Young Goodman Brown
The oppressive setting of "Young Goodman Brown." From the start our good man abandons his faith and enlists himself into a battle lost. His journey, long and winding, leads him off the path off righteousness and into the hands of evil. Along the way every feeble attempt to repent fails under the heavy influence of the night. In his struggle with internal morality the setting Hawthorne created suffocates Goodman's sense of faith and connection to the good will of others. Goodman embarks on his mission at sunset. He symbolically kisses his Faith good bye and under false justification for his endeavor follows what Hawthorne describes as, "a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind." It bestows the impression that Goodman is drawn into the forest and sealed into his fate. The path in this way represents his dynamic state through out the night. The path winds but grows ever wider toward the end. Much like he changes along the way but every attempt to
In a final effort, he looks up to the heavens and offers a prayer but as Hawthorne says, "The blue sky was still visible, except directly overhead, where this black mass of cloud was sweeping in" (638). Furthermore, the man links himself to the Goodman family but provides episodes of wickedness as his testimony of credentials. Now under a false pretense of accomplishment Goodman becomes conscious to an approaching carriage. The snake image applies the intention of the devil by conjuring up a biblical reference of the tempest in Eden. go back becomes thwarted by the narrowness of the path and lack of hope in the gloomy forest behind him. Offering him only one option, to dispel any notions of retreat and press on with the speed and will of the devil. But the congregation emanates some form of magnetism drawing him up to be converted. With the damage already done, this act is too little too late. All the forces the night has been building up on him culminate at this assembly and prevent any attempt physical or mental to avoid the inevitable. Along the road he encounters a man in the core of the forest and the rise of the night. Upon arrival at the massive demonic ceremony he holds onto on final thread of hope, his Faith. In front of him exists evidence of light and people, however frightening they sound, at least he won't be alone. The scene invokes the final stage of his transformation. This cowardice act shows how he no longer has the strength to leave the shadows and embrace of the forest he has fallen into. The manner in which he repeatedly ignored reason to be coerced into such a predicament cannot be fully understood in the context of this story without this element.
Common topics in this essay:
Goodman Brown,
Faith Offering,
Eden Furthermore,
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Acceptance Essays
