My First Research Article
on an english shortstory Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthrone.
on an english shortstory Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthrone.
Mehul
R Chauhan
Dr.Pranav
Joshipura
M.Phil
English
19
Oct 2013
The Problem of Faith
The
short story “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne has two main characters
as we regard, Young Goodman Brown and Faith, his wife. The story is a symbolic
story as Hawthorne uses very effective symbols in his works; we should not
ignore the use of various colors in this story.
At
the very beginning moment of the story we came to know that Young Goodman Brown
going to somewhere and his wife Faith don’t want him to go for that night. The
discussion falls in some romantic way but ultimately Faith has to give up and Goodman
goes for the said journey.
Now,
here is the question that what is the aim of the journey? And where it takes Goodman
and why Goodman’s wife Faith wants to keep her husband at home that particular
night and doesn’t want him to go for the said journey?
The
questions are important. One more question is arises here “Who is Faith?” or
“The problem with Faith” Hawthorne talks about faith but is it actually Young
Goodman Brown’s mortal wife or his belief? That conjoined with him forever. We
have two opinions (1) Mortal wife (2) Belief. As the story begins we feel that
if there is a romantic discussion between him and his loving wife, who doesn’t
permit her husband to go on a said journey. Likewise in a Gujarati poem “Gulabi Nahi Java Dau Chakari re…” But
here Goodman goes for the said job or journey.
Young
Goodman Brown has two “Faith”. First is his wife with a pink ribbon and other
is his belief – faith. Here we understand that there is a conflict between Good
things and Evil things. Young Goodman Brown constantly attracted by the good
and evil one after another. He, inwardly, doesn’t want to go in the dark,
dreadful forest, his soul and mind constantly thinking of Faith. But the sinful
evil element attracts him to go to the forest. Then he meets a traveler, with a
huge staff…the staff also symbolized as black-snack, whenever Young Goodman
Brown thinks of Faith, the black-snack helps him to go forward in the woods.
Whenever he meets the people, to whom Young Goodman Brown know in the town, It
helps Young Goodman Brown to hide him, when the Goody Closey came, the traveler
said him to go behind the woods and Young Goodman Brown hideously, hears and
watches the conversation between the traveler and the old Goody Closey. He
knows her as a teacher who taught him catechism in youth and as a pious and
spiritual lady.
We
find here that everyone want to hide himself from each other in order to save
their personnel sinful deeds. Everyman in the world makes mistake and that is
why he is not the one who looks good, moral, pious, spiritual and everything
than can come into godly category, but eventually in loneliness, solitary the
same person loses his own faith and do some sinful deeds. Now here the question
come that what about the “Faith”. Is it a falsehood that every social person
has to wear? Or is it truly heavenly thing?”
“With heaven above and Faith below,
I will yet stand firm against the devil”
Young Goodman Brown somewhere feels
that his own wife Faith also one of the people whom he meets in the town, he
shouts for her but she doesn’t answer. This creates doubt for his wife.
“My Faith is gone…”
The
contrast between moral and immoral conduct runs throughout the story in Young
Goodman Brown’s mind. When Young Goodman Brown meets the dark, shadow proposes
him,
“Evil is the nature of mankind”
He glanced in the basin full of red
liquid, he then doesn’t able to look the world, the way he habituate before.
Means with every try of Faith, still Young Goodman Brown passes through the
sinful way and in order to know about the secrete of guilt of others he too
loses his faith upon his Faith(Wife). The next morning when he come to the
town, the same people he regularly shown, are different for him today, because
he has new eye.
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Works Cited
Through
internet Digest
Easterly,
Joan. “Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’.” Studies in
Short Fiction 28.3 (1991): 339-43.
Hawthorne,
Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Young Goodman Brown and Other Short Stories.
Dover Thrift Eds. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum. Toronto: General Publishing Co., 1992.
24-34.
Levy, Leo. “The Problem
of Faith in ‘Young Goodman Brown’.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology
74.3 (1975): 375-87
***
