. In Young Goodman Brown there was many symbolisms including Goodman Brown's wife, the snake staff,the forest and Faiths pink ribbon

    Read More

  • Faith in Young Goodman Brown

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne introduces Goodman Brown, who doubts himself and reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. His struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can handle. This story is about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before the sunrise.

    Read More

  • Hawthorne On Puritanism

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne's knowledge of Puritanism and his close relationship with the religion has impacted his views on those in the society. Hawthorne is critical of the Puritans and he thinks that they are hypocrites for having rules and morals that they do not follow. He sees the underlying sin that others may not. Through his many writings he makes known to his readers that everyone is guilty of sin. The Puritan's main goal was to save themselves from the sin in the world, but Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays their morals and society as troublesome through his works, "Young Goodman Brown," "The Minister's Black Veil," and The Scarlet Letter.

    Read More

  • External and Internal Conflict in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.

    Read More

  • Central Conflict, Climax and Resolution in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1706 Words  | 4 Pages

    This essay will analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” to determine the central conflict in the tale, its climax and partial resolution, using the essays of literary critics to help in this interpretation.

    Read More

  • Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1846 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Influence of Society on the Young Goodman Brown

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    From the beginning of Hawthorne’s story a test of faith prevails. From the moment that Young Goodman Brown parts with his wife, Faith, to when they meet again at the heart of the forest, the very manner Young Goodman Brown has been taught his entire life is at stake. Yet it is not so much Goodman Brown’s faith in God that is the concern but whether or not Goodman Brown feels he can trust anyone or anything he has ever come to know and believe in. Society has preconditioned him to think a certain way, thus through this journey Young Goodman Brown cannot deal with the new Puritan life he witnesses. Since he is unsure of what his society is truly like Goodman Brown is now incapable of knowing his place in society and knowing whom he really is.

    Read More

  • Where Not To Base Your Faith: Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paulits, Walter J. "Ambivalence in "Young Goodman Brown"" 41.4 (1970): 577-84. JSTOR. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Innocence Lost Through Puritanism in Young Goodman Brown

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    To truly comprehend the themes in "Young Goodman Brown" you must first understand the influences on Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing. According to the website Hawthorneinsalem.org, Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, son of also a Nathaniel Hawthorne, was actually a descendant of John Hathorne, one of the judges who oversaw the Salem Witch Trials. Because of Hawthorne's Puritan upbringing, much of writings are moral allegories set in colonial New England. Hawthorne returns again to Salem in "Young Goodman Brown" and deals with the theme of the loss of innocence. This theme works to argue the benefits and consequences of Goodman Brown's beliefs before and after his encounter with the devil as well as the beliefs of the Puritans as a whole.

    Read More

  • Young Goodman Brown: Attack On Puritanism

    1913 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mrs. Leavis comes closest to the truth in her discussion of this story in the Sewanee Review in which she says: "Hawthorne has imaginatively recreated for the reader that Calvinist sense of sin, that theory which did in actuality shape the early social and spiritual history of New England." But Mrs. Leavis seems to miss the critical implications of the story, for she goes on to say: "But in Hawthorne, by a wonderful feat of transmutation, it has no religious significance, it is a psychological state that is explored. Young Goodman Brown's Faith is not faith in Christ but faith in human beings, and losing it he is doomed to isolation forever." Those who persist in reading this story as a study of the effects of sin on Brown come roughly to this conclusion: "Goodman Brown became evil as a result of sin and thought he saw evil where none existed." Hawthorne's message is far more depressing and horrifying than this. The story is obviously an individual tragedy, and those who treat it as such are right, of course; but, far beyond the personal plane, it has universal implications.

    Read More

  • Hawthorne Critiques Puritan Society in His Works, Young Goodman Brown and The Scarlet Letter

    1767 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne Critiques Puritan Society in His Works, Young Goodman Brown and The Scarlet Letter

    Read More

  • Faith in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s allegorical story “Young Goodman Brown” is set in Salem, Massachusetts during the late sixteen hundreds in a time of religious hysteria and only a few generations after the infamous witch trials. Although "Young Goodman Brown" is a fictional tale, it is based on the cynical environment of Salem during this time period. The short story is filled with many literary elements, leading you to question what did exactly happen to the main character at the conclusion. When analyzing a story like "Young Goodman Brown", one must recognize that the story is at whole symbolic. In the text, symbols are used to uncover the truth of the characters. The role of Faith as both a character and a spiritual element are crucial to both the story and the character of Young Goodman Brown.

    Read More

  • How Young Goodman Brown Became Old Badman Brown

    1584 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne was a nineteenth-century American writer of the Romantic Movement. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804, he was one of those rare writers who drew critical acclaim during his lifetime. Hawthorne used Salem as a setting for most of his stories, such as The Scarlet Letter, The Blithedale Romance, and “Young Goodman Brown”. Today, readers still appreciate Hawthorne's work for its storytelling qualities and for the moral and theological questions it raises. Nathaniel Hawthorne's work is typically fraught with symbolism, much of it deriving from his Puritan ancestry; relatives of his were judges in the Salem witchcraft trials. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory whose characters play a major role in conveying the reoccurring theme of sin and retribution. The short story represents one man's journey to leave his faith, home, and security temporarily behind to take a walk with the devil into a dark forest.

    Read More

More about Young Goodman Brown: The Evils of Puritanism

Open Document