FREE ESSAY ON SYMBOLISM IN "YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN

SYMBOLISM IN "YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN

In Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism and irony to illustrate the
theme of man, oblivious that sin is an inescapable part of human nature, attempting to
escape from sin. The idea that mankind is perfectible, or perhaps that good Puritans are
without imperfection, seems to dominate the worldview of Hawthorne's Puritan everyman,
Young Goodman Brown. His naive ideas are contrasted against the vision of profound
betrayal in the forest to create a stark illustration of one possible truth. 
At the story's outset, Young Goodman Brown bids farewell to his young wife. The facet of
Brown's life which she represents is illustrated by her name Faith. and in Hawthorne's
visual description, ...thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play
with the pink ribbons of her cap. The very image of this woman's pretty head being thrust
out into the world after Goodman Brown, as the wind, an unforgiving element of profane
nature, fondles her pink ribbons, sets up the dynamic between nature and the home
symbolically. Nature, specifically the wind, the forest, the darkness of evening,
symbolizes evil and sinfulness. The home, namely Faith and her ribbons, symbolizes the
perceived safety and surety of the Puritan community as a refuge from the sin of the rest
of the world. 
There is certainly irony in the fact that it is the most pious church people who appear
at the evil gathering in the forest. Brown recognizes the old woman who passes Young
Goodman Brown and the devil on the path when he exclaims, That old woman taught me my
catechism!. She and the deacon and minister who later pass are the very bastions of
goodness on Earth to Young Goodman Brown, and hearing the two men discuss the evening's
meeting overwhelms Brown, Young Goodman Brown caught hold of a tree for support, being
ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburdened with the heavy sickness of his
heart.. It is at this point that he cries, With Heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet
stand firm against the devil!, meaning that he holds fast to his belief that he and his
wife alone can follow God, even in the midst of sin. But when he hears the scream of his
young wife, seeming to come from the very sky, and catches a pink ribbon as it falls to
the ground, he is finally undone. He cries, My Faith is gone! ...There is no good on
earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! For to thee is this world given.
The question of whether or not the evil gathering actually occurred or was a dream is not
given much attention by Hawthorne, he states simply, Be it so, if you will." Yet the
effect the vision has on Brown is profound. He becomes A stern, a sad, a darkly
meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man... afterward. Perhaps Young Goodman
Brown has misunderstood the meaning of Faith in his simplicity, expecting to live life
free of doubt. Hawthorne's character illustrates the consequences of embracing too pious
of an attitude and too simplistic of a view.