Young Goodman Brown - A Thematic Illustration :: essays research papers

Nathaniel Hawthorne comes from an interesting background. He was born in Salem and later returned to continue there. He was a descendant of William Hathorne, a puritan judge who persecuted Quakers, and privy Hathorne, a puritan magistrate who participated in the Salem witch trials. Hawthornes kinship to these both notables of puritan hi legend makes the story "Young Goodman Brown," all the more interesting. Hawthorne alludes to conjuration Hathorne when he writes about Goodman Browns "fellow traveler" commenting on Browns grandfather, who "lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem.""Young Goodman Brown" is about i mans journey through the woods with the devil and his encounters that make him doubt his religion in himself, his wife, and the community in which they reside. The theme of this story is that beyond every intangible evil, the evil that men do is ultimately the more damaging. end-to-end the story Hawthorne uses s etting and characters as symbols representing different aspects of good and evil and he uses the plot to develop the eventual win-over of evil over "Goodman" Browns "Faith."Not astonishingly "Young Goodman Brown" takes place in Salem during the puritan era. The story begins with Goodman Brown departing from his wife in the village to meet with and take a stroll in the woodwind instrument with a "fellow-traveler" the devil.The contrast between the wood and the townspeople is symbolic. On the outside, it seems akin a normal, religious puritan village, merely when one goes in deep, one sees there is a center of dourness. The deep, dark forest in the puritan town represents the internal evil of the villagers. The forest is viewed as mysterious, unknown and inhabited by the devil, while the town is amiable safe and where his wife, "Faith," is. During Goodman Browns walk through the "dark forest," he sees and learns that many of his me ntors and relatives crap chosen the path of evil. The forest is where all the respectable people of the town go to vent their evil while outside of the forest, they seem like they are pure and good. Hawthorne adds to the symbolism by personifying the trees "which barely stood aside to allow the narrow path creep through" as Brown "walks on board a dreary road." Hawthorne uses the characters of the story also to represent good and evil. The names of the main character and his wife are ironic. Faith, in the literal scene of the story, is Goodman Browns wife.