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Taghap 1
Jazzelle Taghap
Dr. Cusick
ENG 102-510
15 August 2023
The Use of Symbolism to Describe Good vs. Evil
“Young Goodman Brown” is a dark gothic short story written by Nathanial Hawthorne. The story takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts and through the woods towards Boston, Massachusetts. The main character, Goodman Brown, is a Puritan and ventures into the woods to pursue an errand that goes against his beliefs. He leaves his wife, Faith, and promises to become a better man after his one night journey. As we follow Goodman Brown through the woods, we are introduced to an elder man and Goody Cloyse, who later reveals herself as a witch and claims that the elder man is the devil himself. At the end of the story, Brown’s journey concludes with his return to home and a different belief. This is because he does not trust any of the townspeople or the minister, and does not love his wife the same. Goodman Brown lives in distrust, gloom, and fear. Nathanial Hawthorne’s use of symbolism in “Young Goodman Brown” reflects the idea of good versus evil by describing the setting of the story and the religion of the character
, comparing the character’s home to the woods
, and through each character description
.
Nathanial Hawthorne uses the setting to reflect good versus evil based on how he describes it to set the tone of the story. The setting is important because it takes place during the Salem witch-hunts and is based on Puritan beliefs that are inherently more traditional and conservative. Puritans believed that a person cannot choose salvation, as God is the only one allowed to have that privilege. In the story, Goodman Brown justifies
his journey with the belief that it will resolve his future and dreams that he and his wife share. During his travels, Brown is met with an old man who claims that Brown’s paternal ancestors took part in the same journey of evil doing and as a rebuttal, Brown tells the man, “We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness." (Hawthorne 2). Brown believes that he and his ancestors are good people because they are not the kind who would seek evil given that he and his family are Puritans. If the story took place in modern times, the outcome of the character’s choices and beliefs would be different given that the assumption is that his beliefs would be filtered through a modernized Christian perspective. Brown would be forgiven for any sins he had committed during his journey as long as he would pray for forgiveness. However, being a Puritan, Brown knows that he cannot ask for forgiveness and be granted it because he believes that he cannot seek salvation.
a.
Secondary source: Write your O
pinion about Topic 1 – this should be multiple sentences
Hawthorne also uses settings and religion to be symbolic of good and evil in his other works. In Maria Stromberg’s essay, “Hawthorne’s Black Man: Image of Social Evil,” she studies Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter.” In this story, Hawthorne also uses Puritan belief to reflect good versus evil in a metaphorical way. He also describes that the antagonist of this story resides in the woods, in a similar fashion that the elder man from
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“Young Goodman Brown” was encountered in the woods.
b.
Find a citation (fact) E
xample from outside source source(s) to support your opinion (Put “…” marks and cite with author’s name and page #)
“Nina Baym suggests that used the fantastical world of Puritan belief as a metaphor to describe the inner world of the soul.” (Stromberg 274)
Hawthorn is “constantly referring them to the context of a society and a world in which they take part and which they are inescapably related. It does not seem far-fetched to declare that Hawthorne uses the symbols of Puritan religion to express the evil that exists in any society.” (Strongberg 274)
c.
State why this fact is correct by expressing through restating (Summary of your ideas and link to the next idea)
Between the two stories, Hawthorn makes use of the known and unknown to determine what is good and evil based on the belief of the Puritans. Both stories written by Hawthorne have similar actions where the protagonist
leaves the town they live in to venture into the uncanny wilderness.
Hawthorne also uses symbolism to compare Goodman Brown’s home to the woods. The town of Salem where Brown resides symbolizes safety and familiarity. His home is where all things good in which he believes live, such as his wife and the minister. Whereas the woods he travels through to get to Boston represents the unfamiliar
and unsafe. The woods is described as gloomy and dreary with narrow paths and having a
“peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that, with lonely footsteps, he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude.” (Hawthorne 2). The woods also embodies darkness, which can also be associated with evil. This is especially the case given that Goodman states, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" (Hawthorne 1).
This symbolism is important to Hawthorne’s message of the woods being equivalent to evil because Goodman associates familiarity with security and safety, and being in the woods represents feeling unsafe. This leads him to be insecure in his beliefs.
a.
Secondary Source: Write your O
pinion about Topic 2 – this should be multiple sentences
In Stromberg’s essay “Hawthorne’s Black Man: Image of Social Evil” it is noted that the antagonist resides in the woods whereas the other characters who encounter him reside in the city. This also implies that the woods is symbolic of a source of evil as it is unfamiliar to the townspeople and the city in which the townspeople reside
is a representation of good because of its familiarity.
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b.
Find a citation (fact) E
xample from outside source source(s) to support your opinion (Put “…” marks and cite with author’s name and page #)
“Those who meet him are those who have left the city and ventured into the wilderness of nature, where, as is abundantly clear, good and evil exist, but not in references to the human person. The person who ventures into that wilderness risks losing his connection to humanity, and the symbol of this is the blood that must be shed to sign the Black Man’s book.” (Stromberg 275)
c.
State why this fact is correct by expressing through restating (Summary of your ideas and link to the next idea)
The comparison of home and the woods is prevalent in “The Scarlet Letter” as it was in “Young Goodman Brown.” Those who ventured through the woods sought evil and went against their Puritan belief. This can be concluded from Stromberg’s essay where those who ventured into the wilderness to meet the Black Man were embedded with a mark after they wrote their name in his
notebook. Throughout the story we are introduced to specific characters. Nathaniel Hawthorne symbolizes good and evil through their descriptions and what they represent in terms of the protagonist. Goodman Brown’s wife is representative of pure beliefs given
her name, Faith, is an allegory to that very pillar of his character in relation to his religious beliefs. She is introduced in the beginning of the story before Brown leaves for his journey and is described as wearing pink ribbons in her hair. It can be insinuated that those ribbons are symbolic of innocence and youth. The first encounter Brown had in the woods was with an elder man who held a staff that “bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought, that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent.” (Hawthorne 2). The staff represents the temptation of evil doing in Brown’s journey because the man offers Brown the opportunity to hold it as guidance to the rituals they seek to participate in. The man claims he had been waiting for Brown’s arrival and Brown states “Faith kept me back a while…” (Hawthorne 2) which could be a
double entendre in regards to Faith pleading for him not to leave. This can also be in regards to how hesitant he was to walk this route since he pondered for a reason to justify
his actions. Another character Brown is met with is Goody Cloyse. She represents victims of those who were convicted and hanged during the Salem witch trials and was later identified by Brown as his mentor since his adolescence. “Goodman Brown recognized a very pious and exemplary dame, who had taught him his catechism in youth, and was still his moral and spiritual adviser, jointly with the minister and Deacon Gookin.” (Hawthorne 3). Goody Cloyse also identifies and calls the elder man the devil when met with the two of them. This can be confirmed when the elder man responds to
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her claim, “Then Goody Cloyse knows her old friend?” observed the traveler, confronting
her, and leaning on his writhing stick.” (Hawthorne 3). Based on the writing of Nathanial Hawthorne’s story, we can insinuate that the allegory describes these characters in the matter of good versus evil. The symbolism of the two characters Brown interacts with for
the most part of his journey, the elder man and Goody Cloyse, reflect hypocrisy because the association of wrongdoing is antithetical to traditional Puritan belief.
a.
Secondary Source: Write your O
pinion about Topic 3 – this should be multiple sentences
The description of characters in “The Scarlet Letter” are
symbolic of good and evil just as the characters were in “Young Goodman Brown.” The negative connotations related to the character known as the Black Man, symbolize that this character is only an entity, not even a physical being, and does not represent good. The character, Mistress Hibbins, is represented as evil as well
because she is a witch and is also the physical being that represents the Black Man. b.
Find a citation (fact) E
xample from outside source source(s) to support your opinion (Put “…” marks and cite with author’s name and page #)
“The mysterious figure of the Black Man never makes a statement as to his existence; all references to him exist simply in the mouths of the characters.” (Stromberg 274)
“Mistress Hibbins is unrelated to the main action of the story, to the psychological struggle of the four principal characters, but she remains an important figure because she is the living instance of the social evil that is represented in the image of the Black Man.” (Stromberg 275)
c.
State why this fact is correct by expressing through restating (Summary of your ideas and link to the next idea)
The Black man and Mistress Hibbins are the key characters to symbolize evil. They are similar to the elder
man and Goody Cloyse in “Young Goodman Brown.” The Black Man and his book are similar to the elder man
and his staff because they both represent a form of temptation. Mistress Hibbins is similar to Goody Cloyse because they are both witches and the aid to evil-doings.
Nathanial Hawthorne’s use of symbolism in “Young Goodman Brown” reflects the idea of good versus evil to implement the tone of the story. It can be decided that the town of Salem, even with a miniscule description, is a safe haven for Brown since he is intimate with the town and the people who reside alongside him. The setting of the story, being the woods, is portrayed to be uncanny. Throughout the story, we learn that the woods become more unsettling to Brown because the deeper he ventured, "the road grew
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wilder and drearier and more faintly traced, and vanished at length, leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness, still rushing onward with the instinct that guides mortal man to evil.” (Hawthorne 6). Hawthorne also described important characters in a way where readers can insinuate the characters we meet are not who we would suspect them to be. We discover at the end of the story that Brown had witnessed the rituals of a witch meeting and the elder man and Goody Cloyse were participants as the three of them were addressed with a greeting stating; “Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome again, my children, to the communion of your race.” (Hawthorne 8).
With this said, it can be confirmed that the characters met with the protagonist are the aids to guide him away from his Puritan beliefs and furthermore into evil doing.
We can conclude that this is a writing style for Hawthorne by studying his other works. Given the information from Maria Stromberg’s essay, “Hawthorne’s Black Man: Image of Social Evil” we can find key similarities in “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Scarlet Letter” where Hawthorne uses symbolism to describe good versus evil. He does this by describing the setting and religion to set the initial tone, comparing the protagonists’ home to the woods, and by describing key characters and their roles in both stories.
At the end of “Young Goodman Brown,” he returns to his town in Salem. He is conflicted with his thoughts, unsure if he had legitimately saw or dreamt of witnessing the rituals that took place the night prior. This leads him to become anxious and paranoid of the home he felt the most secure and stable. When he sees his wife, Faith, upon his arrival, he does not greet her and instead walks past her with a look of shame. When the minister preached on the Sabbath day, Brown was filled with distrust because he could not hear the words of the Bible and only could only hear the words of sin. Goodman Brown passes away having lived a life of gloom after his journey through the woods.
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Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathanial. “Young Goodman Brown.”
PDF. Stromberg, M. (2009). Hawthorne's Black Man: Image of Social Evil.
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