¶ … Man of Good?
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "romance," the short story "Young Goodman Brown," is a highly allegorical tale regarding the nature of evil and good. Even a cursory analysis of the title of the principle characters, Goodman Brown (who represents mankind or humanity) and his wife Faith (who represents faith in religious piety) indicates that they are representative of basic fundamental concepts that were at the heart of the Puritan religion that this tale is based upon. Therefore, the conclusion of this story, and the events leading up to it, is symbolic of more than the outcome of the aforementioned characters, but actually represents Hawthorne's view of mankind and its religious fervor. In providing this viewpoint, the author answers critical questions about the stem of evil (where it originates) as well as man's ability to stave it off or to submit to its dictates. A careful look at the diction and symbolism within "Young Goodman Brown" reveals that the protagonist, Brown, has effectively lost his faith in organized religion largely due to the inherent nature of mankind, which is where evil ultimately comes from.
Hawthorne's diction is deliberately ambiguous for the vast majority of this short story. He chooses to phrase a number of fairly important acts (such as everything that takes place after Brown journeys from his home into the woods until the time he returns) in indefinite terms that leaves the reader questioning as to whether or not these events actually took place, or if they were the figment of some sort of dream. Therefore, the truly significant parts of the tale are Goodman's leaving and return to his home and to his wife, Faith. These facts cannot be questioned, and are significant because they symbolize mankind's (as represented by Goodman's) loss of faith (which is represented by Goodman's rejection of his wife) in organized religion, which the following quotation, in which Goodman returns home, underscores.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Life Imitates Were all the literary works of Nathaniel Hawthorne compiled into a single manuscript, then appropriately filtered to include only works of prose and fiction, and if an attempt were then made to uncover a single motif spanning through the vast majority of the remaining text, it would read something like the following. A protagonist is haunted by a vague, strangely preternatural feeling of foreboding and doom that eventually
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an Eighteenth Century American author who through his works explored the subject of human sin, punishment and guilt. In fact, themes of pride, guilt, sin, punishment and evil is evident in all of his works, and the wrongs committed by his ancestors played a particular dominant force in Hawthorne's literary career, such as his most famous piece, "The Scarlet Letter" (Nathaniel Pp). Hawthorne and other writers of
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The beauty of Rappaccini's garden vies with that of the paradisiacal beauty. The greatest difference between the two however is that Rappaccini's scientific quest for knowledge is barren and loveless. Nature, as created by God, is filled with the divine love of its creator and this particular quality cannot be copied by the hand of man. The story is pivoted on the love story between Beatrice, Rappaccini's daughter who
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