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It seems necessary to write down some lines about the author. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Because of the involvement of his ancestor in the Salem witch trials , Nathaniel later added a "w" to make his name "Hawthorne" in order to hide this relation. He entered Bowdoin College in 1821, and graduated in 1825. Hawthorne published his first work, Fanshawe, in 1828. He published several short stories after that which he collected in 1837 as Twice-Told Tales. His masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, was published in 1850. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before their return to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864. Much of Hawthorne's writing centers on New England, many works featuring moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His fiction works are considered part of the Romantic movement and, more specifically, Dark romanticism. His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. His published works include novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend Franklin Pierce. Discussion: The story starts at sunset in a village named Salem, as young Goodman Brown leaves his wife, Faith, for a duty in the forest. Faith begs her husband to stay with her, but he insists that the journey must be completed that night. In the forest he meets an older man, carried a staff looked like a black serpent. Other inhabitants of the village were in the woods that night. Suddenly Young Goodman Brown hears his wife's voice in the trees so decides to fly through the forest by the old man’s staff. At the ceremony he and Faith approach the altar, he shouts at Faith to look to heaven and resist... ... middle of paper ... ...e most important factors in the story. The narrative techniques: Works Cited Abrams, M.H. Glossary of Literary Term. Fike,Mathew A.A Jungian Approach to hawthorn’s young Goodman Brown. Winthrop. Swisher, Clarice. Nathaniel Hawthorn: a Biography. Fulle, Edmund, and B.JO Kinnick. StoriesnDerived from New England living. Feidelson, Charles. Hawthorn as symbolist. Murff,Amanda.”Nathaniel hawthorn essay.” Apr.2013.web. 12 Mar 2014 “http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~rebeccal/lit/238f11/pdfs/YoungGoodmanBrown.pdf/.” Web. 5 Mar 2014 “.” Web. 10 Mar 2014 “.” Web. 11 Mar 2014 “.” Web. 9 Mar 2014 “.” Web. 10 Mar 2014 “.” Web. 10 Mar 2014
Faith is accepting what you are taught or told without trying to prove or disprove it, rather than discovering it through experience. Those who believe in God have faith. It has not been proven that God exists; similarly, it has not been proven that humans are kind, honest, and good by nature. Young Goodman Brown is a character in "Young Goodman Brown," who leaves his known world in Salem village and travels an unknown road in a dark forest in the middle of the night, a common motif in literature better known as the Hero's journey, and is faced with obstacles. He must decide if he will carry his journey out till the end, or turn back and not learn the truth about himself and other humans.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography.” The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Nathaniel Hawthorne's best known short stories including Young Goodman Brown, The Minister's Black Veil, and The Birthmark, should be considered some of the great works of American literature because their exploration of enduring American themes of moral struggle. The short stories demonstrate a masterful command of symbolism and allegory.
Symbolism, something that figuratively represents something else, is prominent in many literary works. One piece of literature that stands out as a perfect example of symbolism is Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown." This story is completely symbolic, and provides a good example of an allegory, or a story in which concrete items or characters represent abstract ideas. Hawthorne uses both objects and people as symbols to better support the allegorical tones throughout "Young Goodman Brown."
Young Goodman Brown goes into the forest at first with only a small expectation of what he is going to experience. Of his fellow Puritan society he sees the bad seeds as well as supposed men and women of the utmost regard. He sees virgin girls filled with reverence and innocence, and even members of the church present at the devil’s ceremony. This causes Young Goodman Brown to question his entire upbringing and trust in his society. It creates...
On July 4, 1804, an author by the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne was born (Meltzer). As Hawthorne grew, he began to develop a view of himself as “the obscurest man in American letters.” Through the use of popular themes such as isolation, guilt, and earthly imperfection, Hawthorne was able to involve much of his life and ancestral past in his work to answer his own political and religious wonders (“Nathaniel”). Hawthorne successfully “confronts reality rather than evading it” in many of his stories (Clendenning).
Clarice Swisher in “Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography” states: ”When Hawthorne called his stories ‘romances,’ he meant that they belong within the romantic movement that . . . . emphasize imagination and personal freedom” (18). It is the purpose of this essay to interpret the theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and determine where this “personal freedom” leads.
With his father dead, his upbringing was left to his mother. Hawthorne was not interested in a higher education, and enrolled at Bowdoin College in 1821, a choice which he protested greatly upon. And at seventeen quoted as already knowing his vocation, “I do not want to be a doctor and live by men’s diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So I don’t see that there is anything left for me to be an author.” Being an avid reader and writer he didn’t care much for schooling. He was an average student, graduating in 1825 (Nathaniel Hawthorne - Biography, 1).
Being the wildly religious Puritan he is, Goodman Brown sets of into the forest on a quest to find evil and relinquish its temptations once and for all. Brown expresses that by doing so he will gain some unworldly benefit when he states “ . . . after this one night I’ll cling to her [his wife, Faith] skirts and follow her to heaven” (444).
The use of dark imagery throughout the story gives you a sense of fear of the unknown that lies ahead of Goodman Brown on his journey. The beginning sentence of the story illustrates an image of a sunset and the approaching of night as Goodman Brown sets off on his mission. ?Young Goodman Brown came forth, at sunset, into the street of Salem village, but put his head back, after crossing the threshold.? (196) Here, the light of the sun represents the knowledge that Goodman Brown already has. The imagery of darkness setting in is the unknown knowledge Goodman Brown is out to discover. Goodman Brown must first travel through the darkness of the unknown before he reaches the light of enlightenment and truth that is why he is embarking on his journey throughout the night hours. ?My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done ?twist now and sunrise.? (197)
When he goes into the forest, he believes he is talking to the devil and looks much like his grandfather. The devil is feeding him bad thoughts about everyone he knows, even his own father and his wife, Faith. Next, I believe that Goodman Brown has had a rough past and in order for him to overcome this within himself, he must search for attention. This attention may not be needed from his wife or community members, I believe it is needed from him. He is feeling overwhelmed with obligations from his wife and peers, and he has no time to decide whether this type of life is right for him.
...to the woods transforms him from an overly trusting, naïve man into a cynical, and corrupted man. Before his life changing journey, goodman Brown is unknowing of all the sin that goes on around him. He believes that everyone he knows is perfect and without sin. This changes when he takes a trip through the forest. His eyes are opened in a sense, but maybe too wide. Goodman Brown becomes paranoid about everyone in the village including his wife, Faith. He also becomes corrupted and unable to focus on his religious activities that he has always done before. Fundamentally, faith is something that Brown gave away freely to anyone but, rather, should be given moderately.
Born on July 4, 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s early childhood was a difficult time for him due to the death of his father, when Nathaniel was 4 years of age, while he was at sea. William Hathorne, Nathaniel’s great great grandfather, emigrated from England to America in 1630 to settle in Salem, Massachusetts. Consequently, this is where he later became known for his savage sentencing as a judge. John Hathorne, William’s son, later was one of three judges during the Salem Witch Trials during the 1690s. Therefore, Nathaniel changed his last name in order to distance himself from this dark side of the family. Which was where he got most of his dark stories from
The story, “Young Goodman Brown,” is about a man named Goodman Brown who must leave his wife Faith to go on a fateful journey – a journey whose reason is left to speculation. He must go into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before sunrise. He embarks on this journey and returns a changed man for the evils he encountered made him lose his faith in the community around him. The decision or struggle that Brown is faced with in the story is between the evil temptations that lurk in the fore...
Late one night he finds himself in the middle of the woods with the Devil, on his way to a meeting of the Devil's followers. After seeing respected townsfolk at the Devil's meeting, including his minister and his wife, Faith, he loses hope in humanity and all that he had known to be true or real. Goodman Brown wakes up in his bed immediately following the Devil's meeting and wonders if what had happened was reality or simply just a dream. Despite his confusion about the events that took place, he was unable to forget what had happened and lost faith in religion and his com... ...