Diction And Symbolism In Young Goodman Brown By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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When it comes to famous authors in literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne is one who’s choice of diction and symbolism can depict lives of one of America’s historical societies, the Puritans. Hawthorne was no stranger to the works of Puritan fiction. One of his more well known, The Scarlett Letter. Based on the article published by the Karabuk University (Uğur Uçum), A Reconsideration of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlett Letter”, this Romantic story based on the Puritan’s thrive to creating a “purely religious society” and how it “disapproves” against Puritan ideology (120). Hawthorne’s work on Puritan fiction can be further analyzed in his story “Young Goodman Brown”. One of the most important thing that Hawthorne does very well is his rendition …show more content…
In the story, “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne describes the life a man by the name of Goodman Brown, who as his name implies is a good hearted person, discovers humanity’s true evil and distrusts everyone in his village. Throughout the story, the author’s use of symbolism leads to the conclusion to Young Goodman’s loss of faith in both his wife and the villagers. One of the most important symbolisms that Hawthorne first introduces into the story is Goodman’s wife, Faith. Based on Benjamin Lawson’s article, he states in his analysis that, Goodman’s wife represents “faith”, the belief and [also] “Faith”, [being] the woman” (“Young Goodman Brown,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition). As Goodman Brown is ready to set off into the forest, Faith intervenes with, “Prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night,” which could mean that Faith senses a terror lurking in the forest (Hawthorne 448). This interpretation can be furtherly proven when Goodman mentions Faith’s nightmare of the sunset of his departure by saying, “As if a dream had warned her what work is to be done to-night,” (Hawthorne …show more content…
Another symbolic object in “Young Goodman Brown” is the traveler’s staff. This staff isn’t just any staff, but it has a serpent engraved in the center, which Brown states as, “…curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent” (Hawthorne 449). The old man’s cane may be interpreted as an object of an evil entity coming to life. In “Young Goodman Brown” Short Stories for Students, the author analyzes that, “the snake-like staff…is symbolic of the form the Devil takes to corrupt Adam and Eve in the Bible (Young Goodman Brown, Short Stories for Students). This coincides with the story, when Goodman falls under the influence of the traveler’s offer to use his cane to journey faster into the unknown, as compared to the forbidden apple that Adam and Eve are exposed to. The traveler who offers his staff that Goodman meets along the way is none other than the Devil in disguise. As the man is constructing a walking staff for Goodman, the text describes that, “the [instant] his fingers touched them they became strangely withered and dried up as with a week’s sunshine” (Hawthorne

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