The Weakness of Public Morality in “Young Goodman Brown”

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is an intriguing and compelling tale that easily attempts to explain good versus bad. Goodman Brown, along with his wife Faith, lives in a Salem Village. The tale begins with Goodman Brown explaining to his wife that he must fly for the night and then return. He tells Faith to pray and go to bed early, and all will be well. Goodman Brown gets in touch with a man who is later discovered to be the devil while stopping in the jungle. At first Goodman Brown denies the devils temptation for Faith’s sake but when he goes to the devils ceremony he realizes that Faith and many other respected individuals had also been tempted. In between the story “Young Goodman Brown” there is the use of symbolism and themes throughout to emphasize the temptation of the devil.

One of the most obvious symbols in the story is the serpent staff. The serpent has been a symbol of evil since biblical times. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis there is a story of Eve being tempted by a serpent to eat fruit when God said not to eat from the garden. The serpent then tried to tempt Eve through the words (Holy Bible, p3),

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent proclaimed to Eve.

“Because God knows that if you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”

Much like the Bible, the serpent staff tempted Goodman Brown. Once Goodman Brown made the decision to take the staff he was damned for his weak spot resulting in him trailing his virtue. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s decision to include the serpent demonstrates his desire to incorporate an evil object in the story. Many people understand the serpent as an evil object; therefore it is a symbol of a characters temptation of evil.

The darkness can also be considered as an important symbol used in the story. As Goodman Brown travels he gets deeper into the forest and the further he goes the darker it gets. The darkness and the depth of his travel through the woods represent Goodman Brown’s deeper involvement with evil. The further away Goodman Brown gets away from the light the more the he becomes separated from his religion. When Goodman Brown had been separated himself from everyone, he looked up to the heavens to pray a cloud "hurried across the zenith and hid the brightening stars” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama by Hawthorne (2008). The clouds covering the light of the sky demonstrates Goodman Browns religion being taken from him. Hawthorne uses darkness as an association with evil because it is the opposite of the light associated with the heavens.

The pink ribbon that Faith tied on her cap is symbolic to her purity. Faith’s ribbons are mentioned a lot of times by Hawthorne at the start of the story to emphasize her nature with youthfulness and cheerfulness. The symbol of the ribbon is reintroduced with Goodman Brown while in the forest under pressure from the doubts he had on himself on the honesty of those he knew. As soon this pink ribbon is seen in the sky, Goodman understands this as an indication that Faith has been taken by the devil and shed her innocence and purity. The story ends with Faith and Goodman meeting as Goodman leaves the forest and Faith has back the pink ribbon a sign that faith has gotten back her innocence as she was depicted during the commencement of the tale. The return of the ribbon causes Goodman Brown to doubt his experiences considering that the encounter with the devil might be a dream.

In the book, evil is also revealed where Hawthorne reveals what appears to him as the corruptibility that rises from the emphasis of Puritan regarding the morality of the society, which always makes the weak. Even the Goodman decides to get into the forest so as to meet the devil where he stills hides on the sight of Goody and the vice of Deacon Gookin and the minister. The Goodman is afraid of how people see his faith and how it is judged by the people other than the condition of having the devil meeting with him. The religious convictions he has are grounded to the belief that those who surround him are very religious. Goodman’s faith, which is majorly a factor of the views of the people, is weakened easily. Goodman finds out that the minister; the Deacon, Goody Cloyse, his father, his grandfather, and Faith are all in the same confederation as the devil; he therefore decides to quickly do the equivalent also. The writer tries to imply that the jeopardy associated with having to base the society on morals, ideologies, and sacred faith depends on the factor that the society members do not make their own ethical resolutions. All they do is duplicate the values of the people close to them. Their faith ends up being weakened and becomes itinerant.

From the moment Goodman enters the forest; his voice shows his fears of the wilderness. He considers the woods to be a place that there can be no instance of good taking place. He therefore goes ahead to echo the point of view that is dominant of the 17th century puritans, that strongly held their beliefs in the New untamed world as being something that should be feared and then dominated. Goodman links the jungle with feral Indians and sees an Indian hiding at the rear of all trees. Goodman supposes that devil might without difficulty be in attendance in such areas and in due course sees the devil himself, following his expectations. He describes it as an affair of family respect in the sense that his great grandparents wouldn’t have the audacity to walk in the forest just for the purpose of pleasure, but he becomes upset on the onset of the evil spirit telling him it was by no means the case. The man gets ashamed to begin his walk in the jungle; he therefore conceals himself once Goody, the deacon, and minister passes close to him. The forest is associated with evil, and characterized as dark and frightening. Goodman becomes comfortable walking in the forest only after giving in to the devil.

Female purity was a concept that was a favorite to the Americans during the 19th century; this is the energy that steadies Goodman in the sense that he is wondering whether or not to renounce his religion and follow the devil. During the beginning of the story, when he takes a leave of faith, Goodman swears that he only had one night to do evil, then he will not lose sight of his soar and skirts to heaven. Man’s idea of a mother or wife will give him a chance to redeem himself and perform also the duty of true religion, then the beliefs for the whole family were to be common in Hawthorne’s time. Goodman remains steadfast holding on the idea of faith and purity for the entire time he was tried in the forest, and he swore that as long as Faith continued being holy, then resisting the devil would be easy for him. Once he notices of the presence of Faith in the ceremony, his mind is totally changed on the things he considers to be either bad or good in his world. This also steals his ability and strength in his attempts to resist evil. The purity of a female was a very powerful tool that Puritan and the men depended on for women’s faith to be ahead of theirs. When Faith’s purity dissolves, the chances of Goodman having the courage to defy the devil and buy back his faith is completely lost.

The devil’s staff, encircled by an engraved snake is a symbol from the bible of a serpent as a demon. In Genesis, the woman eve was tempted by the serpent to taste the fruit from the tree that was forbidden, this defied the will of God and brought his wrath upon the human race. When the devil says to Goodman that he should make use of the staff so as to have a faster travel, Goodman accepts the offer and just like Eve, he is eventually fated for his limitations by trailing his blamelessness. Apart from representing the temptation of Eve, the serpent also does a representation of her curiosity, which in turn led her into temptation. The decision of Goodman to come into the forest was brought about by curiosity; just the same way Eve was curios to devour the prohibited fruit. The staff is a lucid indication that the old man takes up the characteristics of a devil than he does for human. For Goodman, once he accepts to take the staff for his personal use, also confines himself to the hell railway.

Faith and Goodman Brown not only are main characters in Hawthorne’s story, their names are also symbols. Faith’s name is chosen on purpose, “she will represent Brown's religious conviction throughout the tale”Symbolism and Themes in Young Goodman Brown by Maher (2014). In the story Hawthorne says "Faith kept me back awhile" which could be interpreted into two meanings. The first meaning is the factual one which is that he is trying to keep away from the Devil’s temptation to save his wife. The other meaning, the symbolic meaning Hawthorne shrewdly comes up with, is that Goodman Brown’s pious belief is aiding him not to get into temptations from devil. Hawthorne took Goodman Browns as an example to demonstrate his morality. Whilst breaking this name apart, Goodman Brown’s name is moral man signifying that Hawthorne desires his readers to consider the irony when he gets the devils serpent rod.

The matter of Goodman Brown losing his virtuousness increasingly happens right through the story. Although Goodman Brown is baffled if he was dreaming or whether it was all in reality, it was expected he would lose his innocence as soon as he stepped into the forest. Hawthorne takes up this story symbolically to portray the rot in society, the corruptness that is the society today. The story was told at a time when the habitants of Salem were very sacred and they really feared the devil. Evil at this time was related to people who had allowed the devil into their lives which couples to one’s loss of innocence. This is so much similar to the story of Reverend Parris’ daughter from the witch trials in Salem where it was deduced that the Devil can get to some of the most esteemed members of the society like Goody Cloyse. In Hawthorne’s story, he writes that the devil got to Goodman through respected people who in turn led him into losing his innocence. “By sending him a false vision of the many good people around him engaged in a terrible ritual, he plants the seeds of suspicion and doubt in the young man's mind” Symbolism and Themes in Young Goodman Brown by Maher (2014).By using people who are highly respected in the community, it is a tool that Hawthorne uses to allow Brown to be tempted by the devils evil.

In the story, readers get a sense of weakness in public morality after Goodman Brown sees his respected community members during his encounter with the devil. On the onset of Goodman Brown discovering that his father, grandfather, Goody Cloyse, the minister, Deacon Gookin, and Faith are all in league with the devil, Goodman Brown quickly decides to as well do the same. Seeing these respected people losing their faith to the devil easily weakens his religious beliefs because his beliefs are centered on those around him that he at one point believed were faithful people. Hawthorne uses Goodman Browns loss of faith based on him losing it because the people around him as a suggestion that society bases moral principle and religious faith lies on members of the community around a person not based on individual moral principle. When people facsimile the way of life of the individuals around them, their faith can easily become weakened if one of the people’s faith is not true.

Hawthorne uses many literary devices to add multiple meanings and interpretations to the story. Cleverly, Hawthorne uses characters names as symbols to get across what he is actually trying to say. Faith is one of the main characters he really emphasizes symbolism through by using her as a person who has pull on Goodman Brown and having his religious faith pull on his decisions. Hawthorne also includes traditional symbols such as the serpent to demonstrate the evil of the man who is found out to be the devil. Finally, the story is tied together by the different themes covered in the story. Hawthorne ties in the weakness of public morality and the loss of innocence when Goodman Brown enters the woods and meets the devil.



Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Ed. Robert Di Yanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008, 553-562.Print.

Maher, Jimmy. “ Symbolism and Themes in Young Goodman Brown”. The Digital Antiquarian. Web. 26 April 2014.

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan House, 1984. Web. 26 April 2014.