In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts a man who is running away from his faith. Brown leaves his wife Faith to go on a journey into the forest with an "evil purpose." (Paragraph 8) On this journey, Brown encounters a mysterious man who claims to have known both Brown's father and grandfather. As they walked deeper into the forest, they see Brown's old catechism teacher goody Cloyse who calls this mysterious man "the devil" (Paragraph 30) and yet goes on like she's known him for years. As they walk even further into the forest, they encounter the deacon and minister of Brown's church who seem to be going to a meeting of some sort. There is a fire burning deep into the forest and Brown sees everyone from town, including Faith and goody Cloyse, gathered around it. A dark figure brings Brown and Faith to the top of a rock and prepares for a marriage or baptism for them, but with red water. As Faith is about to receive her baptism, Brown calls for her to "Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!" (Paragraph 68) Soon after he yells this, Brown is in the forest, not knowing whether his encounter was a dream or reality. When he goes back home, he sees everyone in a darker light. Brown goes on with his life and dies an old man whose "dying hour was gloom." (Paragraph 72)
In "Young Goodman Brown," allegory and symbolism play a large role in Hawthorne's views on religion. Goodman Brown has a test of faith where he encounters "the devil." All the townspeople seem to know him and be okay with the fact that he's the devil. Brown, however, goes against the devil and all the townspeople by refusing to see his wife convert to the devil's side and telling her to "Look up to Heaven." (Paragraph 68) Nathaniel Hawthorne sees religion as something you have to believe in, and not have any concrete facts to tell you to believe in it. Brown believes in his faith even though he sees everyone else converting to the devil's side. Goodman Brown feels his wife start to lose her innocence by losing her "pink ribbons" (Paragraph 70) and his catechism teacher lose her credibility by being associated with the devil. However, Brown's "dying hour was gloom." (Paragraph 72) Brown refused to side with the devil, and everyone else did. Everyone else was able to sin and have all these vices where Brown couldn't. He just sees everyone else as sinners and himself as pure. Hawthorne sees religion as what you make of it. People sin and still remain faithful to their religion, so you don't have to be completely pure in order to have faith.
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Your ideas are good but since this was supposed to be like a mini-paper, the paragraphs are not very coherent. The first part of the blog is mostly a summary of what happened, which isn't very productive unless you explain the significance of the quotes that you chose. If I'm not mistaken, your thesis is at the start of the second part of the blog which says "allegory and symbolism play a large role in Hawthorne's views on religion". "Large role" is too vague, in fact, the whole sentence kind of begs the questions: "so what? How did allegory and symbolism play a part in Hawthorne's religious views?" This thesis is a bit broad for you to argue.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't think Brown believes in his faith; after seeing the holy men and the good townspeople in the forest, Brown began to doubt faith and other things that he used to believe in. The part where you said "everyone else was able to sin and have all these vices where Brown couldn't" is not a strong statement- unless you can use examples to prove that everyone else had sinned and that Brown saw himself as completely pure because he didn't sin.
The second to last sentence, "Hawthorne sees religion as what you make of it", is a rather informal and you're just throwing it out there without having evidence to support it. Moreover, this sentence stands out because the transition isn't very well.
The last sentence is confusing because you spent a good portion of the paragraph to talk about Brown's pureness and his rejection of the devil, and all of a sudden, in the end you jumped to say that people don't have to be completely pure in order to have faith.
So, overall, you have some good ideas, but things are sort of all over the place.
I was confused at the end of the story as to whether or not Brown was inducted into the coven of We-Love-God-But-Through-The-Devil and of coursed whether or not the entire event even conspired. My former statement carries the repercussions of Brown either sinning in self-hating sin or being pure in a world of sin as you state. I don't think that he completed the incitation process as he would have been able to partake in the probable party afterwards, but that he continued a life of sin or at least wasn't pure.
ReplyDeleteStating them, I realize that they seem to conflict. I think the answer lies in the duality, the synonymification (a word I just created, if Shakespeare can steal plays and make up words I can at least do one…) of good and evil in the story. Perhaps Brown realizes that they are indeed one in the same, dependent upon perspective and this is what causes him to become bitter for the rest of his life. Also I think, as Ms. Mcmann explained, 'Judgment' is an important theme as well; maybe it's Brown's judgment of the others around him that leads to subsequent elevation of his moral character and disdain in being in a sin filled world, after all it was him alone who resisted sin.
I agree with Babar when he mentions how judgment is one of the major themes of the story. Seeing the state of Goodman Brown is a strong indicator of his judging demeanor towards the rest of the village, especially since he isn't even sure that he saw all of the things (such as congregation with the devil). This sort of blind judgment is one of the primary problems of religion today because people wrongly accuse others based off of something that might not have occurred (maybe from racial or religious stereotypes).
ReplyDeleteYour statement of "Everyone else was able to sin and have all these vices where Brown couldn't. He just sees everyone else as sinners and himself as pure" gives a subtle point in your argument that isn't well enforced. It seems you spent the first paragraph on retelling the story while using the second to introduce your argument that lacks analysis.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, your point on his dying day being filled with gloom is an important observation because he sees himself as pure and the rest as sinners could be a reason why he lived a saddened life for the rest of his days. The question still remains of weather the midnight encounter was a real event.