The Fall of Young Goodman Brown

Parris sparks this by firstly acting on his own paranoia, which the reader would find in the introduction 'he believed he was being persecuted where ever he went';, and calling Reverend Hale in an attempt for self-preservation '….if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it. '; This statement says a lot about the character of Reverend Parris: a greedy, power hungry man who is more concerned with his own reputation than the souls of his niece and daughter. He always acts on fear, a fear that he will lose his position of power in the community. Parris does not want the trials to end as a fraud because the scandal of having a lying daughter and niece would end his career in Salem. Salem citizens in general were afraid of all ungodly things with their Puritan views.

Change is not tolerated in their religion; change is their evil. The forest represents this change; it is wild and untamed, not uniform. To become curious and want to explore, and stray off the path, and venture into the "mysterious forest," would be the ultimate sin, such as Hester's sin.

It also taught that you could not trust anyone. During the Witch trials of that day men turned on accused wives as Goodman Brown also turned on his wife and lost her as well as his spiritual faith over something that may or may not have existed. Hawthorne uses symbolism to write a story that is left open to the reader’s interpretation. I do think Hawthorne wants the reader to be aware of sin in his/her own heart. I also think he wanted the reader to know that being aware of sin can help one better deal with life and to isolate oneself from society and reject all that have sinned can only lead to a lonely, miserable end.

The Darkness of the Humankind and A little Girl’s Life Journey In “The Minister’s Black Veil” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne the main character is a clergyman named Parson Hooper. The minister’s life was surrounded by a very crude society. He was being rejected by his townspeople and goes through undesirable moments to achieve his initial intention. Throughout the story, the narrator focused on what the black veils represented to the Puritan. The veil overall shows dark parable of the Puritan’s stress on faith and corruption of sin.

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.

What is he longing for? Where exactly is he going? ““Poor little Faith!” Thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!”” (391) Without knowing the exact answer to any of the questions he enters the woods, dark and dreary, which Hawthorne uses to express the sense of evil. To understand the significance of the setting you have to understand the background of the Puritan culture which Hawthorne doesn’t state but expects the reader to know.

Satan’s true intent was to make him: “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream”. Whether the forestry scene did in fact occur is truly a matter of the readers insight, however the overall impact that the scene had upon the story’s primary thematic detail of hypocrisy does evolve around the secrets of which the townspeople in turn remain to hold to themselves. Hawthorne’s works primarily emphas... ... middle of paper ... ... the townspeople. Thus if this occurrence did in fact happen then Hawthorne would be displaying Satan’s intention as trying to weaken his faith with the true hypocritical personage of the town, however even if the forest congregation never truly took place then this lends support to the idea of youthful stupidity and doubt. Which also takes place within his other work “Dr.

Whether or not it was all just a dream, or reality, we will never know, but regardless it bestowed Goodman Brown with a sense of betrayal. The epiphany comes when Brown sees that there is evil in everyone and the Puritan beliefs cannot hold fast against it. Brown’s quest to denounce evil brought him to realize it was all for not. As a result of his findings, Brown becomes a hardened, distrusting soul. As stated by Hawthorne: “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream” (453.

As he takes his walk into the forest and into evil ways, his hopes and faith disappear. He no longer loves his wife in the same way, and he despises everyone whom people consider were holy. When he loses his faith, he loses his happiness. To regain his happiness, Brown must find his righteousness again. Puritans believe there is no hope for a sinner.

He feels bad for leaving her because he knows what he is about to do is evil and goes against his faith. Brown swears that after this night he will be good and not do anything evil again and vow his life to Faith. Brown is upset about leaving her because he knows that what he is about to do in the forest is evil and goes against his Faith. Hawthorne describes Browns journey as "crossing the threshold", meaning that he is going from one part of his life to another, he is leaving the genuine good side to go to the bad evil side. Once Brown enters the forest he meets the devil, who resembles his father.