Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is held as an ideal model of a moral allegory. The role of literary elements played in the story can be interpreted to mean reference to an alternate meaning. Hawthorne creates a moral allegory by combining character traits, setting, and abstract objects with symbolism and rather detailed imagery; this suggests an alternate figurative meaning to the reader, greater than the literary sense.
One of the most obvious traits that stand out about Hawthorne’s works is his use of character identification; he successfully creates obvious names that represent a meaning about the character. Some prominent uses of this type of symbolization can be found with the main characters Goodman Brown. Here, the word “Goodman” is symbolic of his nature, not to mention ironic, and suggests an alternate meaning about his ethics. Another example is the wife “Faith”, who is known for her great innocence and trust in Goodman Brown until he begins to doubt her. This name is an interesting pick, and it is no coincidence that the wife faces a problem of faith to her husband later on. Thus, the name itself symbolizes or foreshadows something bigger. Throughout the story, this type of symbolism is repeated constantly with phrases such as “Faith kept me back a while” and “My Faith is gone!” which strongly suggest an alternate meaning to the story. Yet another name also used to symbolize an allegory is “Goody Cloyse”, one of the witches to participate in the communion. Hawthorne weaves these names in to the story and succeeds in his goal to make a moral allusion through character identification.
Though not noticed during the beginning of the short story, major symbolism and allegorical allusions can be found in the setting of “Young Goodman Brown” when perused carefully. One of the main uses is the forest, where “[Goodman Brown] had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest…it was all as lonely as could be.” In this allusion, the forest represents not only a physically hard to cross terrain but a challenging mental task to be overcome as well. It can be seen a difficult part of Goodman Brown’s mind, as well as a test of courage for him, seeing how he hesitates constantly on venturing farther into the woods. Thus, a moral allusion can easily be made here by using imagery and symbolism in setting. When Goodman Brown gives in to the Devil and races to find Faith, the forest is found “peopled with frightful sounds–the creaking of the trees, the howling of wild beasts, and the yell of Indians; while sometimes the wind tolled like a distant church bell, and sometimes gave a broad roar around the traveler, as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn.” Again, the attitude of setting can be interpreted figuratively as a challenge to Goodman Brown mentally, who, at this point, seems to have given up. This approach on setting could tie in with the moral that “evil is always greater and more influential than good.”
When Goodman Brown is finally overcome by the communion and ends the ritual, he wakes up to find himself alone: “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch meeting?…It was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown.” This statement is also strong in the sense that it ties in to several morals: “Evil is present everywhere” or “Good is but an illusion”, where Goodman Brown discovers all his known community to be corrupt. Therefore, the entire incident could have been a dream, but it nevertheless carries a moral allegory of the recurring themes of good and evil.
Finally, the common use of abstract objects to suggest a new meaning is another tool Hawthorne uses to create a moral allegory. A powerful example of such an object is the devil’s staff, which is constantly described as bearing “the likeliness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent.” This statement carries a lot of figurative meaning as well. For example, the snake itself is a symbol of deceit and danger, and the character seems to be fond of using the snake constantly. Hence, it could be termed an object of corruption, symbolizing that Goodman Brown is to be converted to evil later on. Another obvious inference to its evil nature is through the term “twisted staff”, not only describing the physical nature, but its figurative meaning as evil. Like this, many other objects are alluded to in Young Goodman Brown, in order to make a moral allegory.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is an example of a perfect moral allegory, using unimportant concepts to symbolize an alternate meaning as well. By using character identification, the setting around the characters, and abstract objects, Hawthorne is able to get his ideas across, as one can see by the recurring morals that are being symbolized.
