In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne published a short story, Young Goodman Brown. Over the years, many critics have agreed that Young Goodman Brown is one of Hawthorne 's best works. However, one thing they cannot all seem to agree upon is, what does the story mean? Some say the story aims to “the reality of sin, the pervasiveness of evil, the secret sin and hypocrisy of all persons, the hypocrisy of Puritanism, the results of doubt or disbelief, the devastating effects of moral skepticism, or the demoralizing effects of the discovery that all men are sinners and hypocrites” (McKeithan 93). Furthermore, Hawthorne may have used the story as a polemic to denounce the puritans.
To start, the story begins at sunset in “the street of Salem village” (Hawthorne). Young Goodman Brown, the protagonist, parts with his wife, Faith. She is wearing pink ribbons on her cap, which plays a part in the story. As Mr. Brown …show more content…
“The cry of grief, rage, and terror, was yet piercing the night” as he stormed through the forest searching for Faith (Hawthorne). Rushing through the forest, he spots something fluttering through the air. The enigmatic object lands on the branch of a tree. Young Goodman seizes a pink ribbon. “‘My Faith is gone!’” Goodman cries (Hawthorne). With the pink ribbon in his hand, he storms to this secretive meeting, that his deceiving friends are attending.
Goodman Brown comes upon “an open space, hemmed in by the dark wall of the forest, arose a rock, bearing some rude, natural resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an evening meeting” (Hawthorne). There he saw “the council-board of the province and others which, Sabbath after Sabbath, looked devoutly heavenward, and benignantly over the crowded pews, from the holiest pulpits in the land”
To start, the story begins at sunset in “the street of Salem village” (Hawthorne). Young Goodman Brown, the protagonist, parts with his wife, Faith. She is wearing pink ribbons on her cap, which plays a part in the story. As Mr. Brown …show more content…
“The cry of grief, rage, and terror, was yet piercing the night” as he stormed through the forest searching for Faith (Hawthorne). Rushing through the forest, he spots something fluttering through the air. The enigmatic object lands on the branch of a tree. Young Goodman seizes a pink ribbon. “‘My Faith is gone!’” Goodman cries (Hawthorne). With the pink ribbon in his hand, he storms to this secretive meeting, that his deceiving friends are attending.
Goodman Brown comes upon “an open space, hemmed in by the dark wall of the forest, arose a rock, bearing some rude, natural resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an evening meeting” (Hawthorne). There he saw “the council-board of the province and others which, Sabbath after Sabbath, looked devoutly heavenward, and benignantly over the crowded pews, from the holiest pulpits in the land”