Young Goodman Brown分析Nathaniel Hawthorne(共4页)
"Young Goodman Brown" (1835) is a short story by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that humanity exists in a state of depravity, exempting those who are born in a state of grace中考总分多少. Hawthorne frequently attempts to expose the hypocrisy of Puritan culture in his literature. In a symbolic fashion, the story follows Young Goodman Brown's journey into self-scrutiny which results in his loss of faith.
Plot summary
The story begins at sunset in Salem, Massachusetts, as young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife of three months, for an unknown errand in the forest. Faith pleads with her husband to stay with her but he insists the journey into the forest must be completed that
night. In the forest he meets a man, dressed in a similar manner to himself and bearing a resemblance to himself. The man carries a black serpent-shaped staff. The two encounter Mistress Cloyse in the woods who complains about the need to walk and, evidently friendly with the stranger, accepts his snake staff and flies away to her destination.
Other townspeople inhabit the woods that night, traveling in the same direction as Goodman Brown. When he hears his wife's voice in the trees, he calls out to his Faith, but is not answered. He then seems to fly through the forest, using a maple staff the stranger fashioned for him, arriving at a clearing at midnight to find all the townspeople assembled. At the ceremony (which may be a witches' sabbath) carried out at a flame-lit rocky altar, the newest converts are brought forth—Goodman Brown and Faith. They are the only two of the townspeople not yet initiated to the forest rite. Goodman Brown calls to heaven to resist and instantly the scene vanishes.
Arriving back at his home in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain wheth公民的政治权利主要包括
er the previous night's events were real or a dream, but he is deeply shaken, with the belief he lived in a Christian community distorted. He loses his 黄毅清的脸疼吗faith抠图 in his wife Faith; he loses his faith in humanity. He lives his life an embittered and suspicious cynical man, wary of everyone around him, including his wife Faith. Hawthorne concludes the story by writing: "And when he had lived long, and was borne to hey carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom
Background
The story is set during the Salem witch trials, at which Hawthorne's great-great-grandfather John Hathorne was a judge. According to American literature scholar James Mellow, Hawthorne was plagued by guilt by his ancestor's role, wrote the story to vindicate his grandfather by featuring two fictional victims of the witch trials who were witches and not innocent victims of the [1] It was also this ancestral guilt that inspired Hawthorne to change his family's name, adding a "w" in his early twenties, shortly after graduating from [2]
In his writings Hawthorne questioned established thought—most specifically New England Puritanism and contemporary Transcendentalism. In "Young Goodman Brown", as with much of his other writing, he exposes [3] The plot and textual references in "Young Goodman Brown" reveal the Puritans as being like "a city upon a hill" as John Winthrop, a founder of Puritanism, said, and wanting to be seen that way as good, holy men. However, their doctrine teaches that all men are inherently evil and they strive to cause each person to come to terms with this and realize their sinful nature. This hypocrisy that Hawthorne presents in his story is how he reflects on the hypocritical teachings of the Puritans. They taught that man was inherently evil in nature much in accordance to Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
Analysis
Themes and style
"Young Goodman Brown" is often characterized as an allegory梦见虫子 about the recognition of evil and depravity as the nature of
[4] Much of Hawthorne's fiction, such as The Scarlet Letter, is set in 17th-century colonial America, particularly Salem, [5] In order to convey the setting in his work, he used literary techniques such as specific diction, or colloquial expressions, as in "Young Goodman Brown" in which language of the period is used to enhance the setting. Hawthorne gives the characters, specific names that depict abstract pure & wholesome beliefs such as; Young Goodman Brown, and Faith. The characters names' ultimately serve as a paradox in the conclusion of the story. The inclusion of this technique was to provide a definite contrast and irony. Hawthorne aims to critique the ideals of Puritan society and express his disdain for it thus illustrating the difference between the appearance of those in society and their true [6]
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