Young Goodman Brown and Disillusionment in Faith
Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown" is about a young man's disillusionment in faith. In her essay, "The Devil's Tricks on Young Goodman Brown" Nora Davis claims that Brown's disillusionment in faith is caused by his pride. Brown does not trust his faith; he starts doubting it because of what he sees when he is with the devil. On the other hand in the essay, "The Path towards Evil" John Goodham states that "Young Goodman Brown's" main theme is Brown's disillusionment in faith by recognizing evil in himself and others. I tend to agree with John Goodham's view because the short story contains a great deal of criticism towards strict religious values and Puritanism.The argument in "Devilīs Tricks in Young Goodman Brown" focuses in the fact that by trusting the evidence of his own senses Brown submits to devilīs trickery and loses his faith. Nora Davis states that when left alone Brown has only himself to depend on. Davis pays special attention to Hawthorneīs language which makes it doubtful whether what happened is true or not in other words is the Devil only manipulating Brown. Davis points as evidence the fact that when Brown starts to hear the vo
John Goodham claims in the essay "The Path toward Evil" that Brown is an innocent character who becomes disillusioned by the shock of seeing evil in himself and in others. " He is alone in the forest and imagining the things that seem to be happening around him. Brown is in the beginning an innocent character, who believes in good in himself and in others. Goodham concludes that the path symbolises a "dark journey of his (Brown) to meet the deep mystery of original sin" (The Path toward Evil). " (Young Goodman Brown, 584) Hawthorne is not only making mocking parody but he also criticises heavy-handedly Puritan values by paralleling the Devil's communion with Puritan church services when he describes the communion's priest, "With reverence be it spoken, the apparition bore no slight similitude, both in garb and manner, to some grave divine of the New England churches. I agree with John Goodham with his opinion that "Young Goodman Brown" is about Brown's disillusionment in faith, in strict puritan values. This becomes clear when Brown runs through the forest after he hears Faith's voice, "In truth, all through the forest, there could be nothing more frightful than the figure of Goodman Brown. Then he discovers evil within himself when he is attracted to the devilīs communion. In conclusion Hawthorne is not critical of Brown's disillusionment but his Puritan faith and beliefs. Goodham concludes that the path stands for Brownīs loss of his narrow-minded Puritan values. Hawthorne have not been critical towards religion in general, however, he certainly is critical towards the religious beliefs of the New England Puritans. " (Young goodman Brown, 583) Another instance where Hawthorne is acidicly critical of Puritan hypocrisy is when the Devil claims that that he is well acquainted with Brown's father, grandfather and the people of his community. In my opinion Brown simply goes mad. In Davisī opinion Brown deserves his downfall because he is so easily led by the Devil.
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Acceptance Essays
