Unraveling of symbolism in Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” the use of symbols leads to the understanding of the story. Hawthorne uses those symbols as a way to help the reader further understand the characters and their significance to the story. Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, represents pureness. Young Goodman Brown represents guillibility for the reason that the devil corrupts his thoughts about the people he knew. Furthermore, the Devil or Old Man represents normal people who have a dark side therefore the Devil or Old man also represents Brown’s dark side. Moreover, the Devil’s staff represents temptation and he also represents the serpent in the Book of Genesis. Lastly, the journey represents Brown’s search for reassurance on his faith. By understanding the meaning of these symbols the reader will be able to comprehend the hidden meaning of the story.

In the story, Young Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, is a symbol for pureness because it seems like she is the most pure out of all the characters. In Paul W Miller’s “Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’: Cynicism or Meliorism?” Miller says that “Faith retains her virtue in the story.” What he means by that is that from what it seems, Faith was the character in the story that remained pure until the end. In Young Goodman Brown’s eyes, Faith was the purest person he knew. “. . . the pink ribbons keep Faith humble and honest, and thus contribute to her ultimate preservation from the Evil One.” Here Miller says that by Faith being humble and honest she resisted the evil that the Devil brought that night. “Joy such as Faith showed that morning would seem to be a more natural consequence of resisting temptation than yielding to it.” Miller’s view here suggests that Faith remained pure until the e...

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...the loss of faith he once had for the good people. The final moment where Brown becomes entirely corrupt is after he caught Faith’s pink ribbon and came to the conclusion that Faith was also evil and impure. “My Faith is gone. . .sin is but a name. . . Come , Devil. . .” Once Brown says this we can suppose that the Devil did an excellent job in deceiving Goodman Brown and corrupting his faith.

Moreover, the Devil symbolizes everyday people who have a dark side therefore he represents Goodman Brown’s dark side. The article that helped me reach my view of the Devil as a symbol of Brown’s dark side was Thomas F. Walsh, Jr’s The Bedeveling of Young Goodman Brown. Walsh states, “The devil is Brown. . . He is Brown’s darker side.” Paul J Hurley, also agrees that the Devil is “Goodman Brown’s own personal devil” in his article Young Goodman Brown’s ‘Heart of Darkness.’