This essay will explore and show some of the ways that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory, and how it functions as one with moral impact. Nathaniel Hawthorne has often been referred to as the master of allegory, and “Young Goodman Brown” proves this saying very well. Allegory can best be described as a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. The names in this story, the setting, and a few symbols make up the allegorical figures. A main point of allegory would be the concept of the names in the story. Each character has a name that also serves as a point of significance in the story. The names with the allegorical meaning being; “Goodman”, “Faith”,
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Her name is Faith, and it translates into many things in the story. Her name is extremely clear in showing what it means allegorically. Even the story supports this, saying “Faith, as the wife was aptly named…” Her name is an allegory to the religious use of faith. Religiously, faith tries to keep Goodman from going deeper and attaining more knowledge of the evil that he should not be going after. "Dearest heart," whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, "pr'ythee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed tonight. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she's afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year!" Goodman does not fall into her ploy, so the protagonist’s wife uses god to try to stop him. "’Then God bless you!’ said Faith, with the pink ribbons, ‘and may you find all well, when you come back.’" Faith’s ribbons are also used as a symbol of allegory in the story. The ribbons are pink, which is a color often interchangeable with innocence. When the ribbons are going through the air, they show Goodman’s loss of his own innocence. For the most part of the first half of the story Goodman Brown, due to his wife being with him he can resist the temptation of evil, and the talks that he has of the devil. Very often he was ready to go back home to his wife. "Friend," said the other,
Her name is Faith, and it translates into many things in the story. Her name is extremely clear in showing what it means allegorically. Even the story supports this, saying “Faith, as the wife was aptly named…” Her name is an allegory to the religious use of faith. Religiously, faith tries to keep Goodman from going deeper and attaining more knowledge of the evil that he should not be going after. "Dearest heart," whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, "pr'ythee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed tonight. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she's afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year!" Goodman does not fall into her ploy, so the protagonist’s wife uses god to try to stop him. "’Then God bless you!’ said Faith, with the pink ribbons, ‘and may you find all well, when you come back.’" Faith’s ribbons are also used as a symbol of allegory in the story. The ribbons are pink, which is a color often interchangeable with innocence. When the ribbons are going through the air, they show Goodman’s loss of his own innocence. For the most part of the first half of the story Goodman Brown, due to his wife being with him he can resist the temptation of evil, and the talks that he has of the devil. Very often he was ready to go back home to his wife. "Friend," said the other,