Alienation and Moral Dilemma as Portrayed by Nathaniel Hawthorne

In “Young Goodman Brown”, after his journey into the forest, Brown changes his entire outlook on life. He has lost his faith and has taken on a life of darkness and unrest because he is never sure whether the events of what happened in the forest were reality or imagined. From that point on he is never at peace because he is always expecting evil. And he is then depicted as a man who never has happiness with his beloved “Faith”, that is his wife and his actual faith in God, or in any other thing in his life. Brown becomes a victim to the nature of evil and the effects that it can play on the

Young Goodman Brown’s travels through the uncharted forests were aided by a travel guide, Old Goodman Brown. Old Goodman Brown is said to have looked like Young Goodman Brown except older. Initially the older man, who is symbolic of the devil, is amiable toward the travel, but his persistence to get Young Goodman Brown to go deeper into the forest, spikes one to believe that he has an ulterior motive. Hawthorne’s usage of the old man transmits the message that the devil can appear in any form. The risk that Goodman Brown takes with walking down the same road is that he is becoming desensitized and growing apart from his faith at the hands of

Conflict and symbolism in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne in this story portrays these two elements that enhance the way the story is written. The story “Young Goodman Brown” first takes place in a small town with brown and his wife faith. Then in the story brown leaves faith to go in an adventure that he would later wish he hadn’t gone in. Brown takes a journey through part of the woods that are really scary and comes across the devil himself to later find out that faith was evil and that many from his town were also evil and had a secret evil organization or cult. Through the use of conflict and symbolism, Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” portrays what Brown’s journey represents.

While Native Americans name each other to repent the persons personality such as an animal like wolf that represents power. Hawthorne took the same route of naming his characters in Young Goodman Brown to represent ideas in the text in form of symbolism. The most symbolic character of the tale is Faith, browns wife. As Mckeithan says “For three months he had been married to a lovely young woman symbolizing religious faith”. She represents exactly what her name says Faith, more exactly browns faith in life and religion. Even his way of speaking of her shows that she represents his faith like when brown says "And what calm sleep would be his that very night, which was to have been spent so wickedly, but so purely and sweetly now, in the arms of Faith!". Her symbolism is also seen in his journey when all the wicked people tried to separate them but he does not allow for that to happen. At the end of the story he finds that she is no longer as comforting as she was before, showing that he has lost some of his faith in his Christian beliefs. Browns name is another of the representatives names that is in the tale. His name is Goodman, exactly what it means is what it represents he is a good man that follows every rule, whether it be morally or a lawfully, to the exact letter. His last name gives a better insight into the story, the fact that his last name is brown represents that he becomes tainted from being a ‘Goodman’. His being tainted comes from his journey and losing faith in his religion, he becomes tainted with the real world and it is

   Nathaniel Hawthorne's works are notable for their treatment of guilt and the complexities of moral choices. "Moral and religious concerns, in short, are almost always present in Hawthorne's work"(Foster, 56). Given Hawthorne's background, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that his novels are critiques of Puritanism. Hawthorne lived in the deeply scarred New England area, separated from Puritanism by only one generation. His grandfather had been one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials. Personal issues include the various ways Hawthorne's family and specific events in his life influenced his writing. Readers can easily recognize how "Young Goodman Brown" incorporates

There are several themes in “Young Goodman Brown.” One of the themes that is mentioned throughout the story is love. The reader can tell Goodman Brown is a worthy husband by the way he talks and worries about his wife, Faith. Another theme in “Young Goodman Brown” is loss of innocence. In the beginning of the story Goodman Brown and Faith are a newlywed innocence couple. Throughout the story it shows the corruption of evil has gotten to them. The last theme is fear of wilderness. Brown battles between good and evil on his journey through the wilderness to find his true faith as he goes to meet with the devil.

   The themes in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” are not as obvious as might be expected. This essay intends to present an interpretation of the tale along the lines of theme.

As Brown starts on his adventure he recalls that his wife, Faith, had dreams of this particular adventure, dreams that warned him not to go; this feeling of uncertainty sparks a feeling of anxiety in Brown as he continues walking through the forest and on with his journey. As he walks on, the scenery around him begins to change, "He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind." (310). This quote describes the dark and gloomy surroundings that Brown is walking through on his journey, it also creates the mood of fear and hesitance as he continues on his way. Then as Brown is walking along he comes to encounter a man dressed in grave and decent attire. The man states "You are late, Goodman Brown," and Brown replies by saying, "Faith kept me back awhile." (310) In literal terms he is speaking of his wife, but metaphorically he could be speaking of his faith in god and how it almost kept him from embarking on his journey. Hawthorne creates many metaphors in his story of "Young Goodman Brown." Later on in Brown's journey he meets a man with a cane that resembles a snake, the serpent is a symbol of evil, and then when Brown protests against the devil, "With heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm

Young Goodman Brown is about a story of a young everyday man and his journey through a darkened forest with a dark and foreboding stranger. The theme of the story is about a test of faith, how one man figuratively abandons his Faith to seek a treacherous task with the dark stranger. His young wife Faith, is an allegory to faith, and his lying to and leaving Faith is a figurative demonstration of Young Goodman Brown literally abandoning his faith in God. There is also a use of foreshadowing in the phrase “There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree … What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!” (Hawthorn, 1835). This use of foreshadowing is very important, because this also denotes a shift in the story. This leads me to believe that the events following are just a dream, as it seems that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The staff that the man carries is repeatedly referred to, and compared to a snake, a serpent. The serpent is a biblically evil creature; the talking snake in the Garden of Eden was the manipulator of Eve that caused the fall of man.

In “Young Goodman Brown”, the reader is taken on a journey with a Puritan man named goodman Brown. The reader takes this journey with an evil counterpart who takes him down the literal path of sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne, like most gothic authors, used symbols to elaborate further on some of his major themes including the hypocrisy within the church. He shows the reader that there is more than meets the naked eye with people, places, and everyday object.

Natural God-given talent can only get an athlete so far. At some point they will need to realize that hard work will take them much further than talent ever could taking them. When an athlete trains during the off-season by lifting weights it helps him or her become physically ready for the season ahead. Without pre- training, showing up on the day of tryouts and hoping to be great and being able to do well is a horrible idea. A weight-lifting program is essential for any athlete to achieve top performance.

The way the theme of evil is shown in Young Goodman brown is through the adventure in the forest. In most stories the forest is always symbolized with a negative effect. It is shown with evil and something bad to become which is the case in Goodman Brown. As he journeys out of his little town to go for his adventure he leave his wife which is named Faith, showing symbolism of evil to come through the adventure through the forest. Predmore states, “As he leaves Faith he knows that hes night journey has an ‘evil purpose’"(251). This shows that Goodman Brown is leaving his faith behind which can be interpreted as his religion to venture out into the forest. This means that the theme of the forest is evil and he comes to danger because he leaves his religious belief (a form of protection) behind to go to a place

There are many interpretations of the main character in “Young Goodman Brown”. A group of authors such as D.M McKeithan and Selina Jamil believe that Brown’s journey into the woods was a journey in which he nearly lost his faith, as well as flip his world upside down due to his sinful actions. However, Walter Paulits claims that Goodman Brown only follows the Devil through his temptation since he is uncertain for, “Young Goodman Brown develops ambiguity … service of a more pervasive theme of ambivalence”

In “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author entertains the readers by using suspense and mystery. Hawthorne uses the devil and a witch as the main antagonists to test Young Goodman Brow’s faith, he uses symbolism to foreshadow. The author’s main goal as a puritan was to show that faith man’s most important quality, when is at risk it makes it seem as if everyone was bad, and see the rest of the world without faith.In “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author entertains the readers by using suspense and mystery. Hawthorne uses the devil and a witch as the main antagonists to test Young Goodman Brow’s faith, he uses symbolism to foreshadow. The author’s main goal as a puritan was to show that faith man’s most important quality, when is at risk it makes it seem as if everyone was bad, and see the rest of the world without faith.

Capital punishment is most evident and controversial when the state convicts and kills an individual when they have used violence within a certain territory therefore committing a capital crime. In the majority of countries around the world, the law permits the state to impose a lifelong confinement but withholds the authority to take a life. Currently, in 109 countries, the death penalty in law or practice is rejected while 86 retain and use the death penalty but most do not practice capital punishment on a regular basis. Furthermore, in a ten-year span, between 1990 and 2001, over 30 countries abolished this cruel mode of punishment and nations are continuously deciding the state should not have the right to take a persons life. The death penalty should be abolished because it violates human beings right to life and it is a biased and unfair procedure that racially and socially discriminates minorities and the poor. Although many support the death penalty, punishment leading to death is not the answer signifying retributivism and deterrence may seem appealing but are not the most favourable systems. Therefore, rehabilitation is the most effective technique benefitting both the individual and society.