Isra Tanveer
Professor Loubser
English 1302
4 October 2017
A Sinful Heart
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the narrator illustrates Brown’s corruptibility through his rejection of the good and unambiguous submission to the evil. This gothic romanticism reveals a young man of Puritan faith who goes on a journey that depicts the cant nature of the people living in the Salem village. The pilgrimage allows him to learn about the malevolence that lies in his towns’ history and the ease with which malign desires can overcome even his Faith. The entry from, a lightened place, into the dark forest portrays his first step towards a transgression that ends up becoming the only reality in his life from hereon. The dark path …show more content…
Despite the fact that Young Goodman Brown can choose Faith over malignance, he instead chooses to corrupt himself and everyone around him to justify decadence as an unabridged part of human nature, a part he too cannot avoid.
The departure of Goodman Brown from his wife, Faith, marks his symbolic loss of devout ideology and acceptance of religious segregation. The beginning of the narrative entails the audience to acquire a bad taste in relation to the protagonists’ interpretation of the world. Brown, from the start, establishes his pride and trust in Faith as an heir of good. He believes that he can redeem himself through her even as he dashes off to a journey that begins at night time which is never seen as a good omen. Brown thinks to himself, “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand…as she spoke there was trouble on her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight. But no, no; ‘t would kill her to think it. Well, she’s a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven (Hawthorne 1).” Goodman Brown feels …show more content…
The main character goes onward, while showing reluctance, to an elderly man who he begins to accompany in the dark forest with the same destination in mind. However, the older companion is shown to be leading him to said destination and as the time elapses, to a place further upon their walk, it is indicated who the elderly stranger really is. Also displayed is the resemblance of the traveller to Goodman Brown. The narrator illuminates the audience with a conversation between the traveller accompanying Brown and a pious woman. “The traveller…touched her withered neck…‘The devil!’ screamed the pious old lady. ‘Then Goody Cloyse knows her old friend?’ observed the traveller... ‘…is it your worship indeed?’ cried the good dame. ‘Yea, truly is it, and in the very image of my old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is’ (Hawthorne 5).” The traveller, accompanying Brown, to a similar destination is an elderly man who is seen to look like an older version of Goodman Brown—truly looking a lot like his grandfather did. He has taken on this form, meaning he is not human but is actually the Devil. The narrator explains to the audience, while releasing one of the prime evidences on Brown being a malignant character, that the elderly stranger—the Devil—bears a likeness to Goodman Brown. The cohort assumed a similarity
Professor Loubser
English 1302
4 October 2017
A Sinful Heart
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the narrator illustrates Brown’s corruptibility through his rejection of the good and unambiguous submission to the evil. This gothic romanticism reveals a young man of Puritan faith who goes on a journey that depicts the cant nature of the people living in the Salem village. The pilgrimage allows him to learn about the malevolence that lies in his towns’ history and the ease with which malign desires can overcome even his Faith. The entry from, a lightened place, into the dark forest portrays his first step towards a transgression that ends up becoming the only reality in his life from hereon. The dark path …show more content…
Despite the fact that Young Goodman Brown can choose Faith over malignance, he instead chooses to corrupt himself and everyone around him to justify decadence as an unabridged part of human nature, a part he too cannot avoid.
The departure of Goodman Brown from his wife, Faith, marks his symbolic loss of devout ideology and acceptance of religious segregation. The beginning of the narrative entails the audience to acquire a bad taste in relation to the protagonists’ interpretation of the world. Brown, from the start, establishes his pride and trust in Faith as an heir of good. He believes that he can redeem himself through her even as he dashes off to a journey that begins at night time which is never seen as a good omen. Brown thinks to himself, “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand…as she spoke there was trouble on her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight. But no, no; ‘t would kill her to think it. Well, she’s a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven (Hawthorne 1).” Goodman Brown feels …show more content…
The main character goes onward, while showing reluctance, to an elderly man who he begins to accompany in the dark forest with the same destination in mind. However, the older companion is shown to be leading him to said destination and as the time elapses, to a place further upon their walk, it is indicated who the elderly stranger really is. Also displayed is the resemblance of the traveller to Goodman Brown. The narrator illuminates the audience with a conversation between the traveller accompanying Brown and a pious woman. “The traveller…touched her withered neck…‘The devil!’ screamed the pious old lady. ‘Then Goody Cloyse knows her old friend?’ observed the traveller... ‘…is it your worship indeed?’ cried the good dame. ‘Yea, truly is it, and in the very image of my old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is’ (Hawthorne 5).” The traveller, accompanying Brown, to a similar destination is an elderly man who is seen to look like an older version of Goodman Brown—truly looking a lot like his grandfather did. He has taken on this form, meaning he is not human but is actually the Devil. The narrator explains to the audience, while releasing one of the prime evidences on Brown being a malignant character, that the elderly stranger—the Devil—bears a likeness to Goodman Brown. The cohort assumed a similarity