“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Expository Writing)

Young Goodman Brown : A Critical Analysis

Was everything but a dream or was it real ? Goodman Brown experiences dreary adventures and peculiar happenings in the forest . However Hawthorne keeps the question clearly open whether Goodman Brown 's experiences in the forest are real or just imagined . Young Goodman Brown is a story of rebellion against belief and about the issue of having strong faith during the Puritan Period

Young Goodman Brown , one of the greatest works done in American literature , is a short story published in 1835 . Because of its time of

br emergence , it is obviously influenced by Puritan ideas . The story gives too much emphasis on the issues of witchcraft an idea and practice which is not acceptable to everyone . Although Hawthorne 's work is fictional , it is still based on the prevailing atmosphere in Salem which is the setting of the story

The climactic part in the story obviously revolves around Goodman Brown 's experiences in the forest . Goodman Brown , as the story 's protagonist , obviously represents human beings confronted with temptations . He delves into the forest because of curiosity . The forest as everyone perceives it , represents darkness . Darkness , so to speak , is actually associated with sin and evil , danger , confusion , obscurity , and the unknown . As stated earlier , the story actually is about belief and faith . The mere fact that Goodman Brown journeys into the forest , shows his curiosity about the things that could be found in there . Literally speaking , he really finds something different , dangerous , and evil in the forest . However , in reading between the lines , Goodman Brown 's curiosity about the forest resembles a lot his curiosity about the things that happen around him : his society . In the forest , Goodman Brown meets evil in the face of peculiar man with a staff . This proves that in the real world , so to speak , people will also meet evil and even more encounter danger when they try to live differently and take a different path ' in life . When Goodman Brown left Faith , his wife , he literally left his faith . Faith technically represents the virtue of faithfulness . When Brown leaves Faith , he , technically and literally leaves his faith ' behind . He goes into the forest unarmed . All he has is his curiosity and interest about things . For him to be able to do this , he has to clear his mind of other baggage which makes him still live with what is socially accepted . His moves and chooses to try his luck in the forest because of the thought that through it , he will find new and better things . In other words , Young Goodman Brown seeks change and that is his primary motivation

Brown 's curiosity prods him to seek knowledge and eventually finds adventure . He , technically , goes into the forbidden zone and learns from it . In the forest , he finds and learns about witchcraft and the practice of it . This experience brings about changes in him . His time in the forest obviously affects his well - being . He becomes a stern...