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Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown is an excellent example of the struggle with Puritanism during his time. This was a common theme among many great authors of his time and no better example is illustrated than here. The story takes place primarily in the forest with a very foreboding atmosphere creeping through the entire time. The story starts off with Young Goodman Brown on the cusp of leaving his wife for a journey which she begs him not to do. He does so anyway. On his venture, he meets the devil.
The devil presents himself to Young Goodman Brown in an image that he is very familiar with: the image of his grandfather. Though he is uneasy about venturing deep into the forest with the devil, he does so. While there he overhears some of the most religious people in the town talking about attending a communion with the devil. This scene creates the overall dilemma of Young Goodman Brown. He struggles with this because the ultimate conflict now is good v. evil, devil v.
religion, and Young Goodman Brown v. his own faith. His biggest problem with this is that he finds his wifes ribbon at the scene, showing him that taking this journey has caused him to drive his own wife to Satan. Satan ultimately wins in this battle because he presents himself in such a familiar manner to Young Goodman Brown.
This was intended to be a wake-up call to Puritans to show how easy it is to familiarize yourself with Satan when he presents himself in such a manner. Young Goodman Browns decision is scorned ultimately though not completely explained to be unjust. It is never implied that he made the WRONG decision but simply that he made a BAD one. These are two completely different ideas. It is clear to see that Hawthorne struggles himself with an issue of virtue and honor and wont pretend to be perfect. This essay may, actually be somewhat of a reflection into his own life and struggles.
One analysis that I came up with, upon reading this, was that perhaps Brown is dreaming. True or false, this detail wouldnt change the central conflict for virtue that he still must deal with his own beliefs and inner demons awake or asleep. Freud believed that dreams were the most powerful indicators. That being said, if this is a dream, Brown must look at this dream as being a very real possibility for himself and must examine his character.
Most literature at this point always showed a very biased puritanical view on things without examining the other side. An example of this is The Crucible. In that story, those apart of witchcraft are hanged with no other alternative and very little direct conflict of being with the devil or against. Clearly Hawthorne felt it important to give people an example of something that hits very solid. If everything you see is very out there and hard to fathom, it is hard to imagine that the point would be considered very relevant to the viewing audience.
Hawthorne does a great job of giving a very real dilemma to a very real person of Puritan faith.
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