Symbolism in 'Young Goodman Brown' as The Message to Readers

Authors frequently include a wide range of literary devices and techniques to show their readers the underlying, hidden messages within their story. For examples, authors often use symbols which contain several layers of meaning, often concealed at first sight and are representative of several other aspects in the story. Likewise, authors also use allegory as a way to suggest hidden meanings via the use of metaphoric examples. Throughout the story, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author introduces Young Goodman Brown as being a Puritan and loyal Christian. As the story progresses, Hawthorne demonstrates the wrong, evil decision that Young Goodman Brown’s makes to the reader by using literary devices and techniques, such as allegory and symbolism. In this essay, we will discuss some of the hidden symbolism in 'Young Goodman Brown' that Hawthorne has used, along with the symbols such as Faith, the forest, and the stranger's staff, and how each play a pivotal role in depicting this evil decision within the story to the reader.

Symbols of Faith, Forest and Stranger's Staff: Their Meanings

In the beginning of the story, we see the use of Faith, Goodman Brown’s wife, as a symbol by Hawthorne. We are introduced to Young Goodman Brown and his wife Faith, who represents and emphasizes Goodman Brown’s own faith and his trust in God. Before Goodman Brown leaves for the forest, Faith tries her best to prevent him from going because of the vivid dreams she was having. For example, it states, ““Dearest heart,” whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, “pr’y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she’s afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year!”. This quote highlights Faith’s warning to Goodman Brown as he embarks on the journey that will change him into a completely different person upon his return and serves as his desire to go out into the forest. This warning from Faith serves as a hidden message within the story because it allows the reader to see where Goodman Brown made his mistake. If Goodman Brown had listened to Faith and her warning, he would have been saved from the series of traumatic events that occurred within the forest. As the story progresses, Goodman Brown sees Faith in the forest being converted alongside him, he loses all of his own faith and trust within God. He returns back to the village totally changed and cannot even look Faith in her eyes after the horrors that he witnessed in the forest. For example, it states, “Often, awakening suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith, and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled, and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away'. With this quote, we see how after returning from the forest, Goodman Brown had changed dramatically as a person who once valued religion and Faith as higher than anything in his life and how this one night that Faith warned him about had changed his life. Because of these examples, it is evident that Faith serves as a symbol for Goodman Brown’s faith and relationship with God and how Faith’s dreams serve as a hidden message which highlights why the story can also be seen as an allegory.

Aside from Faith, there are many other symbols throughout the story, one being the forest. As background information, the Salem Witch Trails had ended and led to the death of about 20 people around the time period in which the story takes place. Young Goodman Brown was a loyal and naïve Christian Puritan along with many others of the community. Puritans were radical religious leaders who wanted to try and reform their culture, specifically removing practices and ceremonies that were not established in the bible. With this in mind, Puritans believed that the forest was were acts of the devil occurred and that they must be avoided in order to stay away from the devil and sinful acts. In the story, the forest serves as the attractive, sinning force that gets a grasp on Goodman Brown and his faith to religion. As Faith warned him not to go into the forest, he still went anyway but hoped that he would return as the same man, but we as the reader know that this is not true. For example, in the text it states, “With this excellent resolve for the future, goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his evil purpose… the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that, with lonely footsteps, he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude'. With this quote, we see how Goodman Brown ignores Faith’s warning and has a sense of urgency to go into the forest to commit the sinful acts but does not consider what lies ahead in the forest for him. Later on in the story, we see how this desire to lead into the forest gets the best of his faith when he returns back to the village. For example, it says, “The next morning, young goodman Brown came slowly into the street of Salem Village, staring around him like a bewildered man…Old deacon Gookin was at domestic worship, and the holy words of his prayer were heard through the open window. “What God doth the wizard pray to?”. With this, we see how the forest and its horrors have traumatized Goodman Brown and has stripped him of his relationship and connection to God. As these examples are presented in the paragraph, we see how the forest serves as a symbol for luring Goodman Brown and how the forest grasps his faith and toys with it as the story progresses.

Another symbol that plays a major role in the story is the staff of the stranger. When Goodman Brown enters the forest, he encounters the stranger who carries a walking staff. The staff itself has a snake coiled around it and in puritan beliefs, the snake is used as a tool to entice a man to commit sin. The stranger knows the main reasons why Goodman Brown is coming into the forest to begin with because he actually is a shapeshifter and is the embodiment of the devil within the forest. Alongside him, Goody Cloyse, Goodman Brown’s religion teacher, was also attending the conversion ceremony and ends up using his staff as a witch’s broom to fly there. For instance, it states, “’That can hardly be,” answered her friend. “I may not spare you my arm, goody Cloyse, but here is my staff, if you will” … He had cast his eyes in astonishment, and looking down again, behind neither goody Cloyse not the serpentine staff, but his fellow-traveler alone, who waited for him as calmly as if nothing had happened”. This interaction between Goody Cloyse and the Stranger shows how powerful the staff itself is and its ability to shapeshift. Likewise, when Goodman Brown is sitting down in the forest and hears Faith’s voice, we see the power the staff has again. For example, it states, “And maddened with despair, so that he laughed loud and long, did goodman Brown grasp his staff and set forth again, at such a rate, that he seemed to fly along the forest-path, rather than walk or run'. This shows us that after hearing Faith’s voice and stating that there is no good on earth anymore, we see that power the snake staff has over Goodman Brown and how it has drawn him even closer to the conversion ceremony deeper into the forest. With these examples, we can see how the snake staff serves as a symbol for evil within the story and how it draws Goodman Brown closer to committing sinful actions.

Final Thoughts

Whether or not we know if Goodman Brown had fallen asleep in the forest or if this was a dream, we see how this event has changed him totally from who he was in the beginning of the story. These symbols play a pivotal role in how he changes and why the story can be read as an allegory. Faith symbolizes the faith of Goodman Brown in God and his relationship with religion while her dreams serve as underlying warnings to stay away from the forest. Despite her efforts to stop him, his desire for searching in the unknown shows how he is drawn closer to committing sinful actions. Along with this, the forest itself serves as a symbol for luring Goodman Brown deeper into the forest, how it grasps his faith and toys with it. Finally, the symbolism of the snake staff serves to show the reader how it draws him closer and closer to committing sinful actions and the power it holds in doing so. With Hawthorne’s use of all of these devices and techniques, it allows the reader to understand the literary aspect of the story in a deeper meaning and comprehend the evil depiction within the story.