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Young Goodman Brown's Apocalypse - Essays Online

Young Goodman Brown's Apocalypse

Most criticism and reflection of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young
Goodman Brown centers on a good versus evil theme. Critics also debate
interpretations of the main character's consciousness; is Brown awake or
dreaming. What is certain is that he lives and dies in pain because his
belief in his righteousness isolates him from his community. It is also
certain that Hawthorne's interpretation of Brown's "mid-life crisis" has
ambiguity and leaves a reader with many different feelings about what and
why certain things have happened. Hawthorne's use of symbolism in his
allegorical tale Young Goodman Brown causes the main character's
revelations about the sin within his community, his family and ...

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out of
curiosity and a "deep need to see if the teachings of his childhood, his
religion, and his culture, have armed him sufficiently to look the devil in
the face and return unscathed" (Hodara 1). The symbol of the forest, late
at night, can be interpreted as the untamed regions of Brown's heart where
the devil roams freely as he roams in the forest. The forest is the devil's
domain. Brown finds, in the dark of the night, many of his daytime friends
share this domain with the devil. What he considers moral and "good" in his
life he finds in the forest. This torments his perception of practically
everything.
A good man in Hawthorne's day was a person of proper lineage. This
very lineage Hawthorne capitalizes on as he begins the goodman's conference
with the devil. The Goodman claims that he is from a family of upright and
moral men that have never and would never go into the forest on a trip
such as the one he is participating. "Hawthorne depends upon this ...

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Young Goodman Brown's Apocalypse. (2007, May 31). Retrieved April 26, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Young-Goodman-Browns-Apocalypse/65688

"Young Goodman Brown's Apocalypse." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 31 May. 2007. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Young-Goodman-Browns-Apocalypse/65688>

"Young Goodman Brown's Apocalypse." Essayworld.com. May 31, 2007. Accessed April 26, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Young-Goodman-Browns-Apocalypse/65688.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 5/31/2007 07:59:24 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1024
Pages: 4

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