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Doubts enter Brown's mind on page 15, as he looks "up at the sky" (which of course is pitch black in the deep forest at night) and doubts whether there is a heaven. But he cries out that he will "stand firm" - so readers know he still hopes to be strong and resist what is happening to him. But this night is not about resistance: "The cry of grief, rage, and terror" went out from him as he believes his lovely wife's pink ribbon indicates that the Devil has taken her. "Come devil; for to thee is this world given."
The story - like Goodman Brown's heart and conscience - is filled with opposites and contrasts; Brown is "maddened with despair" yet he "laughed loud and long"; there is a scream, then laughter; the night is black, yet a pink ribbon flutters down out of the darkness. There is "horrid blasphemy" and yet "laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons."
And this once-nice young man is now a "demoniac," who is "brandishing his staff with frenzied gestured." Hawthorne is filling the night and the story with conflicting, confusing, hideous images of people he knows, even church members - "chaste dames and dewy virgins...men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice...suspected even of horrid crimes" - and through it all, "...where is Faith?" he wondered.
Well, where is "faith" indeed - this is no doubt one of the morality messages given to readers (and to the world) by Hawthorne in this story. Do people have an abiding faith that right will prevail over wrong? Brown (page...
If you drink Coors Light beer, or Bud Light, the ladies will swarm all over you, and you will leave your hapless roommates in the dust; if you use a certain shampoo, you'll be youthfully thin, seductive, and prized by men.
And so, this story - though it doesn't "prove" anything at all - inspires the careful reader to question his or her moral outlook and values. It should cause readers to wonder if, when tempted (whether in a dream or in wide-awake life) to follow the creed, "Evil is the nature of mankind," can any of us resist? And it should also give pause and make one ask: does evil lurk within all institutions, even the Church? It should cause readers to wonder if guilt rules because evil is ever-present; and did Hawthorne write this story to show the wickedness of the Salem witch trials? If readers do not ask such questions, they weren't paying attention to the story.
Reference
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill
Publishing Company, 1968.
Reference
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill
Publishing Company, 1968.
Therefore in the remarkably persistent debate over whether Young Goodman Brown lost faith in human redemption or not, which critics have apparently quarreled over for a century and a half now, this reading takes the side that Brown did in fact retain some core belief that human redemption was possible, or else he would not have been alienated, tried to save the girl or had a family. The resulting message
As soon as that objective was achieved the whole theatrics was withdrawn. On the contrary it could well be nothing but his subconscious that expressed his own desire to see the world according to that perspective in which all the nice people embracing high standards of morality are all but faux. But it could be safe to assume that the whole episode in the forest was the figment of
Young Goodman Brown In the story "Young Goodman Brown," much of the story is centered on Goodman Brown and his struggle to use his faith to suppress his evil impulses and his internal doubts. This struggle is undoubtedly a representation of some of the same struggles that Nathaniel Hawthorne must have faced within his own life in which he embraced the Puritan way of life and its beliefs. Given Hawthorne's background
Goodman's internal conflict was brought about by his realization that he was vulnerable and can easily succumb to the temptations of the devil. Being in the wilderness did not help Goodman prevent this conflict from happening within him, since the wilderness was obviously not a part of society but of nature, therefore, the wilderness only follows the laws of nature and not the laws of humanity. The wilderness acted as
Young Goodman Brown: Faith -- the Wife In the Young Goodman Brown, the two important characters are the protagonist, Brown and his wife Faith. While Faith, the wife, has a small role to play yet her significance increases as we closely study her symbolic use in the story. The story revolves around a man's journey into the heart of darkness to discover the strength of his own faith. He considers himself
Brown sees the initiation of a new "soul" into the devil's dark group, and this symbolizes the disintegration of Brown's own soul. He may not have "danced with the devil" in the forest, but the devil has still corrupted his soul. Another critic notes, "The devil, in the form of doubt and duplicitous thoughts, has done his work within the heart and soul of Goodman Brown, even if the physical