The story begins at sunset in Salem, Massachusetts, as young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife of three months, for an unknown errand in the forest. Faith pleads with her husband to stay with her but he insists the journey into the forest must be completed that night. In the forest he meets a man, dressed in a similar manner to himself and bearing a resemblance to himself. The man carries a black serpent-shaped staff. The two encounter Mistress Cloyse in the woods who complains about the need to walk and, evidently friendly with the stranger, accepts his snake staff and flies away to her destination.
Other townspeople inhabit the woods that night, traveling in the same direction as Goodman Brown. When he hears his wife's voice in the trees, he calls out to his Faith, but is not answered. He then seems to fly through the forest, using a maple staff the stranger fashioned for him, arriving at a clearing at midnight to find all the townspeople assembled. At the ceremony (which may be a witches' sabbath) carried out at a flame-lit rocky altar, the newest converts are brought forth—Goodman Brown and Faith. They are the only two of the townspeople not yet initiated to the forest rite. Goodman Brown calls to heaven to resist and instantly the scene vanishes.
Arriving back at his home in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain whether the previous night's events were real or a dream, but he is deeply shaken, with the belief he lived in a Christian community distorted. He loses his faith in his wife Faith; he loses his faith in humanity. He lives his life an embittered and suspicious cynical man, wary of everyone around him, including his wife Faith. Hawthorne concludes the story by writing: \"And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave...they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom Background
The story is set during the Salem witch trials, at which Hawthorne's great-great-grandfather John Hathorne was a judge. According to American literature scholar James Mellow, Hawthorne was plagued by guilt by his ancestor's role, wrote the story to vindicate his grandfather by featuring two fictional victims of the witch trials who were witches and not innocent victims of the witch-hunt.[1] It was also this ancestral guilt that inspired Hawthorne to change his family's name, adding a \"w\" in his early twenties, shortly after graduating from college.[2]
In his writings Hawthorne questioned established thought—most specifically New
England Puritanism and contemporary Transcendentalism. In \"Young Goodman Brown\as with much of his other writing, he exposes ambiguity.[3] The plot and textual references in \"Young Goodman Brown\" reveal the Puritans as being like \"a city upon a hill\" as John Winthrop, a founder of Puritanism, said, and wanting to be seen that way as good, holy men. However, their doctrine teaches that all men are inherently evil and they strive to cause each person to come to terms with this and realize their sinful nature. This hypocrisy that Hawthorne presents in his story is how he reflects on the hypocritical teachings of the Puritans. They taught that man was inherently evil in nature much in accordance to Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Analysis
Themes and style
\"Young Goodman Brown\" is often characterized as an allegory about the recognition of evil and depravity as the nature of humanity.[4] Much of Hawthorne's fiction, such as The Scarlet Letter, is set in 17th-century colonial America, particularly Salem, Massachusetts.[5] In order to convey the setting in his work, he used literary techniques such as specific diction, or colloquial expressions, as in \"Young Goodman Brown\" in which language of the period is used to enhance the setting. Hawthorne gives the characters, specific names that depict abstract pure & wholesome beliefs such as; Young Goodman Brown, and Faith. The characters names' ultimately serve as a paradox in the conclusion of the story. The inclusion of this technique was to provide a definite contrast and irony. Hawthorne aims to critique the ideals of Puritan society and express his disdain for it thus illustrating the difference between the appearance of those in society and their true identities.[6]
Literary scholar Walter Shear writes that Hawthorne structured the story in three parts. The first part shows Goodman Brown at his home in his village integrated in his society. The second part of the story is an extended dreamlike sequence in which Goodman Brown is in the forest for a single night. The third part shows his return to society and to his home, yet he is so profoundly changed that in rejecting the greeting of his wife Faith, Hawthorne shows Goodman Brown has lost faith and rejected the tenets of his Puritan world during the course of the night.[7]
The story is about Goodman Brown's loss of faith as one of the elect, writes Jane Eberwein in \"My Faith is Gone!\". Believing himself to be of the elect, Goodman Brown falls into self-doubt after three months of marriage which to him represents sin and depravity as opposed to salvation. His journey to the forest is symbolic of Christian \"self-exploration\" in which doubt immediately supplants faith. At the end of the forest experience he loses his wife Faith, his faith in salvation, and his faith in human goodness.[
Character analysis
The character of Goodman Brown represents that of the common everyday man. His journey through the forest compares to the journey every individual takes to realize their faith and recognize evil. His character shows both innocence and corruptibility through the change of his belief from the pure goodness of human nature to the recognition of the
potential evil within all mankind. At the beginning of the story Goodman Brown believes in the goodness of his father and grandfather, as well as the Christian nature of Goody Cloyse, the minister and Deacon Gooking. As he progresses through his journey he learns that each of these figures are associated with or acquaintances of the old man, likely representing the devil himself. Goodman Browns lack of true religion however wasn’t revealed until the devil indicates at the ceremony that Faith, too, is corruptible.
Faith as her name suggests, serves as another symbolic idea and appears to be the most pure-hearted character in the story. Her righteousness serves as a symbol for good, purity, and the faith and devotion Goodman Brown has in God. Their newlywed status serves as a symbol for he reader to realize his relationship has not yet been established with faith or God. When questioning the goodness of people, Goodman Brown clings to Faith as justification to resist temptation.
Hawthorne portrays the devil as an ordinary man to suggest that every man (Goodman Brown) has the capacity for evil. Through his physical characteristics, it is interpreted that this man is no different from any other man in Salem Village. This suggests that the devil is simply created as an embodiment of all the worst parts of man. Goody Cloyse was the name of an actual woman who was tried and convicted of witchcraft during the historical Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Hawthorne uses her as a citizen of Salem who teaches the bible to the youth. Although seemingly religious and pure, she secretly attends witch magic ceremonies in the forest. The Minister is a respectable figure as the minister of Salem, who is soon indicated as a follower of the devil. Deacon Gooking is another character who is thought to be very honorable and religious. Although he is a member of the clergy in Salem, he appears to be a follower of the devil. Symbols
The Devils staff is used to represent temptation as shown in the book of Genesis. The biblical serpent temped Eve to defy God and eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. Similarly, Hawthorne used he serpent on the old mans staff as a symbol of an evil demon. Like Eve, Brown is condemned by his temptation when he chose to pick up the staff for a faster travel. This ultimately represents his loss of innocence towards temptation and curiosity.
Faiths pink ribbon is used throughout the story as a symbol of innocence and purity. Early on, Hawthorne mentions the ribbon several times during Goodman Brown and Faith’s conversation. This implied a happy, youthful ambiance of Faith and their newly found marriage. When Brown was hiding in the forest and began to doubt the goodness of the pure people he knew, the ribbon came fluttering down. This suggest that the one pure and holy thing to him, faith, had fallen into the devils realm. When reunited with Faith at the end of the story, Brown notices that she was again wearing the pink ribbon. Thus casting doubts on Goodman Brown about whether or not his experience was real. Critical response and impact
Herman Melville said \"Young Goodman Brown\" was \"as deep as Dante\" and Henry James called it a \"magnificent little romance\".[9] Hawthorne himself believed the story made no more impact than any of his tales. Years later he wrote, \"These stories were published... in
Magazines and Annuals, extending over a period of ten or twelve years, and comprising the whole of the writer's young manhood, without making (so far as he has ever been aware) the slightest impression on the public.\"[10] Contemporary critic Edgar Allan Poe disagreed, referring to Hawthorne's short stories as \"the products of a truly imaginative intellect\".[11] One of Hawthorne's good friends, Herman Melville comments on the underlying depth of the story \"you would of course suppose that it was a simple little tale, intended as a supplement to 'Goody Two Shoes' Whereas it is as deep as Dante.\"1 [12] Moderns scholars and critiques generally view the short story as an allegorical tale written to expose the contradictions in place concerning Puritan beliefs and societies. However, there have been many other interpretations of the text including those who believe Hawthorne sympathizes with Puritan beliefs. Author Harold Bloom comments on the variety of explanations; \"Young Goodman Brown has been presented as an allegorical revelation of human depravity, as a symbolic study of sexual initiation, as an inquiry into generational conflict, as a demonstration of Puritan hypocrisy, as evidence of Hawthorn's sympathy towards Puritan society, and even just as an artfully designed short story making no essential reference beyond itself\".[13]
Themes
Theme 1 How the Puritans’ strict moral code and overemphasis on the sinfulness of humankind foster undue suspicion and distrust. Goodman Brown’s experience in the forest—whether dream or reality—causes him to lose his faith in others and die an unhappy man. Note the last words of the story: “They carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.”
Theme 2 The realization that evil can infect people who seem upright. Goodman Brown discovers that even highly respected people in Salem fall victim to the forces of darkness. Today–when corporate executives cheat stockholders, politicians lie to win elections, and members of the clergy defraud their congregations–this theme still resonates.
Theme 3 One man’s virtue is another man’s sin, and vice versa. “There is no good on earth,” Goodman Brown observes, “and sin is but a name.” In other words, whether an action is good or evil appears to depend on who is viewing the action. The zealotry of a Puritan punishing a wrongdoer—like Goodman Brown’s grandfather lashing “a Quaker woman so smartly through the streets”—might be praised as a just act by another Puritan but condemned as an inhumane act by non-Puritans. These opposing views of the same action seem to confuse Brown; he is like a modern man who is told that “everything goes” or that one moral position is as valid as another, opposing one. There are, of course, absolute moral values which should prevail for everyone, regardless of their religion or lack of it. For example, murder is always wrong; child abuse is always wrong. However, the devil figure succeeds in confounding Brown on what is truly right and what is truly wrong.
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