Religious Allegory In Bryant's Young Goodman Brown

The correlation between spirituality and nature dates back to as early as the Greeks honoring Gods of different aspects of nature, such as the God of Sea, Poseidon, or the God of Agricultural, Demeter. The presence of this idea is everlasting in literature, and the significant relationship between religion and nature, although expressed very differently, is evident in William Cullen Bryant’s Thanatopsis, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, and Black Hawk’s The Life of Black Hawk. Bryant’s Thanatopsis preaches the importance of a relationship with nature, for it can direct us away from our spiritual concerns. However, nature in Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown represents the exact opposite—the forest in the story is presented as a place where one can lose his faith. On the other hand, in the The Life of Black Hawk, Sauk warrior Black Hawk represents the belief of all …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, Faith begs her husband not to go on this journey and to stay with her because “a lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she 's afeard of herself, sometimes.” Goodman Brown goes on into the forest anyways, literally and metaphorically leaving his Faith behind. In the forest, Goodman Brown sees a devout local of Salem village, Goody Cloyse, and the town minister and deacon. Seeing those pious townspeople disgruntles him, but seeing his wife caused him to have an existential crisis. “‘My Faith is gone!’ cried he, after one stupefied moment. ‘There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name.’” When Goodman Brown cries, “My Faith is gone!” not only is he referring to his sudden realization of the loss of his wife’s innocence, but also the loss of his own personal faith. The forest in Young Goodman Brown is presented as a dark, evil place where a person can lose his