Hypocrisy In Young Goodman Brown

Decent Essays
In his short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne presents an idea of the Puritan mindset that starkly contrasts with the works of Puritans like Mary Rowlandson and William Bradford: that Puritans are all keeping dark and disturbing secrets that go against their religious beliefs. In the accounts of Rowlandson and Bradford, we see a much different account of the Puritan mindset. The transgressions committed in “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” and “Of Plymouth Plantation” are much less intense than those committed in “Young Goodman Brown.” Puritan hypocrisy is also subtly presented as proof that sometimes the most pious people go against their own religions. And, while Rowlandson and Bradford …show more content…
In “Young Goodman Brown,” Brown spends a majority of the story passing judgement on his fellow townspeople after realizing the secrets that they have been keeping. However, he never really stops for self-reflection. Even at his secret meeting, he says, “We are a people of prayer, and good works, to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (Hawthorne 388). It is highly hypocritical to say that he and his fellow citizens are good people when he himself is presently participating in an act of wickedness. Mary Rowlandson also exhibits some level of hypocrisy in her captivity narrative. At the end of her story, she says, “That we must rely on God Himself, and our whole dependance must be upon Him” (Rowlandson 288). She presents this as if a person must sit around and wait for God to intervene on their behalf, but several times in her narrative, Rowlandson proves to be self-reliant. She looks for her own food (Rowlandson 269) and sneaks away to find some level of liberty from the Indians (Rowlandson 274). Although she would not appreciate Hawthorne’s depiction of the Puritans, when she performs actions such as these, she proves his idea that even the most devout people sometimes go against their …show more content…
Although they have been met with hardships and many dangerous challenges, the Puritans at the end of Book One in “Of Plymouth Plantation” still “gave God thanks for His mercies” (Bradford 138). Rowlandson also maintains her Puritan standing, ending her captivity narrative with praises and promises to stay close to God (Rowlandson 288). However, goodman Brown is unable to remain so certain of his beliefs at the end of Hawthorne’s story. After all of the troubling things he has seen, he can no longer trust any of the people in his town. Because of one heinous night, goodman Brown lives the rest of his life distrusting the people of Salem. Even in church, “he could not listen, because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear, and drowned all the blessed strain” (Hawthorne 395). All he can think about is how the people of his town are not at all who they appear to be. These thoughts prevent him from being able to be properly religious himself. After seeing the dirty secrets of the other Puritans, Brown cannot sit comfortably in a congregation with them let alone live peacefully in a town with them all the way up to his own death (Hawthorne 395). As evidenced by their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Young Goodman Brown’s change in views of Deacon Gookin, Goody Cloyse, and the minister directly affect his change in interpretations of his religion. Like any other Puritan, Young Goodman Brown separated Puritans from nonbelievers. In the beginning, Young Goodman Brown believed that Puritan were not capable of committing sin and being evil, while the rest of the world was evil. Though his journey in the night, Young Goodman Brown opinion of Deacon Gookin, Goody Cloyse, and the minister changed which leads into changing his opinion of Puritanism.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (Hawthorne 1). The significance here is in strengthening the connection Faith and faith as well as demonstrating that what Young Goodman Brown is doing goes against both his wife’s wished and his religious…

    • 1433 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Not even “Goodman” Brown is excluded from becoming exposed to evil. The story depicts that religion, spirituality, and a life of morality does not disqualify anyone complete…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathanial Hawthorne takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. The time of the story takes place during puritan times, mostly meaning that everybody was going to end up with god if one does not sin. Sins do not make a person evil, because everybody sins, and Nathanial Hawthorne proves the theme everybody has sins throughout the use of symbolism, irony, and foreshadowing. One of the literary techniques Hawthorn uses to develop the theme everybody sins, is by using symbolism. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story Young Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown realizes that everyone has a capability for evil, and that there is no hope for mankind. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses ambiguity to leave the readers with questions, and to put them in a similar place of confusion and paranoia to Goodman Brown. While in the forest Goodman Brown has a run in with the devil, who shows him the maliciousness of those he had once thought pure (Hawthorne 4). He finds that nearly everyone in town had malignant intentions, but he still has hope that his Faith will be at home. When he finds her pink ribbons in the woods, he knows that she isn’t pure either and he loses hope for mankind (6).…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mary Rowlandson saw that as a sign from God because He used the Natives to bring her a Bible that she could read. Deborah J. Dietrich claimed, “Her belief in God's hand in her daily affairs enables her to generate a coherence behind the seeming chaos of her captivity and to locate meaning in otherwise arbitrary events (429). Mary realized that the Native Americans did not practice Christianity, so she began to understand that God was using the Natives as a tool to reach her and bring her comfort during her captivity. Mary Rowlandson and the Puritans believed that a small action could contribute to a larger action that God had planned for them. In her situation, receiving the Bible was a positive sign from God and that helped…

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Young Goodman Brown tells the story of Young Goodman Brown’s life in Salem. This particular writing from Hawthorne focuses on the resistance of evil and is a way for Hawthorne to show the problems with the Puritan beliefs. Just looking at the plot of Young Goodman Brown, people can see that Hawthorne’s writings all come back to his past and how he feels about his ancestors. His view about the Salem Witch Trials and people of that time can even be seen through some of the statements that he made throughout his life. At some point in Nathaniel’s life he said, “Word – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them” (Nathaniel Hawthorne Quotes 1).…

    • 1771 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When we think of religion was always think of everyone having committed little wrong doings and basically being close to perfect saints, because they have repented to please whichever deity you are choosing to serve. Hawthorne merely challenges the perception of religion through “Young Goodman Brown” he examines how we assume that those we associate with our faith can be seem to be good in our eyes however, there are some evils that can be hidden and because of our expectations religious leaders, being pastors, deacons, church members, even the people who are closest to us can put on a persona allowing us to think that they are one way, however they are living life completely different behind closed doors, or for the case of the people of Salem, in the…

    • 1607 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The great-great-grandson of an influential magistrate in the Salem witch trials, Nathaniel Hawthorne was a prominent writer in the nineteenth century who experimented with his own unique writing style to write dozens of short stories for the American audience. “Young Goodman Brown” is one of his most famous stories, in part because of its context; the Salem witch trials are a big part of American history as it was a turning point in the perspective of the Puritan faith. The story is enhanced because of Hawthorne’s genuine interest in the intricacies of faith and sin. Goodman Brown, the main character of the story, is a faithful Christian man coming from a long line of Puritan ancestors. Through Brown, Hawthorne is able to experiment with evils…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The latter part of Hawthorne’s short story focuses on how Young Goodman Brown felt after returning from the woods, and the meeting with the devil. He returns to town and ignores everyone he comes in contact with, heading straight into his house. Then, on Sabbath day, while the church goers sang holy psalms,“...he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain” (Hawthorne 12). Young Goodman Brown cannot listen to the holy psalms because of the guilt he feels inside,sitting in a holy place when he has committed a sin. Because of that, Brown became “a stern, a sad, and a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not desperate man” (12).…

    • 1461 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Loss of Faith and Innocence In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” he illustrates the duplicity of man’s mind and the struggles to understand truth. By the end of the dark story, the author does not articulate if Young Goodman Brown really took part in a heathen experience in the night described in the story or if it was all made up. Whether part of his imagination or real, the experiences of Brown changed his life forever. It changed everything he knew about faith, love, mankind and society. “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream.”…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is shown through the devils Brown has to face but also his own devils. His temptations and anger. By turning away from his community Brown unknowingly embraces the evils of insensitivity and selfishness. Hawthorne shows that human nature is a mixture of good and evil by creating an everyday character. Young Goodman Brown, who has both good and Evil thoughts (Shmoop Editorial…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The reason for this is possibly because his family’s history stretches back to the early days of the Salem Witch Trials where he became well acquainted with Puritan society. Being a master of symbolism, Hawthorne successfully conveys his message of acknowledgement of human faults and that there is as much evil in the world as there is good. Although the theme of good and evil that Hawthorne believes in does not coincide with Emerson’s belief that people are purely good, the theme of trust and faith in “Young Goodman Brown” seems to relate to both of the authors’ theories. Emerson’s support of the idea that people should believe in themselves directly opposes Hawthorne’s idea, as portrayed by Goodman Brown, which questions whether people are truly fit to make decisions for themselves. Emerson espouses the ideology of “Self-Reliance” whereas Hawthorne takes on a conformist view.…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Hidden Meaning in Everything Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the story of “Young Goodman Brown” is a dark tale written in the form of an allegory. To understand this short story, one must assume everything has a hidden meaning. On the surface, this story is about a man who ventures into the woods outside his village where he encounters a pagan ritual. Upon close reading, one discovers the story has a deeper purpose—its examination of religious beliefs. “Young Goodman Brown” symbolizes religious, seemingly moral people and their struggle to overcome temptation.…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays