Discovering the truth does not always lead to happiness; this is the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”. The main character, a young loyal newlywed, is guided on a journey of evil intent that tests his faith. Hawthorne pushes Goodman Brown through trials and into discovering truths that change his beliefs, but Brown must let go of his old beliefs in order to let in new ones. Characters such as Faith, the Stranger, Goody Cloyse, Deacon Gookin and the Minister represent the process of Brown losing the test of his faith 's strength by letting go of his faith and letting in the feeling of disenchantment.
Hawthorne uses Goodman Brown 's wife, aptly named Faith, to represents Brown 's own faith and eventual loss of faith: they are almost synonymous. In Brown reassuring to his wife, “No harm …show more content…
These characters are a representation of what Brown believes to be good and respectable Godly people. Hawthorne uses them as symbolic figures of Browns transition from being a religious man to resenting his own faith through the transition of how the characters are portrayed. Firstly, Brown is taken back by the realization that the three people who taught him his faith is a friend to the Devil. Hawthorne uses this realization to infer to Brown that the foundation of his faith is based on lies and sinners.
Hearing the Minister and Deacon Gookin 's conversation about attending the meeting where “a goodly young woman [is to be] taken into communion,” makes Brown feel “faint and over-burthened with the heavy sickness of his heart” (491). He feels ready to sink down on the ground as if the last bit of faith left within him is pulled out as he doubts if there really is a Heaven above him.
The author creates Brown as a strong dynamic character, beginning the story with a sense of strong faith and a desire to protect it, yet ending as a scorned and cynical old
Hawthorne uses Goodman Brown 's wife, aptly named Faith, to represents Brown 's own faith and eventual loss of faith: they are almost synonymous. In Brown reassuring to his wife, “No harm …show more content…
These characters are a representation of what Brown believes to be good and respectable Godly people. Hawthorne uses them as symbolic figures of Browns transition from being a religious man to resenting his own faith through the transition of how the characters are portrayed. Firstly, Brown is taken back by the realization that the three people who taught him his faith is a friend to the Devil. Hawthorne uses this realization to infer to Brown that the foundation of his faith is based on lies and sinners.
Hearing the Minister and Deacon Gookin 's conversation about attending the meeting where “a goodly young woman [is to be] taken into communion,” makes Brown feel “faint and over-burthened with the heavy sickness of his heart” (491). He feels ready to sink down on the ground as if the last bit of faith left within him is pulled out as he doubts if there really is a Heaven above him.
The author creates Brown as a strong dynamic character, beginning the story with a sense of strong faith and a desire to protect it, yet ending as a scorned and cynical old