The Choice Between Two Different Faiths
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel Young Goodman Brown, first published in 1832, the character Faith embodies many things to her husband, including God and the idea of female purity or innocence that pervaded society at the time, which may still exist to a degree today. The idea of “having faith in God” in Christianity and the wife of Goodman Brown, who Hawthorne intentionally names Faith, serve as an entertaining and thought-provoking play on words in the novel. Throughout this dark tale, Goodman Brown is tempted by the devil to leave his faith, or his religion, while his wife Faith, who he believes to be an innocent woman devoid of evil thoughts, is ironically tempted by the Devil herself. Goodman Brown
…show more content…
While Faith serves as a reason for Goodman Brown to want to flee from walking with the devil further into the forest, she is also the reason he continued on his way towards the Witches’ Sabbath. To clarify, after deciding to turn away from the devil midway on his path towards the Sabbath, Goodman Brown thinks he hears the voice of Faith and catches sight of her pink ribbon floating down from the sky. Whether or not this was a deception set up by the devil, Goodman Brown becomes so angry at the idea of Faith being in danger that he ironically continues on his path towards the Devil. “My Faith is gone! …There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name,” cries Goodman Brown after seeing the ribbon. After this climatic scene, Goodman Brown will never look at his wife again as an entirely pure person, as he is soon to learn that she was seduced by the devil when he meets her at the Witches’ Sabbath. In other words, he has not only lost his faith in the goodness of God, but also in the goodness of his wife, who he used to view as a perfect being that is incapable of sin, much like a God. However, Goodman Brown soon regains his faith in God and turns toward Heaven, while ironically leaving his faith in his wife Faith
In the story "Young Goodman Brown," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author introduces evil images to tempt and delude Young Goodman Brown as he made his way through the woods. Goodman Brown, by the end of his journey, understands there is an evil side to human nature and believes that man is doomed by "original sin."
One’s self image of morals allows a person to accurately determine what they believe is wrong and vice-versa as is the case with Young Goodman Brown; the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown” who sees a disturbing vision in which all of the supposedly good townsfolk enter into a pact with the devil. In Goodman Brown’s vision, while following the unholy worshippers to their meeting place, he proclaims “With heaven above and fa...
This was shocking for Young Goodman Brown because everyone from town who were claiming to be Christians were here worshipping the devil. The symbolic part of the story is that all people will sin and even Jesus has sinned. But in Goodman Brown anyone who has sinned cannot be trusted because they follow the devil. The devil is at the altar and a basin which is like a big bowl, but what was in it “Did it contain water, reddened be the lurid light? or was it blood?” (12). As the devil was going to mark them with the liquid from the basin. Goodman Brown yelled “Faith! Faith! Cried the husband, look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one”(12). Goodman Brown did not know if Faith had heard him. This conflict is when Goodman Brown finds out that everyone worshipped the devil and that he was the only one who had stayed true towards his religion. This is ironic because there is no one in the world who has not sinned, and for Goodman Brown to think that he is the one and only one to have not sinned is the reason it is
"Young Goodman Brown" begins when Faith, Brown's wife, asks him not to go on an "errand". Goodman Brown says to his "love and (my) Faith" that "this one night I must tarry away from thee." When he says his "love" and his "Faith", he is talking to his wife, but he is also talking to his "faith" to God. He is venturing into the woods to meet with the Devil, and by doing so, he leaves his unquestionable faith in God with his wife. He resolves that he will "cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven." This is an example of the excessive pride because he feels that he can sin and meet with the Devil because of this promise that he made to himself. There is a tremendous irony to this promise because when Goodman Brown comes back at dawn; he can no longer look at his wife with the same faith he had before.
“By the sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall scent out all the places--whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest--where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot” (Hawthorne pg. 21). “Young Goodman Brown”, an American short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, does well to blend together a dark, mysterious storyline with a lesson fixated upon the battle between good and evil. Hawthorne was born into Salem, Massachusetts, a small village whose citizens had once accused and executed each other for being “witches.” During these times, the conflict between good and evil and its effect upon one’s overall happiness took its toll upon the lives of the Puritans of
In Hawthorne’s story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown ventures on a journey into the forest and refuses the temptations of the devil. Unfortunately though, throughout the night, Brown finds out more than he ever wanted to know about how his fellow Puritan townsmen, including his wife, have betrayed their faith by giving into their dark desires. In utter despair, Goodman Brown returns at dawn to his Salem village “staring around him like a bewildered man.” (Hawthorne, pg.275) He doesn’t believe it is the same place as it was the night before and he no longer feels at home. Whether his experiences were real or not, his faith is gone and he feels as though he is the only pure one. He suffers tremendous guilt and discomfort and trusts no one. His excessive pride is evident when he takes a child away from a blessing given by Goody Cloyse, his former catechism teacher, as if he were taking the child “from the fiend himself.” (Hawthorne, pg.276) His distrust and resentment towards his townsmen is apparent when he sees his wife, Faith. She is overwhelmed with joy to see him arrive home yet he looked “sternly and sadly into her face and passed on without a greeting.” (Hawthorne, pg.276) All that he learned in the night was too much for him, and it changed a devoted husband with bright hopes and a wife whom he loved, to a tired, beaten, questioning and almost faithless man.
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.
In Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, the main character, Young Goodman Brown, jumped to the conclusion that everyone in his village was working with the devil after he had a dream about a meeting in the forest. The first piece of evidence that Young Goodman Brown jumped to conclusion is how he treated his wife when he came back from the forest compared to how he treated his wife in the beginning. In the beginning, Faith was “a blessed angel” (“Young Goodman Brown” 1) and he said when he got back he would follow her to heaven. Then afterward, often at mi...
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an extraordinary writer, who used real life experiences in every one of his stories. However, growing up in a Puritan society during a reformation gave Hawthorne a distorted view on God’s character. Hawthorne was intelligent, but by no means a people person, which created a pathway for him to become an author. There were a few key points in his life growing in a religion zealous society that lead him to abandon his faith. Hence, the short story of “Young Goodman Brown” representing that humans are cynical and evil, and the dangers of losing your faith in God.
Unfortunately, Goodman Brown truly has lost his faith. Though his wife appears unchanged and wishes to welcome him with open, loving arms Brown rejects her. The reader is left slightly confused as to why, but perhaps Brown has given up hope that good can win over the enormous amount of sin or evil out there. He is unable to accept Faith now that he is forced to see her in her unclean or imperfect state. Brown can no longer see the good for the evil surrounding him, and has lost all hope. Although Brown tried to resist the devil, in the end he failed in his journey of exploring evil and returning to the side of good.
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses different people as symbols throughout "Young Goodman Brown." The largest symbolic roles in the story are goodman Brown and his wife Faith. Both of the characters' names are symbolic and representative of their personalities. "'With Heaven above and Faith below, I will stand firm against the devil!' cried goodman Brown," is just one of many quotes that directly relates goodman Brown's personality with his name (189). Goodman Brown is truly a good man. Faith, goodman Brown's wife, also has a name that is indicative of her nature. The story directly supports this point in the phrase "Faith, as the wife was aptly named . . . " (184). Faith is persistent in trying to keep goodman Brown off the path of sin in the first part of the story: " . . . pr'y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night" (184). Hawthorne does an excellent job of turning the main characters into symbols that are prominent throughout the story.
Faith plays a major role in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown”. From the start of his journey to his arrival back home, Faith is always in the back of head, making him question his surroundings and own thoughts. It’s hard to determine when he’s speaking of his lovely wife Faith or his Faith in his God and religion. Through his many
Goodman Brown embarks on his journey into the forest with the fervent belief that his potent dedication is indomitably ironclad, and thus will be able to overcome even the most tempting persuasions of the devil. As Goodman and the devil continue sauntering along the serpentine path, they encounter Goodman’s old catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, and it is eventually revealed that she is heading to the satanic occult meeting at the core of the forest. Goodman is absolutely confounded at the sight of her, as he had always considered Cloyse as a moral and spiritual guide in his life. Goody Cloyse’s appearance is the first moment where Goodman begins to question his faith. Brown's illusions about the purity of his society are finally obliterated when he discovers that many of his fellow townspeople, including religious leaders and his wife (aptly named Faith), are attending a Black Mass or “witch-meeting”. At the end of the story, it is not clear whether Brown's experience was a nightmare or biting reality, but the results are nonetheless the same. Brown is unable to forgive the possibility of evil in his loved ones, and as a result spends the rest of his life in desperate loneliness and gloom.
During Goodman Brown’s journey, he recognized Goody Cloyse, his catechism teacher, the preacher, and Deacon Gookin is going to the devil’s meeting. However, after seeing his church members at the devil’s meeting, Goodman says, “My Faith is gone! and There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come devil! for to thee is this world given” (Hawthorne 27). “But, where is Faith?”, asked Goodman Brown (Hawthorne 29). As hope came into his heart, he trembled when he found the pink ribbon of his wife, Faith, in the forest. At that moment, Goodman Brown lost his faith in his family and church members. Goodman becomes unforgiving of others and believes only evil can be created from evil and there is nothing that anyone can do to change it. Here, Hawthorne demonstrates that a naive faith in our family, friends, and church member’s righteousness could lead to distrust. While, “Young Goodman Brown” lives a long life with Faith, he never loses his meanness toward humanity and the evil in the world, “for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne
Goodman Brown, a young man who was only married for three months, left his home and his wife, Faith, to go into the forest and spend the night on some mission that he will not explain. Even though Faith has strong feelings about his journey and begs him not to leave, Brown has made his decision and leaves everything behind. Faith is appropriately named, because she represents Browns faith and what he believes in. The name is genuine, religious and hopeful. It represents the good side of Brown and his hope for life. 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.