“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne chronicles the disturbing dream of a young Puritan man in Salem. In the dream, Goodman Brown comes face to face with evil and is forced to examine the nature of evil in man. He is disgusted by the evil he encounters, not realizing his own involvement. Through a psychoanalytic approach to analyzing the text, the reader can see that the meaning of the text lies in discovering the meaning of Goodman Brown’s encounter in the woods.
The story begins with Goodman Brown leaving his wife, Faith for an overnight errand. She begs him not to go, but he does so anyway. Faith is the only symbol of hope in the story. She is a symbolic of love, as in the love between man and woman, and also the love, faith and devotion he has in God. In essence, by leaving Faith in the beginning of the story, he is leaving his faith in God and good. Faith is introduced in the beginning of the story as the devoted wife who warns her husband to stay with her because of a dream that she has.
Without Faith, Goodman Brown he no faith, he is dependent on her: “she’s a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night, I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (1). Goodman Brown is counting on Faith to redeem him after his errand with the devil. When Goodman Brown finally meets with the Devil, he declares that the reason he was late was because “Faith kept me back awhile” (1). This statement has a double meaning because the encounter with his wife prevented him from being on time for his meeting with the devil, but his faith to God also delayed his meeting.
During his meeting with the “fellow-traveler, Goodman Brown notices the staff held by the man. The staff “bore the likeness of a great black snake” (2). The staff is symbolic of the presence of evil in the meeting. The staff possibly represents the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve. Just as in the bible, the staff leads to destruction. The traveler’s staff eventually leads Goodman Brown to the Devil’s ceremony, which destroys his faith in his man. His faith is further shaken by the sight of Goody Cloyse in conversation with the Devil.
She is the woman who taught him his catechism and was still his moral and spiritual adviser in Salem. Goodman Brown blames the woman for consorting with the Devil, however, say nothing of the fact that he is doing the very same thing. Goodman Brown then decides that he will no longer continue on his errand. He rejects Goody Cloyse and states that just because his teacher was not going to heaven, why should he “quit my dear Faith, and go after her” (3). At this, the Devil tosses Goodman Brown his staff. This exchange is the transference of evil to Goodman Brown.
Goodman Brown next encounter completely shatters his faith. When he believes that he had heard the voice of his beloved Faith. He hears the voice of a woman and automatically assumes it is Faith. He yells out her name and a pink ribbon flies through the air and Goodman grabs it. In the beginning of the story, the wind plays “with the pink ribbons if her cap” (1). At this moment, Goodman Brown loses all faith in the world and declares that there is “no good on earth” (5). The suggestion that the woman he hears is Faith causes him to lose his faith completely. He then allows the staff to lead him again: “with the instinct that guides mortal man to evil” (5). Because of his complete loss of faith, Goodman Brown had nothing to keep him from evil.
The ceremony that Goodman Brown witnesses, reunites him with many people he knows. He then realizes that he does not see Faith and “hope came into his heart” (5). This is the possibility of the return of his faith. If Faith was not there, as he had hoped, he would not have to live alone, he would have her. He is unaware that he is apart of the evil that he despises. When the ceremony begins, he steps forward: “He had no power to retreat one step, nor to resist, even in thought” (6). Goodman Brown at this point seems to be in a trance and he loses control of his body as he is unconsciously entering this service of converts to the devil. After the sermon, Goodman Brown comes face to face with Faith.
The leader declares that “Evil is the nature of mankind” and he welcomes the converts to “communion of your race” (6). Brown then snaps out from his trance and yells “Faith! Faith! Look up to Heaven and resist the wicked one!” At this, the ceremony ends and Brown finds himself alone. He does not know whether Faith, his wife, had kept her faith, but he finds himself alone which leads him to believe that he is also alone in his faith.
Goodman Brown is completely shattered and devastated when he awakens form his dream. As he walks the streets of Salem he his unable to separate his dream from reality. He is unable to cope with the discovery that the potential for evil resides in everybody. What makes the experience worst is that everyone that is important to Goodman Brown is in the dream. They are not the people that he thought them to be. The rest of his life is destroyed because of his inability to face this truth and live with it. The dream, has planted the seed of doubt in Brown’s mind, which consequently cuts him off from his fellow man and leaves him alone and depressed.
The truth is that Goodman Brown despises these people because he sees that same traits in himself. Like the people in his dream, he questions his own religion. However, he projects his own fears onto those around him. The dream is a manifestation of all of the insecurities he has about himself and the choices he has made in life. However, he is too proud to acknowledge his own faults. His life ends alone and miserable because he was never able to look at himself and realize that what he believed were everyone else’s faults were his as well. He is completely isolated from his society.
Reference:
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel. ; “Young Goodman Brown”
