Abstract: This paper includes an analysis of Young Goodman Brown using historical, psychological, and reader-response criticism. In the Reader-response criticism, I explore how the story made me feel, what I expected next in the story line, whether my opinion is shared by any other critics, and terms associated with reader-response criticism. In the historical criticism, I explore Hawthorne’s life and how it relates (if at all) to his short story, the time period of the piece and of Hawthorne’s life, and the various terms associated with historical criticism. In psychological criticism, I delve into the psyche of Hawthorne, his protagonist, and the terms associated with psychological criticism.
Young Goodman Brown: An Analysis
Young Goodman Brown begins at sunset, which automatically makes me anticipate a nighttime tale, and Hawthorne does not disappoint me. Knowing that this short story was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I expected it to be about early American life because I know from his other works that he usually writes about early American and Puritanical society. Again, he does not disappoint me. I found his story to be geared toward a hypocritical puritanical society, but still hold elements and thoughts which remain relevant in today’s society. Psychologically, Hawthorne explores one man’s inner struggle with faith and hypocrisy, a society’s religious hypocrisy, and perhaps his own demons. Historically, he explores an era in time which his ancestors lived through, and a time which still haunts him. Hawthorne uses terminology and symbolism within Young Goodman Brown to draw the reader’s attention to the “evil” and “lonely” errand of the night, and to point out the time period. Because of this terminology and symbolism the reader must travel this same lonely and evil road with the narrator, the protagonist, and Hawthorne. Through our journey, we too must wonder where our faith and allegiance lies – with the dark man, back at home with Faith (where it appears safe and cheerful), or straddling the middle of the road with Young Goodman Brown. Also, one must wonder is this the same struggle Hawthorne was experiencing when he wrote Young Goodman Brown. While we make our historical and psychological journey with Young Goodman Brown and Hawthorne, we must not forget that we are still merely the audience. We have our present day expectations and experiences, with which to draw our own conclusions from Young Goodman Brown.
When I began reading Young Goodman Brown, I quickly became aware of the many symbols Hawthorne incorporated into the story. The first word which stands out to me is Goodman Brown’s wife’s name – Faith. Her name makes me anticipate a religious theme – the proverbial story of good versus evil. Faith stays at home symbolizing Brown’s journey without his spiritual faith. Hawthorne points out that Goodman Brown is young and just newly married, therefore his faith is also new. As most young Christians learn early on in their religious journey today, their faith will be tested; I assume this testing of faith also occurred in Hawthorne’s generation. Like an addict who must have one final binge before going into the rehab facility, Brown exclaims that once he does this one last “errand”, then he will “cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (Hawthorne). Not only is Faith a symbol of Brown’s spiritual faith, but Fleishner (1990) finds that Faith “is both wife and faith, his connection to carnal knowledge and spiritual revelation” (p. 515). This adds a dimension to Faith I did not recognize. Brown’s “carnal knowledge” could not have been that great considering he was young and newly married.
Another symbol I noticed was Faith’s pink ribbons. Hawthorne mentions Faith’s pink ribbons three times at the very beginning of the story, and they seem to be the only colorful items within the story – except the red fire. Hawthorne paints a dark tale of discovery, but he includes these pink ribbons which leaves the reader wondering what they symbolize. The ribbons appear to be a symbol of goodness and purity, or at least what connects Brown to the goodness he leaves behind. I believe the ribbon is a symbol of goodness and purity while attached to Faith because while in the forest Brown thinks he hears his wife’s “lamentations” and then the pink ribbon floats down from the darkness. It is the only color to break up the monotony of the darkness and remind Brown of Faith waiting at home. It is not just coincidence that Young Goodman Brown starts his journey slowly when Faith is at home, continues slowly as if faith is pulling him back, but speeds up when he thinks, “My Faith is gone!...There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name” (Hawthorne). Faith/faith acts as his anchor to reality.
Where the pink ribbons connect the reader, the narrator, and Goodman Brown to good, the cane connects us to Satan and evil. The cane is one more symbol which is seen throughout the short story, reminding the reader of a biblical story of a cane which turned into a serpent. The use of the cane shows the author’s knowledge of the bible. It is carried by the dark man, who looks like an older version of Young Goodman Brown, turns into a serpent when confronted with Goody Cloyse, and gives Young Goodman Brown speed when put into his hands. The cane touches Goody Cloyse’s neck and then is seen “writhing” in the “traveller[‘s] hands”. The staff, according to the devil, was “one of the rods which its owner had formerly lent to the Egyptian magi” (Hawthorne). This particular symbol affects me by reminding me of my childhood Sunday school classes where I learned about Satan, Jesus, and men who threw down walking canes which turned into snakes.
As a reader, I expect a written work to impact me, influence me, or affect me in some way. Hawthorne writes of a time period I know nothing about, but if his characters reflect his true thoughts and emotions, then that I can relate to. I know what it is like to struggle with my faith, to feel drawn to one way of life, while another waits patiently in the wings. I have traveled down dark, spooky roads – both literally and figuratively – only to realize all is not as it seems. The thing I think I have come to realize, that Goodman Brown does not seem to have learned, is that there has always been both good and bad within the people around me. Sure, it can be frightening when you first realize it, but there comes a point in one’s life when the darkness need not drag you under its spell. There is a chance that you can be the light that shines through the darkness, instead of letting that darkness swallow you whole, like Brown did. Unlike Hawthorne, though, I do not believe “evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness” (Hawthorne). I still prescribe to the concept of one true, loving God. I cannot imagine the hopelessness Young Goodman Brown felt when he discovered it was his wife standing in front of him getting baptized into a devil worshipping cult or witches coven. Here she was – his link to goodness and faith – joining him in his wicked ways.
Then, the narrator asks the reader if Goodman Brown had dreamt the entire witches meeting? The narrator also invites the audience to pretend it was a dream, a warning to Goodman Brown. Did Goodman Brown now see evil in everyone he met where there was none? Did he lose all faith – not in his God, but in his society; like the Puritans accusing innocent women of witch craft? This affects me because I know distrust of other people. Goodman Brown’s mistrust of the people in his village reminds me of the distrust an abused child has for other people. If you take an innocent child, introduce them into an abusive situation, and then remove them from the abusive situation; their behaviors would have changed because their ability to trust has been altered. In essence, their view of the world has changed; their innocence has been lost.
From a historical aspect, Young Goodman Brown is one example of the stories
Hawthorne writes about New England society. From Young Goodman Brown to The Scarlett Letter, Hawthorne writes about Puritan society and events which became part of their history. Many of Hawthorne’s stories, including Young Goodman Brown were set in the late seventeen hundreds. Some of the events referenced in Young Goodman Brown were the Salem witch trials, King Phillips war, the fear of American Indians, and the rivalry between the Puritans and the Quakers. Hawthorne references the war and the Quakers as Brown is walking through the forest with the devil.
“I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman…and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip’s war.” (Hawthorne,).
Many critics say that Hawthorne writes about these events because of the guilt he felt at his ancestors playing a role in the Salem witch trials. Reynolds, in his “Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne” (2001) wrote, “His interest in this history was enhanced by the roles his ancestors had played in it. His great-grandfather John Hathorne, for example, had been one of the judges in the infamous Salem witchcraft trials, and Hawthorne's treatment of the complexities of witchcraft in stories such as "Young Goodman Brown" (1835) thus combines national and familial regard.”(p. 16). Not only does his family play a part in why he writes about the Puritan and Quaker lifestyles, but some critics believe, “in the climactic scene of the "witches' sabbath," Hawthorne appeared to have been working not only from Puritan archives but also from Frances Trollope's contemporary observations on the demonic aspects of evangelical tent meetings in Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832)” (Keil, 1996, p. 34). In other words, just as our papers or contemporary books focus on aspects of our society such as child porn and child molestation, it was not uncommon to see common discourse on the history of the witch hunts, accounts with Indians, and reports about the war. And if there was not current discourse, there had to have been archived accounts where Hawthorne got a lot of his information, including the names of Goody Cloyse and Martha Carrier – women who had been accused of being witches and killed because of it. And since his great-grandfather was part of the witch trials, perhaps those accounts were found within the belongings of his ancestors.
Spiritually speaking, the New England witch trials were one of the first psychological intrigues of the New World. The Puritans and Quakers were the first settlers to settle in the New World because of religious prejudice in England, and their piety was immeasurable. The Puritans and Quakers were the first Americans to explore the fall of man; therefore, “Young Goodman Brown” became an allegory about just that – the fall of man. It is hard to miss Hawthorne’s opinion of the hypocrisy of religion and the witch trials, even though the witch trials occurred almost two hundred years before his time. However, with this being said, people during Hawthorne’s time still struggled with temptation, and many of the things they were tempted with were the same things the earlier Puritans and Quakers felt they were tempted with.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown” delves into the psyche of the human condition, as well as the spirituality of the soul. Askew of Duke University would have the reader believe that there is a difference between spirituality and psychology. He believed that Hawthorne’s story about the fall of man was merely psychological: “The clearest indication that the fall is psychological and human rather than theological and spiritual is furnished by "The Maypole of Merry Mount” (Askew, 1962, p. 337). And perhaps some critics would agree, but I believe one’s spirituality has much to do with the psychology of a person, thus making Hawthorne’s story both psychological and spiritual.
Lynn (2011) lists several terms which relate to the discussion of psychology: isolation, intellectualization, repression, projection, denial, displacement, and reversal (p. 202). These terms not only fit psychology, but spirituality, too. When a person feels separated from his God, does he not isolate himself? When Brown discovered the wickedness within his brethren, wife, and townspeople, did he not isolate and withdraw from them? Hawthorne writes, “But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her [Faith’s] face, and passed on without a greeting” (Hawthorne). When faced with our sinful choices, do we not intellectualize our choices and our reaction to our people’s choices? Did Goodman Brown justify his choice to walk onto the forest path? Hawthorne writes, “With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose” (Hawthorne). Did Adam and Eve also rationalize their choice to eat from the forbidden tree? Satan told them they could eat from the tree? According to Askew (1962), Hawthorne deals with a man who stands on the threshold of loss of innocence, not only in the Adamic [sic], moral, and characterological [sic] sense explored by R. W. B. Lewis and Leslie Fiedler, but also in a specific psychological sense” (p. 335) Again, Askew assumes a separation of psychology from religious spirituality. There could not have been this kind of separation for the Puritans or Quakers, since their lives revolved around their religion thereby making their psychology and spirituality united. Hawthorne recognized this unity, as well, because Brown when faced with the loss of his faith and the knowledge of the wickedness of the townspeople becomes depressed and withdrawn, until his death, “for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne).
Then, there is the question Hawthorne poses towards the end of this short story, and what critics have pondered for decades, “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?” (Hawthorne). According to Budick (1986), Young Goodman Brown is a work of fiction; therefore Brown’s account is as real as “any allegorical experience is real” (p. 218). She also states that critics will say “yes, Brown’s witches’ Sabbath represents a pure and unadulterated “dream,” a demented projection of the protagonist’s degenerate imagination”, but other critics think it really does not matter if Brown’s account was reality or dream because “the ultimate effect on Brown is the same” (p. 218). In other words, Brown would have reacted the same way if he had experienced it as a real event, or as a dream. Crews would call this “psychological necessity” (Budick, p 218). I agree with Crews.
We may never know if this fictional event was intended to be a figment of the character’s overwrought imagination or not, but we can guess that the author saw some hypocritical behavior in his peers – the professed Christians – and was making a statement about this hypocrisy with his short story about a young man, newly married, starting out on a journey towards the unknown, innocent of the evils of the world, and ending up walking the path with Satan and meeting people he has known his entire life. He rationalizes the journey has one he must do before settling down with his wife, but when he discovers his wife beside him being inducted into the same cult he becomes distraught, withdrawn, and unclear. Just like Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened when they bit into the forbidden fruit, Faith and Brown’s eyes are opened to the deceit, lies, and wickedness around them when they are “granted [to] know their [the townspeople] secret deeds” (Hawthorne). Hawthorne points out that at once Brown and Faith now realize the people they tried to hide their sin from were also sinners, therefore making them hypocrites. Hawthorne refers to them as a “miserable race”, which makes me assume he means all humans are hypocrites, not just his kinfolk or the Puritans and Quakers.
Hawthorne may think we are a “miserable race”, but he did not surprise me when he set Young Goodman Brown in a New England town, named it Salem, and introduced the reader to late seventeenth century America with its’ fears, hypocrisy, innocence and diplomacy which are still relevant today. The struggle Young Goodman Brown has with his faith is the same psychological and spiritual struggle Americans have today. Hawthorne may have drawn from his wealth of ancestry history and archival resources to write Young Goodman Brown, but he explores innocence and loss of innocence in a way people can still relate to today. Hawthorne’s Brown becomes a symbol to readers that ignorance of the world and the corruption in the world can bring you down. The reader must ask “Is it best to remain ignorant?” If we remain ignorant, we must never travel the lonely and dark path through the forest, and we can stay home with our still innocent new bride. On the other hand, in order to fight the darkness must we not know what we are fighting against? Hawthorne takes his readers down a complicatedly dark, historical, and psychological road to make us ask ourselves if we are living the right way. Are we merely the audience, or are we actors in our own lives?
References
Askew, M. W. (Nov., 1962). Hawthorne, the Fall, and the Psychology of Maturity. American
Literature, 34(3), pp. 335-343. Duke University Press. Retrieved from
Budick, E. M. (March, 1986). The World as Specter: Hawthorne's Historical Art. PMLA, 101(2),
pp. 218-232. Modern Language Association. Retrieved from
Fleischner, J. (Mar., 1990). Female Eroticism, Confession, and Interpretation in Nathaniel
Hawthorne. Nineteenth-Century Literature, 44(4), pp. 514-533. University of
California Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3045072.
Hawthorne, N. (1835). Young Goodman Brown. Retrieved from
Keil, J. C. (Mar., 1996). Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown": Early Nineteenth-Century and
Puritan Constructions of Gender. The New England Quarterly, 69(1), pp. 33-55. The
New England Quarterly, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/366302.
Lynn, S. (2011). Texts and contexts: Writing about literature with critical theory (6th ed.).
Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Reynolds, Larry J. (Editor). (2001). Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10142243.
No comments:
Post a Comment