Young Goodman Brown is a young mild-mannered Puritan who sets out for an evil mission in the forest and loses his faith in religion, his innate innocence and becomes a grim man — joyless, gloomy and sad. Goodman Brown is a good Christian who has recently married Faith. He takes pride in his family’s history of piety and their reputation in the community as godly men. His curiosity, however, leads him to accept an invitation from a mysterious traveller to observe an evil ceremony in middle of the forest, one that shocks and disillusions him. 

At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown is headed out on a mysterious and evil journey into a dark forest. He is a family man, and he is not shy about it. First, he sticks his head back in the door to plant a kiss on his cute little wife, and then he heads off mutter'ng about how his forefather would totally never have taken this kind of errand: “my father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him”. So, we know that Brown thinks of himself in comparison to other people, specifically the ones he is related to. He doesn’t have a clear identity of his own. In fact, young Goodman Brown starts off as if in a blank slate of mind representing everyman. But when he meets the mysterious traveller and learns about his family’s history of wickedness, he finds that his ancestors were notorious criminal. So he is not as clean as he thought himself to be for the hereditary guilt he shares. 

In the forest young Goodman Brown resists villainous temptations. But we are convinced that he fails to resist them consciously or subconsciously. Rather than confronting the story’s corrupt characters, Goodman Brown just watches from a distance and freaks out internally. He is constantly standing in the background, as Hawthorne says, he “deemed it advisable to conceal himself within the verge of the forest”. He is not exactly a man of action. 

There’s a difference between standing in the background and actually taking a stand against evil. Young Goodman Brown’s actions don’t hurt many people directly, but they don’t exactly leave him on the side of good. In one moment of frenzied despair, he gives himself over to “the instinct that guides mortal man to evil”, and starts running around like a maniac. When he finally does take a stand to “resist the wicked one,” it is too late. He is doomed himself to a lifetime of misery. 

Young Goodman Brown doesn’t give in to the dark side of “wickedness.” He simply gives in to a different one—the dark side of pessimism and misanthropy. He expects that, at any moment, the fury of the Heavens will destroy the evil town of Salem. Things that really set his dark side off are prayer, family, and “the sacred truths of our religion”. This is better than smearing newborn babies with fat, or whatever witches and wizards do in Hawthorne’s bizarre Salem. It may not be justified to hate everyone because of some silly nightmare. Brown is disillusioned because he has confronted with the demon inside him. He is now suspicious of everyone, just as the Puritans of real-life Salem were when they participated in a witch hunt that resulted in the execution of innocent people. He is “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man.” 

Young Goodman Brown, the protagonist of the story, stands out as a vivid character as he is in the first place, a loving husband, a social man, and a good Christian. But with the progress of the story, he loses his innate goodness discovering all pervading evil around ‘him. He is seen as easily impressionable by external forces. On symbolical level he represent’ everyman and demonstrates depravity as the nature of humanity. 

Sketch the character of Goodman Brown

Green Land | August 19, 2023 | 0 comments

Young Goodman Brown is a young mild-mannered Puritan who sets out for an evil mission in the forest and loses his faith in religion, his innate innocence and becomes a grim man — joyless, gloomy and sad. Goodman Brown is a good Christian who has recently married Faith. He takes pride in his family’s history of piety and their reputation in the community as godly men. His curiosity, however, leads him to accept an invitation from a mysterious traveller to observe an evil ceremony in middle of the forest, one that shocks and disillusions him. 

At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown is headed out on a mysterious and evil journey into a dark forest. He is a family man, and he is not shy about it. First, he sticks his head back in the door to plant a kiss on his cute little wife, and then he heads off mutter'ng about how his forefather would totally never have taken this kind of errand: “my father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him”. So, we know that Brown thinks of himself in comparison to other people, specifically the ones he is related to. He doesn’t have a clear identity of his own. In fact, young Goodman Brown starts off as if in a blank slate of mind representing everyman. But when he meets the mysterious traveller and learns about his family’s history of wickedness, he finds that his ancestors were notorious criminal. So he is not as clean as he thought himself to be for the hereditary guilt he shares. 

In the forest young Goodman Brown resists villainous temptations. But we are convinced that he fails to resist them consciously or subconsciously. Rather than confronting the story’s corrupt characters, Goodman Brown just watches from a distance and freaks out internally. He is constantly standing in the background, as Hawthorne says, he “deemed it advisable to conceal himself within the verge of the forest”. He is not exactly a man of action. 

There’s a difference between standing in the background and actually taking a stand against evil. Young Goodman Brown’s actions don’t hurt many people directly, but they don’t exactly leave him on the side of good. In one moment of frenzied despair, he gives himself over to “the instinct that guides mortal man to evil”, and starts running around like a maniac. When he finally does take a stand to “resist the wicked one,” it is too late. He is doomed himself to a lifetime of misery. 

Young Goodman Brown doesn’t give in to the dark side of “wickedness.” He simply gives in to a different one—the dark side of pessimism and misanthropy. He expects that, at any moment, the fury of the Heavens will destroy the evil town of Salem. Things that really set his dark side off are prayer, family, and “the sacred truths of our religion”. This is better than smearing newborn babies with fat, or whatever witches and wizards do in Hawthorne’s bizarre Salem. It may not be justified to hate everyone because of some silly nightmare. Brown is disillusioned because he has confronted with the demon inside him. He is now suspicious of everyone, just as the Puritans of real-life Salem were when they participated in a witch hunt that resulted in the execution of innocent people. He is “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man.” 

Young Goodman Brown, the protagonist of the story, stands out as a vivid character as he is in the first place, a loving husband, a social man, and a good Christian. But with the progress of the story, he loses his innate goodness discovering all pervading evil around ‘him. He is seen as easily impressionable by external forces. On symbolical level he represent’ everyman and demonstrates depravity as the nature of humanity. 

Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown as an allegorical story

allegorical story

An allegory is an extended narrative in prose or verse in which the author describes one subject under the guise of another. The objects, events, or people are presented symbolically, so the story conveys a meaning other than and deeper than the actual incidents or characters described. There are two main types of allegory: 

1) Historical or political allegory in which the characters and the action represent or allegorize historical personages and events, 

2) Allegory of ideas, in which the characters represent abstract concepts and the plot serves to communicate a doctrine or thesis. 

Young Goodman Brown belongs to the latter type. The story is deeply concerned with evil, the terrifying manner in which evil takes hold of man. The protagonist of the story is Goodman Brown, an allegorical name that stands for “every man” of the allegorical drama - of that name. His wife is named, allegorically, Faith. She stands for true Christian faith and virtue. Goodman Brown’s journey into the forest is suggestive of man’s surrender to temptation leading to the voluntary desertion of faith, home, and security. 

One evening Goodman Brown takes leave of his wife, Faith, because he is setting out on an errand of evil through a very dense forest for one night. This taking leave of Faith allegorizes man’s willing desertion of faith, which he thinks temporary, for after that night he will cling to her skirts, and follow her to heaven. In the forest, he meets a man of about fifty years who resembles Goodman Brown so much that he has been called the elder Goodman Brown. This resemblance indicates Goodman Brown’s inheritance of evil. The story allegorizes the fact that man is inherently disposed to evil, and once in its grip, cannot wriggle out. Though Young Brown had conflicts in his mind several times about the justifiability of the course he was taking, he was ultimately overcome by his inherent tendency to evil. He was going on an evil mission without any reason and took leave of his newly married wife, all of a sudden, on an evening. The elderly man who looked much like himself and with whom he came across in the forest revealed to him that his father and grandfather had also been his disciples in the matter of doing evil things. Young Brown also found Goody Cloyse as a member of the evil communion. He found the minister and deacon Gookin riding to the congregation of evil people. 

Last of all, what gave a staggering blow to his remaining goodness was the conversion of his wife, Faith, to evil. All these instances of evil people around him created in him a belief that was confirmed by the dark figure of the fiend who asserted that evil was the only happiness of man. Here, through the character of Young Brown, Hawthorne depicts the human tendency to evil.

Young Goodman Brown as an allegorical story

Green Land | March 22, 2023 | 0 comments

allegorical story

An allegory is an extended narrative in prose or verse in which the author describes one subject under the guise of another. The objects, events, or people are presented symbolically, so the story conveys a meaning other than and deeper than the actual incidents or characters described. There are two main types of allegory: 

1) Historical or political allegory in which the characters and the action represent or allegorize historical personages and events, 

2) Allegory of ideas, in which the characters represent abstract concepts and the plot serves to communicate a doctrine or thesis. 

Young Goodman Brown belongs to the latter type. The story is deeply concerned with evil, the terrifying manner in which evil takes hold of man. The protagonist of the story is Goodman Brown, an allegorical name that stands for “every man” of the allegorical drama - of that name. His wife is named, allegorically, Faith. She stands for true Christian faith and virtue. Goodman Brown’s journey into the forest is suggestive of man’s surrender to temptation leading to the voluntary desertion of faith, home, and security. 

One evening Goodman Brown takes leave of his wife, Faith, because he is setting out on an errand of evil through a very dense forest for one night. This taking leave of Faith allegorizes man’s willing desertion of faith, which he thinks temporary, for after that night he will cling to her skirts, and follow her to heaven. In the forest, he meets a man of about fifty years who resembles Goodman Brown so much that he has been called the elder Goodman Brown. This resemblance indicates Goodman Brown’s inheritance of evil. The story allegorizes the fact that man is inherently disposed to evil, and once in its grip, cannot wriggle out. Though Young Brown had conflicts in his mind several times about the justifiability of the course he was taking, he was ultimately overcome by his inherent tendency to evil. He was going on an evil mission without any reason and took leave of his newly married wife, all of a sudden, on an evening. The elderly man who looked much like himself and with whom he came across in the forest revealed to him that his father and grandfather had also been his disciples in the matter of doing evil things. Young Brown also found Goody Cloyse as a member of the evil communion. He found the minister and deacon Gookin riding to the congregation of evil people. 

Last of all, what gave a staggering blow to his remaining goodness was the conversion of his wife, Faith, to evil. All these instances of evil people around him created in him a belief that was confirmed by the dark figure of the fiend who asserted that evil was the only happiness of man. Here, through the character of Young Brown, Hawthorne depicts the human tendency to evil.

American literature , Young Goodman Brown