2304 words 718 words An Analysis of Theme in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his short story “Young Goodman Brown,” details the frailty of human morality when he has the story’s protagonist (Goodman Brown) journey through the forest on All Hollows Eve to witness/participate in a witches’ Sabbath just to see what evil/sin is all about. During Young Goodman Brown’s journey, his faith is shaken as he witnesses those he respects the most also journeying to and participating in the witch’s Sabbath. In “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates that an idealistic faith in our fellow man’s righteousness could lead to disappointment, distrust, and fear. [tags: Young Goodman Brown] 1702 words Young Goodman Brown's Moral Decline - Young Goodman Brown's Moral Decline The symbolism of Young Goodman Brown’s moral decline bypasses the conscious, logical mind and is located in a more dreamlike process. It is interpreted to show that no one truly falls into the category of good or evil. Hawthorne’s use of symbolism shows the neutrality between good and evil and appearance and reality so that the reader is unable to comprehend the difference. Throughout the story, good and evil are described through a bombardment of metaphors. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 1574 words 1640 words Symbolism in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, “Young Goodman Brown,” is rich in symbolism, as this essay will amply illustrate. Hugo McPherson in “Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology” explains how the author’s “inner drama” may be expressed in his symbolism: The imaginative foundation of a writer’s work may well be an inner drama or ‘hidden life’ in which his deepest interests and conflicts are transformed into images or characters; and through the symbolic play of these creations, he comes to ‘know’ the meaning of his experience; the imaginative structure becomes a means of reaching truth. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] Ambiguity in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Ambiguity in “Young Goodman Brown” There is no end to the ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”; this essay hopes to explore this problem. Peter Conn in “Finding a Voice in an New Nation” makes a statement regarding Hawthorne’s ambiguity: Almost all of Hawthorne’s finest stories are remote in time or place. The glare of contemporary reality immobillized his imagination. He required shadows and half-light, and he sought a nervous equilibrium in ambiguity. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 1062 words 1515 words 3033 words 2012 words Symbolism and Irony in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Symbolism and Irony in Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne's " Young Goodman Brown " is the story of a young man faced with the reality that evil is a part of human nature. The story illustrates how naiveté can drive a person to lunacy. Young Goodman Brown, who symbolizes that Puritan " every man, " is shocked when he sees respected clergymen and women of his village at the devil's communion. His disbelief that it is normal and acceptable to be intrinsically evil causes him to live a life of despair. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 859 words The Style of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - “Young Goodman Brown” – the Style Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty and E. Hudson Long in “The Social Criticism of a Public Man” state: “Beyond his remarkable sense of the past, which gives a genuine ring to the historical reconstructions, beyond his precise and simple style, which is in the great tradition of familiar narrative, the principal appeal of his work is in the quality of its allegory” (49). The style found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” contains the features quoted in the above passage, as well as many others – which will be discussed in this essay. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 1981 words Irony in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Irony in “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale “Young Goodman Brown” is replete, is saturated, with irony. This essay will amply illustrate the validity of this statement. At the outset of the story a young Puritan husband departs at sunset from his young Puritan wife, “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.” The author says that Faith is “aptly named,” an ironic statement since she, later in the evening essays for high school scholarships examples, is being received into the assembly of devil-worshippers as a new convert to the evil group. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 1700 words 746 words The Deeper Meanings of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - The Deeper Meanings of Young Goodman Brown "Young Goodman Brown," a story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, should be interpreted on a psychoanalytical level rather than a religious one. It is my observation that "Young Goodman Brown" may very well be the first published work alluding to divisions of the mind and personality theory. Although religion is a direct theme throughout the story, "Young Goodman Brown" appears to be an allegory with deeper meanings. To explore properly my position concerning the dynamics of "Young Goodman Brown," it is necessary to understand Freud's structural model. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] Sin in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Sin in Young Goodman Brown "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an excellent short story from the 1800's. In this short story Hawthorne's main character, Goodman Brown, goes out into the woods with the devil and is tempted by the devil each step of the way. In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne uses characters who are leaders of their community and symbolistic settings to show that despite how prominent a person is he or she is capable of evil under the right conditions. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] The Dual Nature of Man in Young Goodman Brown - The Dual Nature of Man in "Young Goodman Brown" In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne tells the story of one man’s loss of faith in the human race. As Goodman Brown travels into the woods one night, he is sees the innermost secrets and desires of the people he once placed upon a pedestal. He sees that humans are evil by nature, and this causes him to lose faith in his fellow man. By viewing the story as an allegory, the journey into the woods is associated with the Puritan concept of justification. [tags: Young Goodman Brown] 2635 words Symbolism in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" the use of symbols contributes to the development of the story's plot. Symbolism is used as a means to uncover the truth about the characters. The author, in an attempt to manifest the moral aspects of his society, uses many kinds of symbols to support his points. When analyzing an allegory like "Young Goodman Brown", the reader must realize that the story is in its entirety i need help writing a paper, a symbol. Hawthorne, through his writing is trying to convey the contradicting aspects of the Puritan ideology. [tags: Young Goodman Brown Essays] Losing Faith in Young Goodman Brown - Losing Faith in Young Goodman Brown In “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne cheap dissertation help, Goodman Brown is tempted by the evil that surrounds him and he must keep his faith in order to resist it. The use of the events, characters, and symbols throughout the story show that evil is present in the people of the town in which Goodman Brown lives and how Goodman Brown’s faith in them is lost. Humanity is basically flawed and people struggle with making the choice between good and evil. Throughout the story different topics for essays, Goodman Brown is worried about the idea of the townspeople finding out about his meeting with the devil. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 509 words 633 words Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown and Transcendentalism - “Young Goodman Brown” and Transcendentalism A reading of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” indicates that the author adheres to some, but not all of the Transcendentalist beliefs of the nineteenth century, especially in its symbolism and in its emphasis on personal responsibility. Morse Peckham in “The Development of Hawthorne’s Romanticism”explains some aspects of Hawthorne’s Transcendentalist beliefs: But another theme begins to appear, a matter which now involved Hawthorne in the gravest difficulties, the theme of American simplification, that notion that was so common among American Romantic Transcendentalists; not only is world redemption possible. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 481 words 700 words 2768 words The Ambiguity in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - The Ambiguity in “Young Goodman Brown” The literary critics agree that there is considerable ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.” This essay intends to illustrate the previous statement and to analyze the cause of this ambiguity. Henry James in Hawthorne, when discussing “Young Goodman Brown” comments on how imaginative it is, then mentions how allegorical Hawthorne is, and how allegory should be expressed clearly: I frankly confess that I have, as a general thing, but little enjoyment of it, and that it has never seemed to me to be, as it were, a first-rate literary form. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 4245 words 857 words Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne published the tale of “Young Goodman Brown,” a tale that illustrates many configurations of symbolism used to leave the reader planting the pieces together through his characteristics of detail and imagery. Hawthorne’s prime analogy expressed throughout this tale is the loss of vulnerability and pureness when reaching maturity. The setting of Young Goodman Brown is in Salem sample website analysis essay, where the Salem witch craft trials were held in the 1600’s. This is the first symbol Hawthorne uses throughout the story as a test of who is innocent at this present time and who is not just as they did during the witch trials. [tags: Young Goodman Brown, 2014] 3165 words 1749 words 1709 words 2293 words 2796 words Puritan Depravity and Distrust in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Puritan Depravity and Distrust in Young Goodman Brown Puritan doctrine taught that all men are totally depraved and require constant self-examination to see that they are sinners and unworthy of God's Grace. Because man had broken the Covenant of Works when Adam had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, God offered a new covenant to Abraham's people which held that election to Heaven was merely a possibility. In the Puritan religion, believers dutifully recognized the negative aspects of their humanity rather than the gifts they possessed. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] Tritt’s View of Young Goodman Brown - Tritt’s View of “Young Goodman Brown” In the article, “‘Young Goodman Brown’ and the Psychology of Projection”, Michael Tritt critically analyzes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” to construct the process of how Hawthorne regards Goodman Brown’s behavior. Tritt examines the phenomenon of projection in psychology and believes that “Brown’s compulsive condemnation of others, along with his consistent denial of his own culpability, illustrates a classically defined case of projection” (116). [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 2496 words 3380 words Good and Evil in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Good and Evil in Young Goodman Brown In "Young Goodman Brown." Nathaniel Hawthorne considers the question of good and evil, suggesting that true evil is judging and condemning others for sin without looking at one's own sinfulness. He examines the idea that sin is part of being human and there is no escape from it. Of the many symbols he uses in this story, each has a profound meaning. They represent good and evil in the constant struggle of a young innocent man whose faith is being tested. As the story begins, Young Goodman Brown bids farewell to his young wife "Faith, as [she] was aptly named" (211). [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 2423 words Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Young Goodman Brown In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of man's inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthorne's deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of humanity and in the existence of moral absolutes. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] The Powerful Settings of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - The Powerful Settings of Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown Setting can be a powerful literary device, and Nathaniel Hawthorne wields it to great effect. There are four major settings in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and they all take place in Salem. This essay is an examination of those settings and their effects. The tale opens in a doorway as the reader is presented with two lovers saying goodbye. The two lovers are Goodman Brown, who is eager to leave for his adventure; and his wife Faith Brown, who is desperately trying to dissuade him from leaving the house tonight. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] 631 words Symbolism in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in “Stories Derived from New England Living” state: “Hawthorne’s unique gift was for the creation of strongly symbolic stories which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature” (31). It is the purpose of this essay to explore the main symbolism contained within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale need help with homework, “Young Goodman Brown.” Stanley T. Williams in “Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind” states that the author was forever “perfecting his delicate craft of the symbol, of allegory good example of college admission essay, of the few themes and oft repeated character-types which were to haunt forever the minds of those who know New England” (42). [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] Point of View of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Point of View of “Young Goodman Brown” Point of view is “one of the most prominent and persistent concerns in modern treatments of the art of prose fiction” (Abrams 231). This essay will treat of how the story is told in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” what type of narrator tells it, and through whose perception the reader receives the tale – in other words, the point of view of this short story (Axelrod 336). In this story the mode or point of view by which the author presents the characters, dialogue, actions, etc. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] Ambiguity in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown - Ambiguity in “Young Goodman Brown” Peter Conn in “Finding a Voice in an New Nation” makes a statement regarding Hawthorne’s ambiguity: “Almost all of Hawthorne’s finest stories are remote in time or place. The glare of contemporary reality immobillized his imagination. He required shadows and half-light, and he sought a nervous equilibrium in ambiguity” (82). There is considerable ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and this essay will examine this and its causes. [tags: Young Goodman Brown YGB] As the times have passed the story too has grown in stature. Its first part is considered to be a portrayal of the usual life where we see the protagonist leading a regular life with his life. At this particular moment he is in total harmony with the village and is leading his life with Faith. However, then comes the second segment which is almost dreamlike, the impact of which we see on the protagonist in their and final part of the story. Modern critics have interpreted “Young Goodman Brown” in many ways. The story as a critique of society stands out to some. To psychologically inclined readers, Brown journeys into the psyche. The village represents the superego, whereas the forest and darkness become equivalents of the Freudian id. The entire story becomes a portrait of one human mind that discovers the usually suppressed and disquieting reality of animal instinct. Gender-conscious readers might see Brown’s problem as an inability to accommodate to women as complex individuals. He cannot reconcile the “red” fact of menstrual cycles with the “white” of hallowed motherhood. Faith’s own reality is “pink,” a color that for Brown can only mean a tainting of purity. Brown either “shrank from the bosom of Faith” for her supposedly evil nature or indulged his sexual appetites—since they do have a number of children. Readers may view “Young Goodman Brown” as literary self-revelation, because to write the story, Hawthorne had to distance himself, to observe the human lot just as Brown did. All these perspectives testify to the richness of the story. And that is how he lived his life after leaving faith behind and becoming a bitter, dry and cynical man. On the day he died, “they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom” (13) as only good souls deserve such a thing. He gets nothing. Poor Young Goodman Brown! When he comes back in the morning, he cannot see Deacon Gookin the same way as before. “Old Deacon Gookin was at domestic worship, and the holy words of his prayer were heard through the open window. ‘What God doth the wizard pray to?’ quoth Goodman Brown” (12). Goodman Brow thinks that sermons writing application letters sample, wholly words, now do not belong in Deacon Gookin’s mouth since he knows the truth; he knows that the deacon does not really pray for God. When he starts off his journey, Young Goodman Brown thinks highly of his church; he is a man of faith, a religious man who goes to church, the meeting house. When that night he hears “a hymn, rolling solemnly from a distance with the weight of many voices” (9), he recognizes it. “He knew the tune; it was a familiar one in the choir of the village meeting house” (9). Later on, he can hear it better and realizes that the “slow and mournful strain, such as pious love” (10) is “joined to words which expressed all that our nature can conceive of sin, and darkly hinted at far more” (10). Now that sacred music sounds like a “dreadful anthem” (10) to Goodman Brown. When he starts off his journey, Young Goodman Brown thinks highly of his Faith personal statement editing, his young wife of three months, his “blessed angel on earth” (3) who shows a very light side by wearing and “letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap” (3). He exchanges “a parting kiss with his young wife” (3) before departing on his journey into the darkness. That troubled night, he sees Faith among the wicked. What can she be doing there? When he starts off his journey, Young Goodman Brown thinks highly of his family, a traditional and religious family, “a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs” (4). But then, the devil highlights some events that do not put his ancestors in a good light. At first he refuses to believe the wickedness side of his ancestors when the devil reveals to him that night that he, the devil help with kids homework, helped his grandfather “when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem” (5) and helped his father “to set fire to an Indian village, in King Phillip’s war” (5). At that point, Goodman Brown believes his family “are people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (5), he refuses to see what the devil is trying to show him. But the more he learns, the more that belief is decimated. When Goodman returns back to the village he thinks he is better than the rest and judges everyone instantaneously. He comes to the termination that he is the only person that is not a devil worshiper. Goodman Brown is completely blindsided when he awakens form his dream. As he roams the eerie streets of Salem he is unable to distinguish his dreams from reality. He is unable to cope with the discovery that the potential for evil resides in everybody. What makes the experience worse is that everyone that is important to Goodman Brown is in the dream. These people have been living a lie and are complete strangers to him. The rest of his life is ruined because of his inability to face this truth and live with it among other things. The dream, has planted the seed of doubt in Brown's mind, which consequently cuts him off from his fellow man and leaves him alone and depressed. From a ethical viewpoint, Young Goodman Brown is tattered between something that was so real that it left him utterly at a loss as to whether to disbelieve it or not. His entire world has been stunned. Every esteemed person he had ever met his entire life has just been exposed for something other than what he was lead to believe they were. His wife may or may not be implicated in something that he wants no part of. Not only is his faith broken but he no longer trusts the ones around him. He�s caught in an emotional and illogical dilemma because he doesn�t know who he can turn to or if he can even believe what he has seen. The fact that he can�t distinguish his dream from reality is quite disturbing. He doesn�t want to speak of it and be called crazy for the possibility of it all being a dream. In the end he lived a long, lonely life, no one even gave him an epitaph on his tombstone. Goodman Brown was a man shattered by his own fascination. He lived a unhappy life as an outcome of the guilt he felt for embarking on an evil journey in his dreams; which resulted in his doubt of everyone and a lack of trust for individuals in his community, humanity and himself. What would life be like if he�d hadn�t had the dream? The only way Goodman Brown would have been able to save his faith would have been to never go on board on the dark path. He finds comfort in the fact that he can make it up to faith when he returns. When Goodman Brown at last comes opposite with the devil, he states that the cause for him being late was because "Faith kept me back awhile". This sincere statement has two meanings since the encounter with his wife prohibited him from being prompt for his encounter with the devil, but his belief to God also deferred his meeting. Goodmans fight between good and evil is even greater than he realized. “On he flew, among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy significance of study in thesis, and now shouting such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him. The fiend in his own shape is less hideous, than when he rages in the breast of man" (276). “my mind is made up. Not another step will I budge on this errand. What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil, when I thought she was going to Heaven! Is that any reason why I should quit my dear Faith, and go after her?”(274) Below you will find three outstanding thesis statements / paper topics for “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne that can be used as essay starters. All five incorporate at least one of the themes found in “Young Goodman Brown” and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements for “Young Goodman Brown” offer a summary of different elements that could be important in an essay but you are free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne at the bottom of the page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent paper. A particular rock bore a “resemblance to either an altar or a pulpit" (274). Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #1: The Theme of Duplicity in “Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #2: The Meaning and Importance of Names in “Young Goodman Brown" Martin, Terence. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Short Story Criticism. Vol 3. Detriot: Gale, 1989. Hodara, Alan. “Some Thoughts On Young Goodman Brown.” Most criticism and reflection of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown centers on a good versus evil theme. Critics also debate interpretations of the main character’s consciousness; is Brown awake or dreaming. What is certain is that he lives and dies in pain because his belief in his righteousness isolates him from his community. It is also certain that Hawthorne’s interpretation of Brown’s “mid-life crisis” has ambiguity and leaves a reader with many different feelings about what and why certain things have happened. Hawthorne’s use of symbolism in his allegorical tale Young Goodman Brown causes the main character’s revelations about the sin within his community, his family and himself. A good man in Hawthorne’s day was a person of proper lineage. This very lineage Hawthorne capitalizes on as he begins the goodman’s conference with the devil. The Goodman claims that he is from a family of upright and moral men that have never and would never go into the forest on a trip such as the one he is participating. “Hawthorne depends upon this defense to criticize the patriarchal lineage upon which a person places his worth” (Segura). The devil disproves Brown’s theory by stating that all of Brown’s ancestors accompanied him and tortured women in Salem or burned to the ground Indian villages. Afterwards the devil and his ancestors would go for a friendly walk. With this, Hawthorne has mocked the institution of Young Goodman Brown’s lineage and his society’s view of honor by stating his family’s past. The question remains whom or what is the devil. If the devil points to the painful truth of the past and the reality of people in the present, is this the allegorical face of evil (Segura)? Perhaps Hawthorne playing upon the reader’s disposition to see the devil as evil and stand next to the “good man” and his fate?
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