Symbols and Analysis within Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne provides historical, societal, religious, scientific and biographical contexts. The story is set in the period of the Salem Witch Trials in Puritan new-fashioned England. The story describes Browns journey into the depths of the woodland, where he believes that he sees many of the members of his community, including his wife Faith, attending a hellish ceremony. The narrator implies that Brown may be sleeping, but either way the experience was real. It affected Brown very much. The story is often read as Hawthornes condemnation of Puritan ideology, as it proposes that Puritan doctrine could strain so much doubt that believers were doomed to see bad-whether or not it truly existed-in themselves and particularly in others. Within the short story of Young Goodman Brown, one can find evidence that collectiveness in communal life would be considered moral and that personal identity would be considered unmoral in alliance. Eventually it becom es clear that a communalist life style is a necessary evil. Through Goodman Browns discovery of the corruptibility that results from Puritan societys emphasis on public morality, one can piece together the idea that man is a social being and must be included in some type of community whether the community itself is moral or unmoral. When Brown is approached by another traveler with a large round that looks like a snake the devils rung was encircled by a carved serpent. This comes from the biblical symbol of the serpent as an evil demon. In the Book of Genesis, the serpent tempts Eve into eating the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree which defied Gods will. When the devil tells Brown to use the staff travel quicker, Brown takes his advice, just as Eve, he is ... ...and he is upset when the devil tells him that this was not the case. He himself is ashamed to be seen walking in the forest and hides when Goody Cloyse, the minister, and Deacon Gookin pass. The forest is characte rized as devilish, frightening, and dark, and Goodman Brown is comfortable in it only after he has given in to evil.Works CitedFolsom, James K. gays Accidents and Gods Purposes. Multiplicity in Hawthornes Fiction. New Haven College and University Press 1963.Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Literature A Pocket Anthology. Ed. Gwynn, R.S.. Third Edition. New York Longman Publishers 2007. 198-209. Paey, Stephanie. Symbolism and Human Nature in Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown. Yahoo Contributor Network. Apr 8, 2006. http//www.associatedcontent.com/article/27166/symbolism_and_human_nature_in_nathaniel.html