Goodman
What is theme? Theme is what the author is
saying about the subject of the
story. In "Young Goodman Brown" the subject
of the story is hypocrisy.
In "Young Goodman Brown", Hawthorne writes in
detail how hypocrisy can
change a person for the worse. In the opening pages
of the story you can see how
hypocrisy is already starting to change Goodman
Brown for the worse. As he
starts out on his errand that he has to run,
Goodman Brown decides to walk as
Hawthorne puts it "A dreary road
darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the
forest, which barely stood aside
to let the narrow path creep through, and
closed immediately behind." (141).
The forest is an important symbol in
this story. The forest symbolizes evil
and it symbolizes evil because of the
darkness of the forest. As Goodman
Brown and his companion continue their
journey through the dark forest
Goodman Brown starts to realize this
"errand" that he is running is no
ordinary one. Goodman Brown knows
that he is doing something scorned down on
by Puritan beliefs as he says the
following: "My father ever went into the
woods on such an errand, nor his
father before him. We have been have been a
race of honest men and good
Christians since the days of the martyrs. And
shall I be the first of the name
of Brown that has ever took this path and
kept." (141). So basically what
he is saying in that quote is that he knows
what he is doing is wrong, but he
doesn't care. Goodman Brown is hard to
convince that his family and the Puritans
in general are not as righteous and
pure as he thinks they are. The companion
tries endlessly to convince Goodman
Brown that his own family is not as
"pure" as it seems. The traveler tells
Goodman some stories of his own
family doing dirty things such as setting
fire to an Indian Village and lashing
a Quaker woman. However Goodman does
still not believe any of what the traveler
is saying. Continuing on the path
Brown and his companion stumble upon Deacon
Gookin and his Goody Cloyse
and Goodman is astonished by this because he would
have never thought that
the good wife would be so far in the forest that late at
night. By seeing the
good wife in the forest at that time of night makes Goodman
not want to go
on. While sitting on a stump, Goodman yells out "Friend, my
mind is made up.
Not another step wills I budge on this errand. What if a
wretched old woman
choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to
Heaven! Is that
any reason why I should quit my dear Faith and go after
her?" (143) Basically
he is quitting what the errand because he senses that
what the companion has
told him is to eat at him. In other words the hypocrisy
is starting to enter
his soul and he is trying to keep it from doing that by
stopping the journey.
Another example of what Hawthorne is saying about
hypocrisy in the story is
the part where Goodman hears what the Deacon says as
he passes by in the
carriage. Goodman is astonished by the words he hears coming
from the
carriage. Also Brown is amazed that the Deacon would have traveled that
far
into the dark and dreary forest. As Hawthorne puts it "Young
Goodman
Brown caught hold of a tree, for support, being ready to sink to
the ground,
faint and over-burthened with the heavy sickness of his heart. He
looked up to
the sky doubting whether there really was a Heaven above him."
(144)
Basically Goodman cannot believe what he just heard from the
leaders of the
Religion of the puritans; he is amazed that impurity lies
within the most
religious people of the Puritans. It makes him believe what
the companion told
him about pureness. Seeing all of this makes him say that
if no one else wants
to stand true to the beliefs of the puritans, not even
the Deacon himself, then
he was going to be the one who does. Moreover
witnessing all of that Goodman
finally understands that purity is no longer
what all mankind strives for. As
Brown stands their he looks up to see
what was once a blue sky has suddenly
turned gray. This Gray sky symbolizes
the impurity or hypocrisy that has taken
over the earth. Goodman also hears
sounds from the cloud, which also represent
deceit and wickedness. Goodman is
really bothered by this and he says, "My
Faith is gone there is no good
on earth, and sin is but a name. Come Devil! for
to thee the world given."
(145). All Goodman is saying is that the devil
can come and take over the
world because it is full of sin and wickedness. In
the same way as the others
who have given into hypocrisy Goodman himself now
gives into the hypocrisy.
Hawthorne writes, "In truth all through the
haunted forest there could be
nothing more frightening than the figure of
Goodman Brown." This is
Hawthorn's cunning way of saying that Goodman he
turned for the worse Brown
has now at this point done a complete 360 of his
usual pure ways and runs
around the forest making obscene gestures and terrible
remarks. Hypocrisy has
swamped Goodman's soul to the point where he has a dream
that these couples
gets converted from Christians to Devil Worshipers and are
encouraged to not
to look to God but look to the Devil for Guidance and follow
the ways of the
devil. Hawthorne writes a line to show my point, "Faith!
Faith! look up
to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!" So in other words
don't look to god is
what Hawthorne is saying. In conclusion "Young Goodman
Brown" is a story
about hypocrisy and how it came corrupt the purest of
peoples minds if they
choose to let it in. This story also shows that even
though puritans all may
act "pure" on the outside, they aren't really
as pure as everybody makes them
out to be.