Nathanial Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" As An Anti-Parable
The parable or morality tale is a literary genre that has transcended both culture and time. From Jesus' biblical parables to fables and fairy tales told to children to Russian author Leo Tolstoy's, "How Much Land Does a Man Need," the genre provides a stereotypical characters, symbolic items and events, and a plot centered around the communication of a moral. Like these examples, Nathanial Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" has many of the characteristics of a parable. Even the name "Young Goodman Brown" suggests that the story's main character is intended to symbolize the plight and struggles of every young man. Similarly, Faith is obviously a symbol of the young woman's similar plight in addition to a commentary on the characteristic espoused by her name, and the Devil, along with those Young Goodman brown meets on the way to his deep woods assembly are symbolic representations of those who are stereotypically most pious. The parable-like descriptions of these characters and plot were not conceived by chance. In fact, Deins' article regarding Hawthorne's story, "The Minister's Veil," suggests that the author was familiar with the terms of parables and even penned some whose universal applicability can be considered relevan
In Martin Bidney's article discussing the poetic structure of epiphanies of in Hawthorne's work, the author suggests that in none of his short stories does Hawthorn subscribe to humans' "imaginative impulse to 'transcend,'" or embrace Emersonian or other laws of religion (58). That is, by offering a situation in which simple characters are faced with a complex ending, Hawthorne suggests that one's symbolic characteristics do not necessarily equate a similarly symbolic social or spiritual situation. Hawthorne suggests that she is "aptly named," and the "pink ribbons of her cap" visually support this image (Hawthorne). From Young Goodman Brown to his wife Faith to those he encounters along his path, the characters in "Young Goodman Brown" are only described in enough detail to establish their symbolic importance to the story. Similarly, the devil with his walking stick and deceptive manner is probably the most symbolic character. In addition to his characters, the metaphorical journey that Young Goodman Brown and the devil take through the woods, following the "dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees in the forest" (Hawthorne), is symbolic. This journey along the path in the forest is obviously a metaphor for the journey along the path to temptation, as the more one attempts to resist the more he or she is drawn in. Regardless of the characters and plot lines that seem to suggest a parable or morality story, the plot's conclusion does not suggest a moral or propose the correctness of a certain philosophy or religious belief. By using this structure, Hawthorne attempts to involve the reader in this parable or morality story by making characters so similar to themselves and the plot so metaphorically recognizable that the reader can imagine that he or she is the one walking down the path of temptation with the devil. Unlike, "The Minister's Veil," however, all that seems to be missing in "Young Goodman Brown" is the moral ending. The others that the pair meet-Goody Cloyse, Deacon Gookin, and the minister-are developed only in terms of their symbolic value as those whom Young Goodman Brown had revered as most pious. As Young Goodman Brown becomes more and more hesitant to continue in the woods and several times expresses his desire to return home to Faith, he becomes simultaneously more and more intrigued with the meeting, the forest, and the characters he meets along the way. Although Hawthorne accomplishes his goal of making readers an "integral part" of his story through the parable-like symbolism and metaphor, he also "[challenges] their capacity for faith" by refusing to satisfy their expectations with a traditional moral ending (Ullen 3). Young Goodman Brown's name establishes him as the story's everyman, and although he develops and changes by the end of the novel, those changes are not personal, but are simply the changes reflected by the symbolic encounter he experiences.
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