YGB

             Young Goodman Brown: The Naive Self Righteous Puritan
             "Young Goodman Brown," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, exhibits the underlying personalities of a small Puritan town set in Salem, Massachusetts, home of the Salem Witch Trials. This short story was first published in The New-England Magazine in April of 1835. The protagonist, Goodman Brown, is a quiet "god-fearing" character, who undertakes a journey of discovery that leaves him frustrated and miserable. He learns that the whole town is motivated by evil. Leslie Gregory author of Major Images in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" believes that "Brown has been led step by step to mistrust all he had believed in"(Gregory1). Symbolism, Irony, and Metaphors are used to uncover the truth of this small community showing that nothing is as it seems.
             Most people have someone who is very close to them. To Young Goodman Brown has wife faith is just that. She symbolizes Brown's innocent faith in church, his community, and the townspeople. She also symbolizes the innocence concerning the establishment of their marriage. "Brown identifies the shared passion of [his] marriage as the source of his guilt complex"(Newman 343). One fateful night Brown's innocent faith is tested as he journeys to a meeting that could change his life forever. Newman believes that "the journey into the forest is an inward journey into the blackness of Brown's soul"(Newman 344). On his way to the meeting in the woods, he meets a stranger who says to him "You are late". Goodman Brown replies, "Faith kept me back awhile" which signifies his unwillingness to embark on this journey. Brown's visitor symbolizes the devil who is on the path to make sure Brown does not change his mind about the journey. Newman suggests that "the devil signifies Brown's darker, doubting side"(Newm...

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YGB. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 09:45, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/20360.html