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Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on April 28, 2022

“Young Goodman Brown,” initially appearing in Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) as both a bleak romance and a moral allegory, has maintained its hold on contemporary readers as a tale of initiation, alienation, and evil. Undoubtedly one of Nathaniel Hawthorne ’s most disturbing stories, it opens as a young man of the town, Goodman Brown, bids farewell to his wife, Faith, and sets off on a path toward the dark forest. Brown’s journey to the forest and his exposure to life-shattering encounters and revelations remain the subject of speculation. Although his meeting with the devil is clear, the results remain ambiguous and perplexing. When viewed as a bildungsroman, it is one of the bleakest in American fiction, long or short. Rather than an initiation into manhood, Brown’s is an initiation into evil.

Much of the power of the story derives from the opening scene of missed chances: Faith, introduced in the second sentence and given the first words of dialogue, leans out the window, her pink ribbons fl uttering, and entreats her husband to stay. Brown, however, although he continues to think of returning, is determined to depart on this dark road. Almost instantly, he—and the reader—become enveloped in the darkness and gloom of the forest. The narrator equates the dreariness with both solitude and evil, and the aura of doom pervades the story. Along the way Brown meets a man who looks curiously like Brown’s father and grandfather; that this traveler is the devil is clear from his snakelike stick and evident power to assume different shapes. The traveler reveals his role in helping Brown’s Puritan ancestors commit crimes against Quakers and Indians. Brown protests that his family has traditionally revered the principles of Christianity, but the traveler provides numerous examples of his converts across all of New England, in both small town and state positions, in the fields of politics, religion, and the law. That Brown himself is from Salem suggests Hawthorne’s fascination with the Puritan guilt of his—and our—own forefathers manifested in other short stories such as “Alice Doane’s Appeal,” a tale about the Puritan obsession with witchcraft.

Nathaniel Hawthorne. Getty Images

Next Brown hides in the forest, demonstrating his hypocrisy, as he sees Goody Cloyse, a pious townswoman, walking along the dark trail. She and the traveler openly discuss her witchcraft, and when Brown leaves his hiding place, he marvels at his memory of Goody Cloyse teaching him his catechism when he was a boy. Again Brown thinks of returning home to Faith, but instead he still hides in the forest, recognizing many of the townspeople passing through and hearing that tonight’s forest meeting will be attended by people from Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as Massachusetts. Just as Brown thinks he can resist the devil and emerge from his hiding place, he hears a scream that sounds like Faith’s, and a pink ribbon fl utters to his feet.

From this point on, Brown himself becomes a grotesque figure, throwing himself with wholehearted if somewhat hysterical and despairing eagerness into the center of the darkness illuminated by the blazing fires of the meeting, clearly an image of hell. He recognizes all the most respected folk of the state unabashedly mingling with common thieves, prostitutes, and even criminals. The dreadful harmony of all these voices joined together in devil worship reaches a crescendo as the converts are brought forth: Among them, dimly recognized, are Brown’s father, mother, and wife. The devil assures the assembly that everyone has secretly committed crimes, from those of illicit sex to those of murdering husbands, fathers, and illegitimate babies. Indeed, says the devil, the whole earth is “one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot.” Evil, not good, he asserts, is the nature of humankind.

As do Adam and Eve, Brown and Faith stand on the edge of wickedness: Brown screams to Faith to resist the devil, and with these words the nightmare ends, Brown awakening against a rock. The narrator asks, Was his experience really a dream? Whether or not we believe in the reality of Brown’s experience; the narrator affirms that it clearly foreshadows Brown’s altered life: Henceforward he is a dour and disillusioned man who sees no good and trusts in no one. In just such a way did the Salem witch trials effectively bring about the collapse of Puritanism, yet the story resonates long afterward: We as readers understand that we are the mythical descendants of Young Goodman Brown. Why does Brown ignore Faith’s warnings? Do we interpret the tale as one of infidelity? Of Christian hypocrisy? Of colonial history? If Brown, as an American Adam, looked upon Eden and found it wanting, do we inherit his frightful knowledge? Or can we interpret it as a cautionary tale, one whose lessons can benefit us as we live our modern lives? More than a century and a half later, Hawthorne’s story continues to beguile us with its gloomy aura and subtly ambiguous theme.

Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Stories

Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Novels

BIBLIOGRAPHY Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” In Tales and Sketches, edited by Roy Harvey Pearce. New York: Library of America, 1982. Newman, Lea B. V. A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Hawthorne. New York: Macmillan, 1979.

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Gothic Elements in “Young Goodman Brown” Essay

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Introduction

Elements of gothic fiction, hawthorne vision of gothics in the plot of the story, works cited.

“Young Goodman Brown” is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1835 and depicting the mid-18th century Salem, a town near Boston sadly known for its “witch hunts” when women were sentenced to death on charges of witchcraft. The writer’s great-grandfather was a judge who participated in these processes, and shame for his ancestor’s deeds forced Nathaniel Hawthorne to change his surname by adding “w” in the middle of it. This paper explores how Hawthorne uses Gothic elements in his writing and argues that the “Young Goodman Brown” short story contains all the necessary elements to be considered Gothic fiction.

Traditionally, Gothic fiction contains the following essential elements: mystery and fear, omens and curses, atmosphere and setting, supernatural activity, romance, villain, emotional distress, anti-hero, damsel in distress, emotional aesthetics based on the fear of unknown, morbid scenery, medievalism, and mysterious imagination. The story utilizes plenty of Gothic elements from this list. For instance, it starts with scenes of two lovers’ farewell – Goodman Brown and his wife Faith, who warns him not to go to the forest at night and stay with her.

Gentle and trusting relationships between young spouses Goodman and Faith represent the element of romance in the story. Faith also embodies the virgin lady or benevolent lady, incapable of evil, beautiful inside and with her appearances: “And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown” (Hawthorne 211). She is also depicted as a “damsel in distress” when Goodman hears in the forest how the townspeople lead her to the devil’s communion.

The short story features the anti-hero, a guide of Goodman, who leads him through the forest. The author describes this character as “the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree,” and says that most remarkable thing about this man was “his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent” (Hawthorne 212). Advancing on the forest path, after several attempts to abandon the venture, Goodman himself turns into an anti-hero when the devil takes possession of his heart.

Hawthorne presents a horrifying transformation: “Goodman Brown flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him” (Hawthorne 218). Goodman becomes a hostage of his guide, who brought Goodman to evil when he witnessed the devil’s sacrament.

The story is replete with ominous elements of scenery, such as the night forest and the darkness, in which the silhouettes of travelers cannot be made out. The forest trail gets narrower and almost indistinguishable as Goodman walks deeper into the forest. Sounds are part of the scenery and even more important than the images. Hawthorne says: “The whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds — the creaking of the trees, the howling of wild beasts, and the yell of Indians; while sometimes the wind tolled like a distant church bell, and sometimes gave a broad roar around the traveler, as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn” (Hawthorne 218). Initially, Goodman hears a passing carriage with the deacon and the minister, who hurry to the forest sacrament, clearly distinguishing their voices.

Then he hears the distant hum of the townspeople’s voices, which seem to persuade the young girl to move on a path that is disgusting and difficult for her. Goodman realizes that this is his wife Faith and calls her, but in return, the wind brings him only a pink ribbon from her hat. Discouraged, he rushes forward towards evil; since everything is evil, Goodman will also become a part of it. Reaching a clearing and a high rock surrounded by four flaming pine trees, Goodman sees the townspeople in the flickering red light of the fire, and then the dark figure of the priest – or the devil himself – makes a speech before the communion of the proselytes.

Hawthorne uses the unknown as a reason for horror and part of the Gothic emotional aesthetic. The reader does not know for what purpose Goodman plunges deeper into the forest thicket, who is his nameless companion, whose voices the hero hears – human or demonic. Faith’s character becomes controversial after Goodman hears her voice in the woods and sees her at the devil’s sacrament. Upon returning home, Goodman prefers to consider everything he saw as a dream, and his forest walk really feels like a dream, precisely because of the use of the Gothic element of the unknown.

The story contains supernatural powers, like when Goodman flies through the forest towards the clearing where the townspeople gathered for the devil’s communion. The sounds surrounding Goodman are supernatural, and so are the images he sees in the clearing. Goodman’s companion uses a magic staff, with which he moves the older woman to the clearing. Another staff becomes magical right in a companion’s hands, and Goodman flies over the forest using this staff. Nature also behaves abnormally – Goodman sees a black cloud appeared in the sky, which rushes in the north’s direction, despite the calm weather. The author uses dreams as omens at the beginning of the story when Faith warns Goodman against walking in the woods.

Hawthorne often criticizes Puritan mores as hypocritical in his writings and uses related Gothic symbolism. The story contains vicious priests – a deacon and a saint and a lady who teaches children the catechism. Likewise, the old woman and other ladies who came to the forest may be the embodiment of the “old stupid woman,” another element of Gothic prose. In the story, there is also an “evil local man” – Goodman’s guide.

Emotional tension, Gothic emotional aesthetics are important elements of any Gothic story. Authors often place characters in frightening circumstances and make them challenge threatening events. In Gothic fiction, heroes often die at the end of the story. In “Young Goodman Brown,” the hero remains alive, although, for the rest of his life, he does not trust anyone and is disgusted with his once beloved wife. Years later, he dies in the gloomy hour, and friends who gather to take him on his last journey do not find comforting words for his gravestone inscription.

Interestingly, according to the plot, the hero’s words that his Faith is gone are not a culmination. The culmination happens when Goodman reaches the clearing and hears the black-clad figure’s invitation to the devil’s sacrament. The denouement comes when Goodman asks Faith to raise her eyes to the sky and renounce the devil, after which he finds himself in the city square. Such a sharp turn of the plot corresponds to the feeling of horror that grips the hero and allows keeping the line between reality and fantasy blurred.

The storyline is characteristic of a Gothic novel that seeks to evoke a sublime sense of romantic fear and horror. The use of emotional aesthetics allows the author to discover the character’s depth and exaggerate their inner experiences. Noteworthy is the phrase “he was himself the chief horror of the scene, and shrank not from its other horrors” (Hawthorn 218). It is one of the few phrases that symbolize hope as a new guide for the traveler Goodman.

Based on it, one can conclude that Hawthorne was not a Puritan, but he understood the desire of the soul to explore the attractive and unsightly sides of life, the beautiful and the terrible in human nature. In this light, it is interesting that the author chose the forest scenery since the forest is an even more ancient symbol than the Gothic castles in the Emily Bronte style or the Gothic slums in the Dickens style. The thicket has always symbolized the dark, unexplored corners of the human soul, and Goodman Brown’s journey through the forest symbolically reflects his exploration of his human nature.

Goodman is disappointed when he sees Faith in the forest, surrounded by godly and unbelieving townspeople, “whom he had met at the communion table, and had seen others rioting at the tavern” (Hawthorne 217). Faith cannot limit her understanding and knowledge of life to the illusion of purity and the walls of their home, but for Goodman Brown, this is a severe blow since Faith is his spiritual guide. Now, after the journey, he must find a new guide for his future life. But according to the plot and within the Gothic genre framework, Goodman Brown sees no meaning in life after he lost his faith.

It is noteworthy that Hawthorne’s great-grandfather was a judge in the famous Salem Witch Trials. The author deliberately references the atrocities of Goodman Brown’s ancestors to express his remorse for his ancestors’ crimes. Hawthorne’s narrative also uses an additional element of traditional Gothic stories to express the author’s political position and attitude towards the ruling class of the mid-18th century. According to Goodman’s companion, local high society, starting with the governor, was all about evil and depravity.

Interestingly, an allusion to “Young Goodman Brown” is used in the Netflix series “Salem.” There is a scene in the series when one of the main characters, the minister Mather, looking back at his wife Anne Hale, leaves for the forest searching for those who participate in the witch’s ritual. In the series, Mather does not know that Anne is a witch, and he considers her a model of virtue; they have been married for no more than a month. As a result of his wanderings in the forest, Mather loses faith in people, although he retains faith in God.

Overall, the series makes extensive use of Hawthorne’s ideas, criticizing puritanical mores and lifestyles. The series also features Judge Hawthorn’s character, which directly references historical facts and Nathaniel Hawthorn’s literary work. The screen version makes it possible to see characters in great colors in a historical setting, but reading allows one to imagine more individual images and possibly more authentic ones.

Thus, it was discussed how Hawthorne uses Gothic elements in “Young Goodman Brown” short story. The narrative contains all the necessary elements to be considered Gothic fiction, including romance, godly lady, damsel in distress, anti-hero or villain, frightening scenery, omens, and supernatural powers. The author also depicts vicious priests, a stupid older woman, and an evil local person as additional elements. Emotional tension is achieved through an obsessive environment, an ominous course of events, and uncertainty.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Hawthorne’s short stories . Vintage, 2011.

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IvyPanda. (2022, July 8). Gothic Elements in “Young Goodman Brown”. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gothic-elements-in-young-goodman-brown/

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’, Essay Example

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’ is a good example of the old saying things are not always as they seem. The main character, ‘Young Goodman Brown’  refuses to join forces with the devil, however  his decision comes too late. Brown wants to believe in himself and the puritan way, but learns things are not the way they are suppose to be.  Goodman Brown learns about himself, his family, and his fellow puritans and is never able to come to terms with what he learns. Goodman Brown becomes a darkly distrustful man at the end of his life because of his own decisions and conflict with the devil. Further,  his disillusion with his family’s association with evil, and the actions of his fellow puritans engaging with the devil.

At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown makes decisions and questions his own conflict within himself;  this causing  him to become a darkly distrustful man at the end of his life. Brown has an interaction with his wife that shows his own conflict with evil. When Brown encounters a journey through the woods, to a satanic evil ritual, Brown’s wife Faith pleads to him, “Prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed tonight” (465). As Brown departs from Faith, he shows his conflict within himself when he states, “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand” (465)! Goodman wants to stay with Faith, but he just cannot resist his journey through the woods with the devil. Furthermore, Brown has the opportunity to turn down the devil on multiple occasions, but chooses to allow the devil’s words to keep him in the woods. Even though Brown does not follow through with any evil actions, nevertheless  he does have conflict within himself because of the decisions he makes.

The second example of why Goodman Brown becomes a darkly distrustful man is because he learns his ancestors are not the Puritans he once believed them to be.  While on the path with the devil Brown states, “My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him” (466). Goodman Brown is horrified when the devil explains his close connection with Brown’s family. The devil tells him that “I helped your grandfather, the Constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman…” (466). The devil also mentions that “…it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village…” (466). These statements show that the ancestors of Young Goodman Brown has a history of sinful actions. Brown tells the devil that “We are people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (467). Brown must to come to terms that his ancestors are not the Puritans he thinks they are.

Finally, Goodman Brown becomes a darkly distrustful man because he learns of the evil actions of the Puritan society in which he lives and has devoted himself to.  Once Brown reaches his destination he finds that even the good Deacon and the Minister are working on behalf of the devil during the satanic evil ritual. Hawthorne states that Brown “…had no power to retreat one step, not to resist, even in thought, when the minister and good old Deacon Gookin seized his arms and led him to the blazing rock” (472). Brown’s beliefs are shattered when he learns that the Puritans also engage in behaviors that will work in favor of the devil. The society Brown has devoted himself too is not as pure and Christian as he once thought. Hawthorne describes Brown as “ A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become…”(473).  These religious beliefs and societal actions provide no escape for Goodman Brown and haunts him for the rest of his days.

Although Goodman Brown struggles with his views of good and evil, he becomes a darkly distrustful man at the end of his life because of his own actions, the actions of his family, and the actions of members within his society. He particularly distanced himself from both his wife and his grandchildren.  Eventually when he passed away he was accompanied to his grave by his aged wife and grandchildren.  The mood was somber and there was no hopeful sign placed upon his tombstone.  An empty epitaph of an unfulfilled life.

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Young Goodman Brown

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Epiphany in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Home / Essay Samples / Life / Reading Books / Unraveling the Mysteries of Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown

Unraveling the Mysteries of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

• Category: Life , Literature
• Topic: Reading Books , Short Story , Young Goodman Brown

Pages: 4 (1709 words)

Views: 2907

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