Landers 1
Prompt 5: Allegory
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is generally understood as an allegory about the human condition. Provide support for this reading, and then provide an alternate allegorical reading of your own, supported by evidence from the text.
Luke Landers
Professor Beiderwell
EN 110
April 3, 2007
The Draw of Sin and the Loss of Faith
in Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “Young Goodman Brown”
Often interpreted as an allegory about man’s innate drive towards sin, Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “Young Goodman Brown” features a protagonist who is forced to contend with the allure of the devil while trying to maintain his faith. Evidence for this reading can be found in the setting of the story—an ominous forest that is leading him into evil. Additionally, when Brown arrives at the devil-worshipping procession, in the heart of the forest, he discovers various pillars of his community taking part in the ceremony. This furthers the allegory by suggesting that no one, no matter how esteemed or holy, is free from the temptation of sin. A major point of contention in the story is whether the events actually take place, or if they are only a dream of Goodman Brown’s. The theory that Brown conjured up the story in his mind, free from the influence of the devil, adds additional weight to the notion that the draw to sin comes from within. This story can also be interpreted as an allegory about one man’s loss of faith. Brown’s abandonment of his aptly named wife, Faith, coupled with his following in the footsteps of the devil, allows the reader to watch as his faith slowly begins to crumble and is abandoned. Whether a loss of faith or an innate proclivity to sin, the end result is the same— Brown is a broken man who is wary of all those around him, including his wife.
The setting of the forest is representative of the inexplicable draw towards sin that Goodman Brown experiences. At the onset of the story, Brown abandons his wife to undertake his journey through the woods. He ignores her pleas to remain by her side for the evening. As he travels down the winding and narrow path, Brown is inviting the devil into his life. This draw to sin unconsciously takes over him and guides him down the path; he describes this sensation as “the instinct that guides mortal men to evil.” (1222) During his trek through the woods, the dreariness and darkness of his surroundings begins to make Brown uncomfortable. The fact that he cannot tell if there are others around him, that “the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and thick boughs over head; so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude” is what disturbs him the most (1217). These invisible masses are a metaphor for the rest of society that, like Goodman Brown, are irresistibly drawn down the path into sin. By including the upstanding members of Brown’s community as victims of the allure of sin, Hawthorn shows that no one is impervious to the magnetism of the devil.
When Goodman Brown reaches his destination in the woods, he is shocked to see that he is not the only one that succumbed to the devil’s temptations. When he witnessed Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin making the same trip, a sense of foreshadowing and warning about where his journey will lead him surfaces. Seeing these virtuous community members in the darkness of the woods hints at what Brown is approaching. At the ceremony he bears witness to individuals from all walks of life consorting and sinning together, “But, irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins, there were men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even of horrid crimes” (1223). Man’s innate drive towards sin brings together this spectrum of individuals, from clerics and Native Americans to a “simple husbandman” (1219). By attending this ceremony Brown is unknowingly following in the footsteps of his ancestors who have all given in to the temptations of the devil. By surprising Goodman Brown with the multitude of individuals who have been drawn to evil, Hawthorn is making a statement about the encompassing and irresistible nature of sin.
Reading this story as a psychological manifestation of Goodman Brown’ supports the allegory for man’s innate drive towards sin. If what took place was a dream, then the only factor responsible for Brown’s journey to evil is his psyche. Something within him is fueling his need to sin and he is unable to comprehend how or why it is happening. This is evidenced by Brown’s meeting the devil during his passage through the forest. Jacobs writes “Another clue to Brown’s realization of sin is that he creates the devil-figure in his own image. This acts as a projection of himself as the embodiment of evil.” (Jacobs). By giving the devil his own likeness, Brown is equating himself to the devil. Assuming Brown is solely responsible for his dreams or visions, it becomes evident that this story is indeed an allegory for the human condition and the inherent attraction toward sin.
An alternate interpretation of “Young Goodman Brown” is that the story is an allegory for the loss of faith. This loss of faith has dual meanings in the story. The more obvious interpretation relates to his wife, Faith. In the beginning of the story she tries to stop him from going on his fateful journey, but to no avail. This abandonment of Faith early in the story comes full circle by the end when his faith has abandoned him; a literal and figurative loss. When dealing with the devil in the forest, Brown’s worst fears are realized when he discovers one of Faith’s pink ribbons snagged on a tree. He interprets this as her having left him and joined the masses that have aligned themselves with the devil. He cries “My faith is gone...There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.”(1222) With this loss of Faith, Brown turns himself over to the devil and gives into temptation. The second meaning of Brown’s loss of faith is significant in religious terms. While the reader knows little about Goodman Brown’s history, it is safe to assume that he is a relatively religious man, based on the times in which he lived and his knowledge of the religious figures from his community. By the end of the story, Brown is a distrustful man who can barely sit through a mass at his church. How does this loss of faith occur? It begins earlier in his walk with the devil. The concept of faith is one that is created over a lifetime. As children we first develop a sense of God, religion and community from our family and community role models. One’s religious beliefs evolve as we grow, our relationships mature and we are drawn to good people in our midst. Thus the first step in Brown’s loss of faith occurs when he discovers that Goody Cloyse, who taught him catechism in his youth, is a witch. This discovery brings everything his has been taught about religion into question. The descent into skepticism continues when Deacon Gookin and the Reverend pass by him en route to the very same place of evil that he is headed to. The deception that Brown feels is emphasized at the ceremony when the speaker says “There…are all whom ye have reverenced from youth. Ye deemed them holier than yourselves and shrank from your own sin, contrasting it with their lives of righteousness and prayerful aspirations heavenward. Yet here are they all in my worshipping assembly.” (1224) Despite Brown’s attempts at remaining stoic and resisting the devil, he gives in when he thinks that he has lost his wife Faith. Brown has makes one more attempt to resist the devil and maintain his faith when he and Faith are at the devil’s altar. Brown cries “Faith! Faith !…look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one.”(1225). In his plea Brown is trying to save whatever is left of his religious faith and protect his wife from the beckoning devil. However, in spite of his shouts everything around him vanishes and his is suddenly in the woods, left only with these questions about his faith. Levy writes that by waking before faith can reply Brown is “condemning himself to a lifetime of faithlessness, the fact remains that Hawthorne has caught him in a trap as diabolical as anything the Devil might invent.” After this experience Brown has lost all his faith. He views the pillars of the church community whom he once revered as hypocrites and sinners. In addition he is unable to get close to or confide in his wife. His loss of fate from that evening haunted him the rest of his life, ultimately following him to his grave.
The attraction of sin is natural and instinctive in “Young Goodman Brown”. It draws the protagonist along with moral members of his community into its clutches. The devious nature of the devil leads Goodman Brown on a path in which he loses everything. He can no longer share intimacies with his new wife who becomes a stranger to him. Religion, which was an integral part of the Puritan lifestyle, is sullied and he no longer appreciates religion because of the evil hidden nature of the religious figures, who he revered growing up. This combination of disappointments precipitated his loss of faith.