Irony in Young Goodman Brown - Essay Example

Irony in ‘Young Goodman Brown’ An instance of extremely explicit irony in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’ is the chosen for GoodmanBrown’s wife—Faith. Goodman Brown leaves his young wife after only being married for a short time. Here, Faith symbolizes Goodman Brown’s denial of Faith. The journey embarked by Goodman symbolizes embracing sin itself, although Goodman thinks of it as a journey of fulfillment and peace. Hawthorne mentions this in the book when Goodman says, “Faith kept me back awhile” (Hawthorne 82).

At the beginning of the book, we see can see a clear example of situational irony when Goodman notices Goody Cloyse when walking through the woods with the devil. Goodman is embarrassed in meeting her and hides behind the devil. Goody Cloyse happens to be Goodman’s spiritual advisor. This is ironic because the very same woman that had taught Goodman Brown to be like the Puritans turned out to be a witch. She recognized the devil and said that she was making her way to the devil’s evil forest ceremony.

At a moment when Goodman was sitting down by the roadside, he once again heard horses and hid himself from view. Hawthorne describes this scene in the following quotation: “The young man sat down by the roadside for a short while, congratulating himself and thinking with how clear a conscience he should meet the minister during his morning walk, nor shrink from the eye of good old Deacon Gookin.” As fate should have it, these two holy men are also on their way to the devil’s ceremony. This scene presents a severe irony because Goodman Brown has not understood the seriousness of his sin and has chosen to congratulate himself instead.

An allegory of this would be like a situation where someone goes to a pub and rewards himself because he did not buy a drink. Once reading ‘Young Goodman Brown,’ it becomes quite obvious to the readers that Nathaniel Hawthorne is rather concerned with the Puritan society and especially in the part of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. The reason why he is so concerned about this fact is that his ancestors were part of these trials. Thus, in his short story, Hawthorne has explored the aspects of original sin, specifically set in the Puritan community.

However, it may be noted that Goodman Brown does act on the contrary to Puritan beliefs. For instance, right at the beginning of the story when Goodman Brown kissed his wife goodbye, the term “gazing anxiously forth” was used when Goodman came back to see her. Hawthorne goes on to say that she “burst into joy” at the sight of Goodman and almost kissed him in the presence of the entire village. The prudishness of Goodman is very visible in his explanation of the situation and is quite contrary to the behavior of the Puritans.

References Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Literature: The Human Experience. 10th ed. Ed. Richard Abcarien, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford, 2009. 81-91. Print.