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Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

            
             In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" Hawthorne wrote the short story to seem that it contains ambiguity. There are different meanings of how Goodman Brown spends his life, of how he sees the world afterwards. There is also question about what was the reason for the meaning of the forest. There are potential supernatural occurrences in the story. There is also a suggestion that the story is only in Goodman's head psychological. Although all the meanings have an allegory to it, it is still said that the story does make sense of its ambiguity.
             The meanings of why Young Goodman Brown goes to the forest is that he goes over to the devil. Reasons for why to meet in a "darkened forest with the gloomiest trees." Hawthorne emphasizes the split between convention and the unconscious by having Goodman move from the town to the forest as he follows his impulses. The deeper he moves into the forest, the more completely he becomes one with his evil. This is one meaning the readers may follow. Goodman Brown is lurking into evil. This also means that the leader, the stranger could have supernatural powers as he traveled from Boston to Salem in fifteen minutes. Then the forest contains the tree where the devil-like character sits under. The reader may suggest that it is the tree of good and evil as Young Goodman Brown is being tempted to go into the hands of evil. Like the tree the staff can also be connected to biblical times. The staff that Goodman's companion holds is made of scales suggesting that it could be a serpent of some kind, which represents evil. When Moses approached the Pharaoh he threw down his rod (or staff) and became a serpent. Goodman's companion is being linked or connected with the opponents of Moses and the God of Israel. The symbolism of all these happenings is a way of connecting "Young Goodman Brown" as a story of good versus evil.
             The way Young Goodman Brown lives the rest of his life after the occurrences is miserable.


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1. Hawthornes Tales

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote numerous stories about people who commit themselves to certain quests. This topic is prominent in several of his works, including "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Young Goodman Brown," and "The Minister's Black Veil." In each story, the protagonist character embarks on a particular quest, and in these stories, the characters are successful to different degrees, with some more successful than others. The success of the characters" quests also depends on from what viewpoint they are observed. In "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," the main character, Ro...

  • Word Count: 1477
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

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