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Nathaniel Hawthorne's work is typically fraught with symbolism, much of it
deriving from his Puritan ancestry; a great-great uncle was actually a judge in
the Salem witchcraft trials (Roth 76). Not surprisingly, Hawthorne was obsessed
with the twin themes of sin and guilt. Author John Roth notes that A number of
recurring thematic patterns and character types appear in Hawthorne's novels and
tales. These repetitions show Hawthorne's emphasis on the effects of events on
the human heart rather than the events themselves (76). Because he is speaking
of what we later would come to call the unconscious, Hawthorne extensively
employed the use of symbolism, which bypasses the conscious, logical mind to tap
into its more dreamlike processes. The story begins as a conventional allegory,
creating the expectation that the characters will consistently exhibit the
abstractions they symbolize (Levy 116). Young Goodman Brown is an allegory whose
characters play a major role in displaying the determination of what to believe
and what not to believe. The short story represents one man's wild journey to
leave his faith, home, and security temporarily behind to take a chance with the
devil on an adventure into a dark forest. In his short story Young Goodman
Brown, the main character goes off into the forest and undergoes a
life-transforming experience there. The forest is a very real symbol of the test
of strength, courage, and endurance; it took real fortitude to survive in the
forest, and a young person entering this forest would not emerge the same.
However, this story is more symbolic than realistic, and the dangers are of the
spirit. The story is a dream vision, or conscious day dream, that explains the
theme of the story as being a formal allegory composed of massive symbolism.
Many symbols help the protagonist Goodman Brown move toward a vision of evil
which causes an unexpected effect of distrust due to his uncertain decision of
experiencing a dream or reality. In Young Goodman Brown the author, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, creates a short story that displays a clearly abstracted allegory
through the determination of the conscious and unconscious, composed of an
enormous amount of symbolism interpreted from the setting, characters, and plot
in the story. To begin with, an allegory is a form of extended metaphor in which
objects persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that
lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social,
religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications
of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy (Bereng 1). In this case, the
story's setting, characters, and plot represent abstract concepts such as faith,
innocence, and evil. The story is allegorically centered around Young Goodman
Brown. The characters' names, Goodman and Faith, obviously indicate how
Hawthorne uses them as a religious allegory to stand up against the evil in the
story.
It is no accident that such an experience should have taken place in a
forest, for there is a long and extremely profound tradition in our literature
for experiences of this nature having taken place in forest settings.
Psychologist Bruno Betelheim, for example, shows that in the folk tale The Three
Bears, Goldilocks encounters the cottage of the three bears in a forest; in
Hansel and Gretel, the children's father takes them off into the forest to
abandon them and they have to find their way back out; in Red Riding Hood, the
little girl has to travel through the forest to her grandmother's house. Betelheim also observes that Since ancient times the near-impenetrable forest in
which we get lost has symbolized the dark, hidden, near-impenetrable world of
our unconscious. If we have lost the framework which gave structure to our past
life and must now find our own way to become ourselves, and have entered this
wilderness with an as yet undeveloped personality, when we succeed in finding
our own way out we shall emerge with a much more highly-developed humanity (Betelheim
94). However, this does not happen in Young Goodman Brown. Instead of bravely
battling down the dangers of the forest and emerging more mature, Goodman Brown
emerges a ruined man. In order to determine why, it is necessary to look at some
of the other symbols in the story. It should not escape attention that Goodman
Brown's wife, a lighthearted naive woman, bears the name of Faith. Faith is by
no means an unusual woman's name, but it is significant in this story that she
is presented to us first as a very young bride with pink ribbons in her
hair--almost like a child.
Her pink ribbons symbolize her youth and innocence,
and Faith in turn symbolizes her husband's childlike spirituality at the
beginning of the story. Now, in Christianity childlike faith is not a bad thing.
Jesus said, for example, Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the
kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it (Mark 10:15). Christianity
historically has been a religion of obedience and piety much more than one of
reason or logic, as much as the framers of the Age of Reason would like to argue
otherwise. As the story opens, we find Faith characterized by childlike
confidence and purity, contrasted with the man with the snakelike staff
(Hawthorne 266), who attempts to persuade Goodman Brown by reasoning as we go
(265). Faith, it should be noted, does not attempt to dissuade her husband out
of his intentions through reason but through affection; with her lips . . .
close to his ear (264), she asks Goodman Brown not to go into the forest on his
mysterious errand. What is his errand? Hawthorne never says, but clearly Goodman
Brown has planned for it. He knows that the aim of his journey is less than
wholesome, for he feels guilty at leaving Faith on such an errand (264). Author
Terence Martin speculates that [Goodman Brown's] journey into the forest is best
defined as a kind of general, indeterminate allegory, representing man's
irrational drive to leave faith, home, and security temporarily behind, for
whatever reason, to take a chance with one more errand onto the wilder shores of
experience (Martin 92). Author Q.D. Leavis notes that The journey each must take
alone, in dread, at night, is the journey away from home and the community, from
conscious, everyday social life, to the wilderness where the hidden self
satisfies, or is forced to realize, its subconscious fears (Leavis 36).
And
author H.J. Lang observes that The theme of the story is simply, going to the
devil. What for? For lust, certainly, but more for knowledge (Lang 91). Goodman
Brown also seems to know whom he is going to meet there, because when he meets
the man with the snakelike staff, he is startled by the sudden appearance of his
companion (Hawthorne 265) who was nonetheless not totally unexpected (265).
Snakes, of course, signify the Devil--and if this individual is not himself the
Devil he is certainly, in disguise, almost identical to him. His staff is later
described as being twisted (266) as well. Now, here are all of the elements of
the quest story: the journey into an uncharted and dangerous realm, symbolizing
the unconscious; and, shortly after the journey begins, the meeting with a guide
who knows this forbidden and mysterious territory well. However, at this point
the story veers significantly away from its traditional path. Goodman Brown
announces that he does not want to go any further into this forest. He has met
the man at the edge of the forest by pre arrangement, in response to a vow of
some sort; and, having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now
to return whence I came. I have scruples touching the matter thou wor'st of
(265). Having read the entire story, one can interpret this on two levels.
Goodman Brown may feel, as he says, that the exploration of this inner forest
may be a sin. It is easier by far to follow the accepted path of faith, to walk,
as the Church itself often terms it, in the Light.
By walking in the light, that
is, by following precisely the tenets of Christian life and by avoiding all
situations where morality does not cleave itself into clear areas of black and
white, one feels safe, clean, and virtuous. By doing this, one also misses out
on the depth, the richness, that a fuller experience of life might offer, but it
is unquestionably an easier path. In conclusion, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne
creates a short story, Young Goodman Brown, that displays a clearly abstracted
allegory through the determination of the conscious and unconscious, composed of
an enormous amount of symbolism interpreted from the setting, characters, and
plot in the story. It cannot be clearly known what Young Goodman Brown has done
while entering the forest--experienced a wild dream or had a an experience with
reality. He knows why he is going, but he is in no way prepared for what he will
find there, namely the sinful natures not only of himself but of his father, his
grandfather, his church community, and most horrifyingly of all, his wife. He
emerges from his experience completely changed. But because he was unprepared to
accept with tolerance and grace the visions he would receive there, he has been
changed for the worse. He was supposed to learn that everyone is human, and thus
should be treated with compassion; he instead learned that everyone is a sinner,
and thus forever after he treats them with contempt. Enlightenment can impart
great wisdom, but only to those whose minds are open vessels to receive it.
Goodman Brown's is not.
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