An Analysis on Young Goodman Brown

“Young Goodman Brown” is one of the best-known short stories written by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Coming from a strong Puritan family， most of his creations were deeply influenced by Puritanism. “Hawthornes works belong to romanticism or， more specifically， dark romanticism cautionary tales that suggest that guilt， sin， and evil are the most inherent natural qualities of humanity”In “Young Goodman Brown”， the story follows Browns journey to the party of the evils in the forest， which results in his loss of virtue and faith.

Viewed from religious level， Faith is referred specifically to belief and loyalty to God. As the Bible goes “And now these three remain： faith， hope and love.” [1 Corinthians 8： 13] In the Puritans eyes， faith in God is their spiritual sustenance. It was this pious faith in God that made them to be good. However， once this faith was challenged by external forces， they may easily get faith lost and defeated.

In this short story， Faith is the name of Browns wife. They got married for just three months and lived a simple and happy life in Salem Village. They are pious Puritans and have common faith in religion. Brown loved Faith very much， and viewed Faith as his spiritual support. He considered his wife Faith as equally important as his faith in God. He was reluctant to go forest and wished to return back to Faith. Detailed description appears several times：

“My love and my Faith”

“Shes a blessed angel on earth； and after this one night. Ill cling to her skirts and followed her to Heaven”

“There is my wife， faith. It would break her dear little heart， and Id rather break my own.”

“With Heaven above， and Faith below， I will yet stand firm against the devil！ “cried Goodman Brown.

His journey to forest made him lose faith temporally. Later， on his way to the evils party， he saw many unusual and evil things and struggled in mind painfully. Goody Cloyse， the Minister and Deacon Gookin， these moral and spiritual honorable advisers should attend evils party. Whats worse， his wife faith entreated favor from the evils and converted to evils. So he cried， “My Faith is gone！ There is no good on earth； and sin is but a name.” He was filled with inner despair and misery. What he had reverenced from youth， what he had thought to be righteous and holy，and what he had firmly loved and believed in were totally changed into evil sides. His wife， his faith was ruined by the cruel reality. He tried to call his wife to resist the wicked one， but in vain. His wife Faith along with his faith was gone. He lost his spiritual support Faith and his pious faith in religion. For him， there is no good on earth but sin.

The nest morning， he came slowly into the street of Salem village. His wife Faith gazed anxiously forth and burst into joy at sight of him as if what had happened last night was merely a dream. But whether it was a dream or a reality， what was certain was that Brown had been totally changed ever since. Although his wife Faith had come back， he lost his faith in religion and lived in of doubt and malice. For example：

“It is a dream of evil omen for Young Goodman Brown， a stern， a sad， a darkly meditative， a distrustful， if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream.”

“Often awaking suddenly at midnight， he shrank from the bosom of Faith； and at morning or eventide， when the family knelt down at prayer； he scowled and muttered to himself， and gazed sternly at his wife.”

This journey to the devils party transformed him from a naive man to suspicious man. At the beginning， He looked so innocent and there was such clear good faith in his mind. But just because of his good faith， he realized the sin of human. His deeply faith in religion made it hard for him to accept the cruel reality and he gradually surrendered to despair. His faith is gone and he lost his trust in everything， which resulted in the crash in his mind and his doomed death. It seemed that the author destroyed the kind aspects of human and revealed the evil aspects to readers. But what I believe is that “Hawthorne wants to enhance the readers awareness of the evil side of humanity is not to make them become desperate towards life ，but to better deal with life” Indeed， evil is the nature of human. Just like Hawthorne once said “There is evil in every human heart.” Our faith may be easily challenged by the reality and gone. What we should do is not be frustrated and desperate towards life but to deal with it. Your faith is gone for a time， but you can restore it，and one day it will come back.

References：

[1]袁臣.The Indirectness of Young Goodman Brown[J].讀與寫（教育教學刊），2010.

[2]鄭瑜.Symbolisms in Young Goodman Brown[J].讀與寫（教育教學刊），2013.

【作者簡介】何珊珊，華中師范大學。