Mosses from an Old Manse

but it also represents mocking of authority and traditional social hierarchy. The author of the article, Selina Jamil, gives multiple reasons as to why she believes that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s piece has strong use of carnivalesque. She uses quotes from both the original story, and another critique by Mikhail Bakhtin. Jamil’s main arguments focuses on the witch meeting that happens in the story. She uses many comparisons as to why the meeting mocks authority, more specifically the authority…

The piece of literature chosen for this close reading is Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born July 4th in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, the location chosen for the setting of Young Goodman Brown. Hawthorne is known for is his works that contain haunting details that focus on the depravity of man, yet are skilfully crafted. The use of detail and many times allegory in Hawthorne’s stories makes him one of the most studied writers. This is to be expected as…

of a hand-shaped birthmark on his wife’s right cheek that previously did not bother him. As time goes on, the birthmark occupies Aylmer’s thoughts increasingly and begins to damage Georgiana’s beauty in his eyes. Georgiana’s birthmark transforms from a mark that Aylmer “contented…with washing away” to something that he chose to be the “symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (1022). The growing distress of Aylmer’s feelings and Georgiana’s anxieties towards the…

most famous authors that write about this era is none other than Nathaniel Hawthorne. In his story Young Goodman Brown Hawthorne uses setting, symbolism, theme, and mood to describe a man’s struggle in fighting evil’s urges to make him stray away from his faith. Especially, in a time where religious control and accusations were at an all time high. Although this story is fiction, it may be a good depiction of how some individuals felt psychologically during such social disorder. Every story…

545) He comes back to the town "projecting his guilt onto those around him." (Tritt 114) Brown expresses his discomfort with his new surroundings and his excessive pride when he takes a child away from a blessing given by Goody Cloyse, his former Catechism teacher, as if he were taking the child "from the grasp of the fiend himself." His anger towards the community is exemplified when he sees Faith who is overwhelmed with excitement to see him and he looks "sternly and sadly into her face,…

Belong” Jon sings the lyrics: Until I die I’ll sing these songs on the shores of Babylon. The term Babylon is an allegory, he is substituting the term this place or his life. Nevertheless, He is comparing the lives of the exiled Jews in Babylon, from the Old Testament of the Bible to himself, a Christian.The Jews were not in a place of belonging,…

instead he lost all his faith in God. After seeing so many pious towns people and his wife at the devils meeting Young Goodman Brown now sees humanity as neither good or bad but is a mixture of both. Brown not able to face his subconscious thoughts from his dream ultimately loses his faith and believes that everyone around him is neither good nor evil. Believing this he lives the remainder of his life in dread and in…

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…

Nathaniel Hawthorne can be considered one of the most important writers of the Dark Romanticism movement in American literature. Most of his writings were settled in the Puritan New England and, as a result, aimed to show the inherent evil existing inside of the Puritans and human beings (Bell 107-8). “Young Goodman Brown” is one of these tales in which the protagonist starts a trip to the forest where we are shown this evil and depravity inside human beings. Although Brown feels how he loses…

places detrimental effects on innocent individuals, such as Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail’s demeaning actions towards others in society strengthen her immoral personality as she transgresses into living an even more immoral life. Her transformation differs from that of the protagonists because the protagonists transform into living far more moral lives than immoral lives. A similar transformation can be seen in The Scarlet Letter, when Chillingworth transforms into a despicable individual because…