Literature and Stylistic Devices
Literature, as one would argue, has its unique stylistic devices that authors use to convey messages. Sometimes the message can be hidden in the play or story while on other occasions the message can be direct from the onset. One such incident in which the central theme is hidden halfway into the game is the Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown and Other Stories. In his endowed literary career, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) authored captivating short stories of enduring appeal. For instance, his first main publication, many years before the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, became the 1837 collection Twice-Told Tales which gave the New England author instant fame from mighty authorities like Edgar Allan Poe.
The Central Theme of "Young Goodman Brown"
In the Short story, “Young Goodman Brown” one can argue that the main theme of the story is found in the phrase that says “the fiend in his shape is less hideous than when he rages in the breast of man (30). It is in this passage that Goodman Brown gives up in attempts to resist the devil enticements, taking up its staff, and moves into the ceremony, forms the central theme of the story which is Puritan Hypocrisy.
The Setting and Puritanism
Hawthorne sets “Young Goodman Brown” in Salem village of New England; a place where the Puritans attempted to build a sacred society with strict norms and religious morals but in the same society where the scandalous Witch Trial happened. The Puritans assumed that certain groups of people are preordained by the Deity to have a place in heaven and that such class of people is distinguishable by their deeds of piousness and morality (24-25). The Puritans argued that one cannot earn his slot in heaven by practising well in daily life but that a normal being if part of the elect will unconsciously and unsurprisingly do good to make their way to heaven.
Puritan Hypocrisy
Hitherto to the belief, the Puritan communities were fully attentive on the value and the need of the outward look of goodness, trusting that it was a depiction of the inner goodness, as such being a symbol of a person’s chances of heavenly redemption, and being involved in matters social policing in evaluating factors considered as good. It is Hawthorne’s setting which reveals the dark side of the Puritan’s doctrine, stressing on the appearance of good which best explains the central theme of the story, “Puritan Hypocrisy” (24-26).
Goodman Brown's Beliefs and Descent into Darkness
At the commencement of the story, Goodman Brown considers fully Puritan tenets as true even though he at the time is a victim of falsehood as he tries lying to his wife, Faith. He tells Faith that he is on a business trip when he is moving into the forest out of inquisitiveness to be part of the Witch’s meeting. Goodman Brown assumes that his wife, Faith is so pure and in the perfect goodness that her actions and speech emit pureness. Such is the belief he has towards other people in his society too.
He is so preoccupied with the goodness of the society that he assumes that after his involvement with the devil, he would still get back home and remain a good man as he had always been and continue living with his flawless wife and that she will be part of his company to heaven. However, the obsession is short-lived when he gets into the forest. He realises that the whole town, as well as Faith, whom he had assumed, was resistant to sin are part of the conference and are “Friends of the devil.” In total disbelief, Goodman Brown settles on the opinion that everyone is evil and that “sin” has no meaning as everyone sinful (27-28).
The Aftermath of Goodman Brown's Journey
As he gets back to the town, he changes from the happy young newlywed he had been before he went to the forest. He gets bitter, stern, gloomy, and mistrusts the “good” appearances of every person in his environment. He sees sin everywhere, manifesting underneath his environment (34).
It can be assumed that part of the shame and horror Goodman Brown undergoes when he gets back to Salem may be attributed to his sensation of weakness that he had easily succumbed to evil. Initially, he denies the devil while he believes his society holds to doing good and abiding by it after being shown one by one from top church officials to his junior and young members like his wife, he gives up and grabs hold of the devil’s staff. Arguably, the change that embeds him after either waking up from his dream or getting back from the trip in the forest can be somewhat be expounded by his shame for having given easily and intensely into evil (33-34).
The Nature of Humanity and Puritanism
Likewise in the contemporary society, Goodman’s revelation that humanity is sinful is in a way so true; of course, as the adage goes “none is perfect and that everyone has fallen short of the glory of the Deity.” And that is the exact position of human nature. It is in the phrase that Hawthorne puts clear his widespread criticism of Puritanism. Goodman, for example, believes that through his dream or the real experience in the dark forest enabled him to have a clear view of the lies struck in his religion as so he neglects it. However, the story does not bring out his actions as an achievement, but as a misfortune, and after that, he lives a life of despair, nervousness, distrust, and grief (34).
Conclusion
In summary, the story depicts that there are some unfounded facts about Puritanism and its internal logic, the kind that it requires all goodness or none, ideal purity or eternally damned sin. Such a world, the story submits, is one that conflicts the true nature of the human being, where no person who follows every doctrine to the letter can have an enjoyable life as it is impossible to lead a perfect life. As the American art, Mr. Gutzon Borglum once said: “Puritanism has made us self-centred and hypocritical for so long, that sincerity and reverence for what is natural in our impulses have been fairly bred out of us, with the result that there can be neither truth nor individuality in our art."
Work Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Young Goodman Brown and Other Stories, Dover, 1992, pp. 24-34.
