MLA Research Paper

Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Young Goodman Brown" is offered as an allegory of the hazard inherent in leaving behind one's Christian belief, even for one evening. As such, the article wholeheartedly overflows with symbolism. (Hawthorne, 13) There is intentionally not a large deal of subtlety in these emblems, as Hawthorne apparently likes them to be conspicuous to even the smallest attentive reader.

 

The Young Goodman Brown

A thoughtful reading of the article, although, especially the rather melancholy last couple of paragraphs, discloses deeper shades of significance and irony than one might primarily expect. Before discovering these intriguing depths, I will recount Hawthorne's use of hitting emblems to show the story's more superficial meaning. In the first paragraph, we discover that Goodman Brown is going away from his wife, Faith, to spend a evening in the woods. (Hawthorne, 13) Her title is no misfortune, as she will comprise Brown's devout conviction all through the tale. She calls for him to stay with her, but Brown is very resolute to proceed his own way. (Hawthorne, 13)

It is sunset as he groups off, and the night will get gradually darker up until the climactic view of the article, just as the lightweight of God gradually fades from Brown's heart. He rambles away into the woods, whose dark, tangled modes and poor visibility comprise the solitude and disarray of the Godless life. There he encounters the devil, whose persona is broadcast to the book reader through the snakelike employees he carries. Hawthorne recounts the devil as looking rather alike to Brown him, and of having the air of somebody who would be absolutely at alleviate in effectively any position or company. This is telling, for Christian, and especially Puritan, (Miller, 119) theology emphasizes that the devil's natural domain is here in the genuine world, and that he can therefore effortlessly corrupt any individual who develops too adhered to life here on the material plane. There is furthermore very dark irony to be discovered in this primary dialogue between Brown and the devil. When the devil inquires why Brown is late, Brown answers that "Faith kept me back awhile" (404).

Brown now makes a rather weak try to turn away from sin and come back to Faith. The devil urges him onward, although, telling him "We are but a little way in the plantation, yet" (405), and assuring him that there will still be the opening to turn back after hearing the devil out. Brown's Puritan belief, although, should recall him that even the smallest flirtation with the ungodly life is perilous. Brown regrettably seems to currently be in the devil's power, which now starts reeling off a register of supposedly righteous men and women, both individual contacts and public numbers, who are really in his power, bearing sin in their hearts. The devil furthermore assertions that Brown's own dad and grandfather dropped under his magic charm, interpreting that the brutal actions they pledged in the title of God were in detail the work of the ...