Young Goodman Brown Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Young Goodman Brown - Research Paper ExampleThe story is set against the 17th century backdrop, and published in his collection Moses from an Old Manse. My focus would lie on the authors examination of the good- hatred binary in this brilliantly symbolic tale. In this context, I provide attempt to form an understanding of Hawthorns personal ideologies involving the symbols and imagery explored in the story. Certain representations of good and evil, like Faiths pink ribbons, the discommodes staff, and Goodman Browns journey into the forest, respectively stand for purity and innocence, evil, and Young Goodman Browns self-reflection into the dark side of his soul. Hawthornes Symbolic percept an Overview of the Puritan Context The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, where more than a hundred were tried, tortured and burnt on grounds of practicing witchcraft and the black arts, left a deep impression on Hawthornes perceptive symbolism of good and evil. It took the form of a deep-seated ugly blo t on his mind as well as the records of early history of New England (Colacurcio 286). The Puritanical context of his fictions reflects a thorough understanding of Hawthornes symbolism and imagery. ... The 1692 Salem incident was not, for him, a lonely outburst of religious passion and destructive conservatism, but as a whole, suggestive of the flawed metaphors of good and evil that was being publicized by Puritanism (Colacurcio 286). The character of Goodman Brown, it must be remembered, is a third generation puritan. By the virtue of being a product of the very ideals Hawthorne criticizes, his story bears a heavy relevance to an understanding of Hawthornes peculiar handling of religious dichotomies (Colacurcio 286). The 1692 Salem case itself becomes a latent symbol in the story. The puritan understanding of evil encompassed a great many factors and conditions. Social conditioning drove the popular emphasis on a strict adherence to decorum, rules and religious dictates as deliver ed by the puritan fathers, the original establishers of the New England settlements. An unwavering observation of explicit religious and socio-cultural regulations ensured mans goodness, while deviations from the rulebook caused evil temptations and the eventual damnation of the pure(a) soul. The binaries were simple, specific and strict. While dealing with such puritan settings, as in Young Goodman Brown and his most celebrated novel The Scarlet letter, Hawthorne exhibits an vile sense of ambiguity and uncertainty. His resolutions are not the simplistic symbolic triumph of goodness over evil or salvation over sin. His symbolism simmers with an discordant urgency that sits awkwardly in the conservative framework of the 19th century America. Young Goodman Brown Symbols, Binaries and Imagery Hawthorne devotes his primary attention to the raging contention surrounded by forces of good and evil in Young