Young Goodman Brown
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| "Young Goodman Brown" | |
| Author | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
|---|---|
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | short story |
| Published in | Mosses from an Old Manse |
| Publication date | 1835 |
"Young Goodman Brown" (1835) is a short story by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses one of his common themes: the conflict between good and evil in human nature and, in particular, the problem of public goodness and private wickedness.
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[edit] Plot summary
The story begins at sunset in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, with young Goodman Brown leaving his home and Faith, his wife of three months, to meet with a mysterious figure deep in the forest. As he and this mysterious figure meet and proceed further into the dark forest, it is broadly hinted that Goodman Brown's traveling companion is, in fact, the Devil, and that the purpose of their journey is to join in an unspecified but obviously unholy ritual. Goodman Brown is wavering and expresses reluctance, yet they continue on. As their journey continues Brown discovers others also proceeding to the meeting, many of them his townsfolk whom he had considered exemplary Christians, including his minister and deacon and the woman who taught him his catechism. He is astonished and disheartened and determines, once again, to turn back. But then he hears his wife's voice and realizes that she is one of the ones who is to be initiated at the meeting. Recognizing that he has lost his Faith (in both senses), he now resolves to carry out his original intention and enthusiastically joins the procession.
At the ceremony, and carried out at a flame-lit, crude rocky altar in a clearing deep in the forest, the new converts are called to come forth. He and Faith approach the altar and, as they are about to be anointed in blood to seal their alliance with wickedness, he cries out to Faith to look to heaven and resist. In the next instant he finds himself standing alone in the forest, next to the cold, wet rock.
Arriving back in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain whether his experience was real or only a dream, but he is nevertheless deeply shaken. His view of his neighbors is distorted by his memories of that night. He lives out his days an embittered and suspicious cynical man, wary of everyone around him, including his wife Faith. The story concludes with this dismal statement:
"And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave...they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom."
[edit] Analysis
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One possible moral of the story pertains not so much to young Goodman Brown's encounter with "evil" but rather to the way he personally deals with his experience/dream. Hawthorne clearly invokes the idea of spectral evidence in Brown's reactions: Brown is never fully certain as to whether his adventure with the devil was a figment of his imagination or reality.
Another interpretation of the piece is that Hawthorne is criticizing the nature of Puritan doctrine. One might assume that when Young Goodman Brown resists Satan's communion and urges his Faith to "look up to Heaven" he would be able to return to his former life and enjoy a state of faithful bliss. But this is clearly not the case and Brown spends the rest of his days suffering from a deep suspicion of all those around; he is never able to settle for himself whether or not that which he saw in the woods was real, and whether or not those around him are of as pure heart as they seem. Yet another possible interpretation is that Hawthorne is highlighting the disillusionment that many Christians face at some point in their spiritual journey. Young Goodman Brown sees those who were thought to be the most exemplary Christians participating in the Satanic rituals. This is most disheartening to Brown and is underscored by the revelation that Faith herself is duplicitous. At the end of the story, Faith is preserved, but the effects of Young Goodman Brown's disillusionment are perpetual cynicism and a sense of gloom and despair that overshadows him even to the grave.
Another interpretation is that the name Goodman Brown is like Mr. Smith (or John Doe) in today's time. This could mean that Goodman Brown represents all men, the decision all men have to make between good and evil, and how that choice affects their lives.
[edit] Critical response and impact
Herman Melville said "Young Goodman Brown" was "as deep as Dante" and Henry James called it a "magnificent little romance".[1] Hawthorne himself believed the story made no more impact than any of his tales. Years later he wrote, "These stories were published... in Magazines and Annuals, extending over a period of ten or twelve years, and comprising the whole of the writer's young manhood, without making (so far as he has ever been aware) the slightest impression on the public."[2] Contemporary critic Edgar Allan Poe disagreed, referring to Hawthorne's short stories as "the products of a truly imaginative intellect".[3]
Many short stories exploring meetings with the Devil could be seen as being inspired by 'Young Goodman Brown'.[citation needed] One example is Stephen King's "The Man in the Black Suit", which King describes in his collection Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales as a homage to Hawthorne's story. King's piece also deals with a Satanic meeting in the woods, subsequent confusion over the reality of the encounter, and ill-effects on an aged protagonist.
[edit] References
- ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem Is My Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991. ISBN 0877453322. p. 119
- ^ McFarland, Philip. Hawthorne in Concord. New York: Grove Press, 2004. ISBN 0802117767. p. 22
- ^ Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. ISBN 0801857309. p. 334
[edit] External links
- Young Goodman Brown, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Summary of Young Goodman Brown
- Unabridged reading of Young Goodman Brown by B.J. Harrison of The Classic Tales Podcast
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