“Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an author who uses symbols to try to teach a moral or lesson to the reader. In this story the author focused on the innocent and wicked. This story had several main characters that supported his intentions, such as Young Goodman Brown who is our main character, Faith who is Young Goodman Brown wife , a man whose name is not known, but is symbolically representing the devil and other characters were included but were not as significant. It also used several symbolic symbols in the story such as Faith and her pink ribbons, Devil’s staff, Brown’s family, dreams and his death. This story ,the story of “Young Goodman Brown” , written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses symbols to represent the lesson
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With the help of the staff Brown continues on his dark journey. The staff could represent Brown’s already loss of innocence because it could be an allegory of the reenactment of the story of Eve, where she loses her innocence from taking the forbidden apple and he loses his innocence from the staff. The Devil’s staff could have been the reason of the altar scene occurring, the devil is shown offering the staff to Brown, he tries to convince Brown as shown in this quotation “Come , Goodman Brown”, cried his fellow traveler “this is a dull place for the beginning of a journey . Take my staff, if you are so soon weary” (Hawthorne 2). The devil’s staff aided Brown to take the wicked journey, thus losing his innocence. The staff represented evil and was therefore forbidden, but Brown unknowingly took it without being aware of the …show more content…
However Brown is shocked when the unknown man who is the devil tells him of the wicked deeds his family has done “I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker women so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philips war . They were my good friends, both; and many pleasant walk had we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight.” (Hawthorne 2). Even with this information Brown does not acknowledge the fact that he himself may not be saved, even with the help of Faith because he can already be considered evil by blood. He also does not acknowledge that even the unexpected can be evil and when he does it will be too
With the help of the staff Brown continues on his dark journey. The staff could represent Brown’s already loss of innocence because it could be an allegory of the reenactment of the story of Eve, where she loses her innocence from taking the forbidden apple and he loses his innocence from the staff. The Devil’s staff could have been the reason of the altar scene occurring, the devil is shown offering the staff to Brown, he tries to convince Brown as shown in this quotation “Come , Goodman Brown”, cried his fellow traveler “this is a dull place for the beginning of a journey . Take my staff, if you are so soon weary” (Hawthorne 2). The devil’s staff aided Brown to take the wicked journey, thus losing his innocence. The staff represented evil and was therefore forbidden, but Brown unknowingly took it without being aware of the …show more content…
However Brown is shocked when the unknown man who is the devil tells him of the wicked deeds his family has done “I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker women so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philips war . They were my good friends, both; and many pleasant walk had we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight.” (Hawthorne 2). Even with this information Brown does not acknowledge the fact that he himself may not be saved, even with the help of Faith because he can already be considered evil by blood. He also does not acknowledge that even the unexpected can be evil and when he does it will be too