To Be Evil or Not to Be
TO BE EVIL OR NOT TO BE...IS THAT THE QUESTION?"The man who walks with god always knows in what direction he is going"This quote has a direct irony in correlation to Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of "Young Goodman Brown". Hawthorne's profound short story is a pilgrimage to revelation for one devout Christian man; the idea that mankind, being himself, is not without sin and far from saintly perfection. This discovery deludes the Goodman greatly. As a result, he alienates himself from his wife Faith and the community he resides in. Hawthorne's usage of allegory and symbolism in this story shows how perilous excessive pride, moral superiority, and religious zealotry can be to one's mortal existence. Young Goodman Brown is an upstanding man in the community. The use of allegory is obvious in his name. "Young" symbolizes his youth and immaturity. "Goodman" seems to imply that he represents all that is good in man. His wife is aptly named "Faith", which symbolizes his faith in Christianity and commitment to rectitude. His faith is a little blind though; it borders on zealotry. To believe so blindly in the Bible verbatim, one must know that man's innate nature is to sin. According to the Bi
This leads him to a subsequent lifetime of ignorance, grievance, and hatred. Brown also says to the devil that he "kept covenant" (261) by showing up. "Having refused to look at evil, he is left in a state of moral uncertainty that is worse, in a way, than evil itself" (Adams 165). When Adam and Eve stole from the Tree of Knowledge, they were banished from Eden. Perhaps the good man was awakening to the knowledge of his own moral imperfection. He is so confident of his own virtue that any sinful thought or action is seen as a failure to God. Brown becomes devoid of the capability to understand that to sin is inherent in everyone, most importantly himself. The devil soon tells him to turn back lest his faith be harmed, but Brown unshaken, refuses. Hawthorne's usage of lightness and darkness show there is no light without dark, no love without hate, no saint without sin. Unwilling to accept the inherent impurity inside him, the good man decides to try and literally face it head on. He doesn't realize that one can still have faith while sinning; it is just a matter of being human, and humanity throughout history has shown this very clearly. He refuses to acknowledge the faults in others and himself and directs his anger upon them because of this, and it results in him becoming a bitter old man. His immaturity and selfish pride won't allow quiet acquiescence. At Brown's confrontation with the devil, the devil says to him that he is late. Brown's acceptance of the staff gives him with "the instinct that guides mortal man to evil" (266).
Common topics in this essay:
Brown Faith,
Goodman Brown,
Jesus Christ,
Faith Brown,
Eden Brown's,
Goodman Brown's,
Goodman Ye,
Brown Hawthorne's,
Patricia Marks,
Faith God,
goodman brown,
hawthorne's tale,
pink ribbons,
brown meets devil,
faith's pink,
marks 1613,
faith faith,
adam eve,
knowledge own,
devil devil,
love hate,
faith's pink ribbons,
|
Acceptance Essays
