Analysis of Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Research Paper Example

?Mohammed Alharthi Mrs. Holliday LENG 247/First Draft April 22, Young Goodman Brown Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown takesa unique sequence of events as the protagonist manifests an internal conflict that leads him to consult the devil in the forest. Goodman Brown is the protagonist of the story. He leaves his loving wife to take a journey to consult the devil in the forest due to his internal conflict. This essential content reveals Goodman’s experiences. He undergoes multiple experiences in the forest, which alter his attitude and cognitions towards his initial Christian faith. Agnes Donohue explores a historical perspective of Hawthorne’s story in her article “From Whose Bourn No Traveller Returns ': A Reading of Roger Malvin’s Burial.” She evaluates the choice of words that Hawthorne uses in his story (2). The importance of this citation is to explore the diction in the story. Diction has a major contribution as it influences the choice of words in Hawthorne’s narration. Donohue critically analyzes the historical background of the choice of words present in Hawthorne’s story (3). This indication is crucial, since it explores the chronology that links with the word choice by Hawthorne. There is a direct linkage of history and Hawthorne’s diction. In her article, Donohue responds that the choice of words in Hawthorne’s story has a specific historical origin and account (3). Claudia Johnson’s article "Hawthorne and the Nineteenth- Century Perfectionism" gives an account of Hawthorne’s purpose to compose his story. The time of the story marked a major dominance of the Puritan religion in the existent society (5). This is a crucial citation as it reveals the religious history of the story. Evidently, the sixteenth and seventeenth century marked the highest dominance of Puritanism in society. Johnson’s article gives the historical account towards the composition of Hawthorne’s story. This article purely communicates the nature of man under the Puritan perspective (4). This has a definite importance of revealing Hawthorne’s reference. It therefore implicates that the Puritan law was a major point of reference to Hawthorne’s composition. Nathaniel Hawthorne conducts a major exploration and analysis of theme of human mistake. In his story, he portrays mistakes as deeds that amount to negative ramifications. This has a significance of revealing people’s mistakes in the story. Ramifications of mistakes are revealed in Hawthorne’s text. David Levin reinforces the theme of mistakes in his article “Shadows of Doubt: Evidence in Hawthorne’s “Young Good Man Brown.” He conducts an analysis of the events in Hawthorne’s story. In this case, Levin qualifies Goodman Brown as a mere human who is laden by a sequence of mistakes in his decisions (10). This has a major importance of portraying human error. The citation manifests the inevitability of human mistakes via the protagonist of the story. Levin’s analysis also qualifies Hawthorne’s choice of words as a paramount tool to reveal the impacts of Brown’s mistakes. Levin reinforces and advocates for the choice of words in Hawthorne’s story (15). The words work cumulatively to reveal the theme of human mistakes through the protagonist. Therefore, the citation has a major significance of revealing the major theme of human faults. D. M McKeithan explores the theme of human mistakes in “Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”: An Interpretation.” This article presents Goodman Brown as an average person who commits major mistakes in his life. The consequences of Brown’s mistakes are enormous in his life (20). This citation has the importance of inducing ultimate reflections to the readers of the story. It reflects the negative consequences of human faults. According to McKeithan, any human being is prone to major mistakes like Goodman Brown (18). The importance of this citation is to emphasize the human nature. It reflects humans as faulty in nature. McKeithan’s article equates its readers with Goodman Brown. This article reinforces the theme of human mistakes as portrayed in Hawthorne’s story. Hawthorne’s story manifests significant bias that conveys crucial themes. The protagonist Goodman Brown undergoes numerous encounters in the story, and they reveal irony that elevates his internal conflict. This has the importance of revealing irony. It reinforces irony through revelation of the internal conflict within the protagonist. Goodman Brown encounters spiritual persons that have deep engagements with the devil. This inculcates more will for him to sin. Hawthorne explores this feature through the exploration of Goodman Brown’s journey in the forest (19). This has the crucial role of revealing the chronology of events during the journey of the protagonist. The chronology reveals the geographical, spiritual and psychological settings of the story. Turner Arlin’s book Nathaniel Hawthorne an Introduction and Interpretation, published in 1961 explores the irony (12). The religious ironies motivate Goodman Brown towards sinning. His sinful mistakes were mainly grounded from unfaithful religious persons. For example, Goodman Brown witnessed his religious wife Faith being baptized in the devil’s camp. Goodman Brown has made a mistake, and he conflict with self. Since he cannot fix his mistake, he visits Satan to seek restoration. Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays his experience in the forest in “Young Goodman Brown”. The story of Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne entails a protagonist that suffers immensely from a persistent internal conflict. The cause of Goodman’s suffering is sin (8). Brown’s life engrosses immense sequences of mistakes. Revelation of the mistakes is the importance of the citation. Goodman Brown’s internal conflict leads him to commit a terrible mistake; consulting the devil. After this decision, he sets out for the journey through the forest to go to the devil’s territory for consultations. He therefore abandons his religious and loving wife for his sinful mission. The ultimate impact of his journey alters his Christian faith. The importance of the citation dwells in the manifestation of the abandonment of Christian faith. After the journey, Goodman Brown becomes disconnected and superficial in his Christian faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne had a definite reference in the composition of this story. Therefore, the story has a historical background that dictates the sequence of events and characterization. The historical background of this story also dictated in Hawthorne’s choice of words. There are diverse critics of the Hawthorne’s story. They evaluate and comment on the features evident in the story. For example, Donohue evaluates the historical background of the story. She composes an article that comments on the historical affiliation of Hawthorne’s story (3). Donohue therefore composes an article “From Whose Bourn No Traveller Returns ': A Reading of Roger Malvin’s Burial.” The article comments on the historical background of Hawthorne’s story. The historical background is the significance of the citation. Donohue asserts that the choice of words trace back to the seventeenth century (3). This was the time when Puritanism took an elevated dominance in society. Puritanism was a movement of Protestants from England. The citation reveals the Puritanism movement vividly. Puritanism used a set of words that are evident in Hawthorne’s story. For example, they would say “thou” in place of “you.” The linguistic techniques that associate to the Puritans are dominantly used in Hawthorne’s story. This is an apparent indication that the story targeted the seventeenth century population. According to Donohue, the choice of words by Hawthorne provides concrete historic information especially in the target population in the seventeenth century (3). Donohue presents this fact in her article “From Whose Bourn No Traveller Returns ': A Reading of Roger Malvin’s Burial.” The historical record is the importance of the citation. Claudia Johnson’s article affirms the implications in Donohue’s article. Johnson manifests a pronounced bias in her article. She purely explores the law of the Puritans (5). She limits herself in the explanation of Puritanism ideologies. This bias propagates an account of the purpose of Hawthorne’s story. The bias manifested by the citation is of much significance. Johnson asserts that sin and association with the devil was a major vice in Puritanism perspectives. This substantiates the purpose of Hawthorne’s story. Johnson affirms the mistake in Brown’s engagement with the devil (7). The importance of this citation is to reveal the affiliation of Brown with the devil. It outlines a mistake in the protagonist’s consultation to the devil. Johnson also provides a historical background of timing towards Hawthorne’s story. Definitely, the story traces to the seventeenth century during the dominance of Puritanism. The sequence of events in Hawthorne’s story communicates a major theme of human mistakes. The story uses Goodman Brown as the protagonist to express the major theme of human mistakes and faults. This citation communicates the theme of human fault. It lays emphasis of the theme through consideration of the protagonist. There are sets of critics towards Hawthorne’s story that identify this theme in the story. They therefore affirm the theme of human mistakes and faults in their analysis. Hawthorne presents mistakes as sources of negative consequences in human life. The importance of this is to view human fault as negativity. Negative experiences attribute to human fault. Levin perceives Goodman Brown as a victim of mistakes. His mistakes have brought immense negative impacts especially on his Christian faith. Levin perceives this apparent theme from Hawthorne’s story. Levin also commends Hawthorne’s word choice to reveal this crucial theme (10). For instance, Brown cries in desperation for the devil during his journey in the forest. His mistake in deciding to go to the forest substantiates the desperation. This citation has a significance of revealing the theme of human fault through observing the protagonist. McKeithan studies Hawthorne’s story and identifies the theme of human mistake and faults. In the response to Hawthorne’s story, McKeithan observes the mistake committed by the protagonist (21). This is a paramount citation by McKeithan. In this case, McKeithan presents Goodman Brown as an average individual who suffers from major mistakes. Therefore, the ramifications of the mistakes have a major negative impact on Goodman Brown’s life. His Christian faith is substantially impaired. McKeithan identifies human mistakes as a universally prevailing attribute. In reference to Hawthorne’s story, McKeithan equates the readers to Goodman Brown’s experiences (20). Apparently, McKeithan explores the theme of human mistakes in his critical response to Hawthorne’s story. This is the significance of the citation from his article. Hawthorne’s story entails biases that are substantiated by existence of ironies within the sequence of events. The ironies have a major contribution in the conveyance of essential themes in the story. Goodman Brown resolves to consult the devil due to an internal conflict that exists within him. He decides to abandon his Christian faith and encounters immense irony upon observing religious persons consult the devil (13). Irony revelation is the significance of this citation. For instance, Brown observes believers worshiping the devil as he committed a ritual. Different critics of Hawthorne’s story identify the significance of irony in conveying diverse themes in the sequence of events. Turner affirms the significance of irony in Hawthorne’s story (13). Goodman Brown observes religious persons in worship of the devil. For instance, he oversees his religious wife Faith being baptized by the devil. Irony is the key significance of the citation. This observation made him commit sin the more. The ironical events elevated the tendency of mistake within Brown. However, Turner argues that the conduct of other people is not adequate ground to influence choices (14). The irony fulfilled its purpose by conveying and reinforcing the theme of human mistake. This citation reveals the affiliation between irony and human fault. Hawthorne features a protagonist in his story, who reveals persistent conflicts within himself. Goodman Brown suffers intense internal conflict that ushers him towards consulting the devil for its resolution. According to the historical setting of the story, sin and engagements with the devil was a major vice. It was a major violation of the dominant Puritan religion. Ironically, the protagonist and other characters in the story violated the Puritan religion and consulted the devil. This ironical encounter in the story manifested the principle of human mistakes and faults. Each human being is prone to mistakes that manifest immense irony in relation to principles of life. Work cited Donohue, Agnes, McNeill. “From Whose Bourn No Traveller Returns ': A Reading of Roger Malvin’s Burial.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction. 18.1 Jstor.com. Jun. 1963. Web. Feb 28 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Literature A Portable Anthology. 2nd Ed. Janet E. Gardner et al. Boston, MA:: St. Martin’s, 2009. Print. Johnson, Claudia, D. "Hawthorne and the Nineteenth- Century Perfectionism. " American Literature 44. 4. Jstor.com. Jan. 1973. Web. Feb 27 Levin, David. “Shadows of Doubt: Evidence in Hawthorne’s “Young Good Man Brown.” American Literature 34. 3. Jstor.com. Nov. 1962. Web. Feb 27 McKeithan, D.M. “Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown: An Interpretation.” Modern Language Notes 67. 2. Jstor.com. Feb.1952. Web. Feb 27 Turner, Arlin. Nathaniel Hawthorne an Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961. Print. Read More