A Town of Pretense
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. His Puritan ancestors were some of the first to settle in Salem. After his father’s untimely death, Hawthorne grew up with his sisters, his mother and his extended family in the family’s home. It is here that Hawthorne became an avid reader while convalescing from an injury. Much of his readings included colonial histories which became significant sources for some of his most famous writings. One such work was, “Young Goodman Brown” written in 1835. Many of Hawthorne’s writings engendered the idea of the hypocrisy of the Puritan religion and the harm it caused in peoples’ lives as well as the damaging effects of a patriarchal culture on women (Levine 331). His short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” demonstrates his criticisms and the harms he attributed to the Puritan religious beliefs. This is demonstrated in many ways throughout the story, but there are two significant literary elements Hawthorne uses to present his ideas. Through the use of symbolism and irony, Hawthorne demonstrates that the Puritan religion is actually harmful to society and reveals the hypocrisy that Puritan beliefs could sometimes produce in people. In this story, Hawthorne exposes the weaknesses of the Puritan faith by utilizing symbolism through the character Faith and her pink ribbons. First of all, Faith, Goodman’s wife is seen as everything good and pure in …show more content…
Many critics of Hawthorne’s writing claim Hawthorne was at times unclear in his views and left it up to the reader to interpret his themes. However, in “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne uses symbolism with his wife Faith and her hair ribbons and irony in the form of ‘Godly’ characters and Goodman’s own name to demonstrate his belief that the Puritan religion was inherently flawed, harming the faith and resulting in hypocrisy of the
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. His Puritan ancestors were some of the first to settle in Salem. After his father’s untimely death, Hawthorne grew up with his sisters, his mother and his extended family in the family’s home. It is here that Hawthorne became an avid reader while convalescing from an injury. Much of his readings included colonial histories which became significant sources for some of his most famous writings. One such work was, “Young Goodman Brown” written in 1835. Many of Hawthorne’s writings engendered the idea of the hypocrisy of the Puritan religion and the harm it caused in peoples’ lives as well as the damaging effects of a patriarchal culture on women (Levine 331). His short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” demonstrates his criticisms and the harms he attributed to the Puritan religious beliefs. This is demonstrated in many ways throughout the story, but there are two significant literary elements Hawthorne uses to present his ideas. Through the use of symbolism and irony, Hawthorne demonstrates that the Puritan religion is actually harmful to society and reveals the hypocrisy that Puritan beliefs could sometimes produce in people. In this story, Hawthorne exposes the weaknesses of the Puritan faith by utilizing symbolism through the character Faith and her pink ribbons. First of all, Faith, Goodman’s wife is seen as everything good and pure in …show more content…
Many critics of Hawthorne’s writing claim Hawthorne was at times unclear in his views and left it up to the reader to interpret his themes. However, in “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne uses symbolism with his wife Faith and her hair ribbons and irony in the form of ‘Godly’ characters and Goodman’s own name to demonstrate his belief that the Puritan religion was inherently flawed, harming the faith and resulting in hypocrisy of the