Archetypal Analysis on Young Goodman Brown
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Young Goodman Brown, the author is portraying the hero’s spiritual journey as his breaking of morals and values, inner struggle, and an attempt to overcome his weakness.
The author represents the hero’s journey as a way to break his morals and values. Brown is proud of his family and he thinks they are very religious "My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept." But the devil tells Brown that “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that's no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly …show more content…
His main weakness is the fear of evil: "There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree, said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added, What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!” This shows that he fears evil and darkness. In order to overcome this fear, he gets convince to believe and worship the evil. Brown thinks that everyone is convince to the devil therefore he also falls to the devil and his faith is lost: “Ha! ha! ha! roared Goodman Brown when the wind laughed at him. Let us hear which will laugh loudest. Think not to frighten me with your deviltry. Come witch, come wizard, come Indian powwow, come devil himself, and here comes Goodman Brown. You may as well fear him as he fear you.” This shows that he is no more afraid except his own soul.
In conclusion, the spiritual journey of Brown portrays as a way to break his morals and values on his faith, as a way to show his unconscious mind is depressed and gloomy, and lastly it is an attempt to overcome his weakness of fear on
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Young Goodman Brown, the author is portraying the hero’s spiritual journey as his breaking of morals and values, inner struggle, and an attempt to overcome his weakness.
The author represents the hero’s journey as a way to break his morals and values. Brown is proud of his family and he thinks they are very religious "My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept." But the devil tells Brown that “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that's no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly …show more content…
His main weakness is the fear of evil: "There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree, said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added, What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!” This shows that he fears evil and darkness. In order to overcome this fear, he gets convince to believe and worship the evil. Brown thinks that everyone is convince to the devil therefore he also falls to the devil and his faith is lost: “Ha! ha! ha! roared Goodman Brown when the wind laughed at him. Let us hear which will laugh loudest. Think not to frighten me with your deviltry. Come witch, come wizard, come Indian powwow, come devil himself, and here comes Goodman Brown. You may as well fear him as he fear you.” This shows that he is no more afraid except his own soul.
In conclusion, the spiritual journey of Brown portrays as a way to break his morals and values on his faith, as a way to show his unconscious mind is depressed and gloomy, and lastly it is an attempt to overcome his weakness of fear on