The Story of Young Goodman Brown - Essay Example

“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an interesting story revealing dark secrets of some people who pretend to be strong Christians yet they seek help and assistance from the witches and devil. The story uses various symbols and representation to depict the way the devil successfully deceives and controls people’s minds. There is a wider application of symbolism throughout the story that clearly represents the acts of the devil. The story is full of symbolism and the author has meticulously used symbolism in a way that even the least attentive reader can grasp. Careful reading of the story especially the last few paragraphs discloses considerate significance and irony that one may not initially expect. This piece of writing explains and analyses the different uses of symbolism in the Young Goodman Brown. Young Goodman doubts towards the Puritan religion as well as suspicion of his neighbors’ probable insincerity increases as he journeys into the forest. Although he holds on his Puritan religion, he still entertains his desires to indulge in the devil’s way. Goodman Brown departs from his wife Faith who is not impressed by her husband’s departure. Goodman’s wife’s name itself is a representation of Brown’s faith in God throughout the story. The wife urges him to stay behind but Brown resists her request and goes to the forest after he has assured Faith that she is secure and that she shall be no harm that will befall her. The aspect of love amongst the couple is represented when she calls her husband dearest heart as the husband refers to her as his love and faith. It is at sundown when Brown departs and the dusk progressively darkens just as Goodman Brown’s faith in God fades. Brown meanders away through the woods which are so dark that someone cannot see through. The woods’ poor visibility and darkness symbolizes isolation and uncertainty kind of life that people who do not have faith in God experience (Kirszner & Mandell 445-446). Goodman Brown meets a traveler holding a snakelike staff that symbolizes the devil. From the Bible the snake constantly represents the devil and this is evident in the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the man whom Brown met as more like Brown but would not care to face or involve himself in any circumstances. This symbolizes the devil’s expected domain of being everywhere and in virtually every situation. The Satan drags Goodman Brown deep inside the forest. It is interesting and ironical when the devil asks Brown about his reason for lateness and brown responds that he was still held back by Faith. This symbolizes the Christian and the Puritan beliefs that it is only faith that can hold someone back from indulging in satanic acts (Kirszner & Mandell 445-446). The deception and temptation by Satan is symbolized in the story when the devil tells him that his father was a hypocrite who was a murder and a wife beater and that he has many Christian friends who have made a pact with him. In the Bible, the serpent is seen to tempt Eve to taste the fruit from the forbidden tree and this kind of temptation further motivates curiosity of Eve. The traveler also uses this tactic to convince Brown and influence him into joining him in his satanic acts. The devil tries to convince brown to take the staff that is black in color and represents evil to make him travel faster. The staff shows that the traveler is more evil than human and Goodman’s decision to accept the snakelike thing would definitely put him on the path toward evil too and this symbolizes Eve’s temptation. It is the curiosity that represents the guilt and purpose that makes Goodman to go to the woods. Goodman Brown encounters Goody Cloyse who symbolizes Brown’s doubts in the sincere living of his neighbors where his language is further expressed in symbolism. Goody Cloyse symbolizes the sinful nature of some Christians who are pretenders. Goodman’s doubts towards his neighbors further intensifies when he abruptly hears a few travelers coming with their voices sounding like some of the church deacons who are very holy in their walking lives and this greatly symbolizes hypocrisy in the puritan church. It is ironical when people who are believed to know and understand the Christians values and principles taking part in the communion of the devil secretly (Kirszner & Mandell 445-447). Dream theory is evident as shown in Brown’s life in many aspects. Initially dream is shown when Hawthorne demonstrates danger of entertaining evils while Brown looks up to heaven to pray but his decision is blocked by a dark cloud containing sounds of several sinners. The dream behavior is the desire to have a prayerful and reverence kind of life. The aspect of faith in Christianity is clearly represented when Brown hears Faith’s voice from the crowd and finally gives up to the darkness as he sees Faith’s pink ribbon carried by wind lights upon a branch near him and he claims “My Faith is gone!” The faith that is represented here is the faith in God. The belief and faith in God particularly in an awake kind of life is very evident in Faith’s life. It is indeed hard for a Christian to have faiths in both God and the devil and therefore any belief in the Satan will definitely let go the belief in God. Faith’s purity is represented in a dream kind of theory using the pink ribbon. The pink ribbon that the author uses most of the time throughout the story represents Faith’s purity. The fall of the pink ribbon therefore represented the fall of faith into the realm of darkness but the return of Goodman is greeted faith wearing the pink ribbon suggesting the return of faith in God. The pink ribbon worn by Faith in Brown’s return from the woods also throws uncertainties on the credibility and authenticity of Goodman’s experiences (Kirszner & Mandell 445-448). The dreams of Goodman Brown’s experience represents his doubts and worries as he returns to his village a bitter, fearful man who is very doubtful of his neighbors religious purity. The doubts are further increased by the events that Brown comes across and this shows the way fear and suspicion can always hold us in bondage. The acts of evil have been symbolized in different ways and the fact that the devil might be cleverer than the human being as it can be seen from the story that different religious leaders get assistance from the evil. The story represents how corrupt the religions are in the current society and the entire hand of the devil in deceiving minds of the righteous. Symbolism best explains Young Goodman’s personality. This is because most of the things he does are symbolized in many ways. Dream theory has not been widely used in the book. Symbolism plays an important part in the book as it represents a lot of Young Goodman’s behavior and characters. Dreams are not consistent with some of the characters associated. However the story and characters of Young Goodman can be related with the dream in that most of the characters and behaviors include self-conceptions especially in the forest. There are a lot of interactionism perspective particularly how Goodman acts towards issues such as religion that are derived from social interaction. Goodman seems to be undergoing many uncertainties, which later creates reliance on symbolic characters. However, the symbolism theory may cause some serious issues such as unethical manipulation, meaningless actions, and omnipresence. Works Cited Kirszner, Laurie G, and Mandell, Stephen R. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Read More