Essay Sample on Young Goodman Brown: Loss of Faith & Virtue

Goodman brown is the protagonist in a short story Young Goodman Brown published by an American writer in 1835. The story is based on Goodman leaving his wife of three months Faith for a journey, that resulted to his loss of beliefs and virtues.it is based on the 17th-century context focusing on the puritan belief that humans exist in the state of depravity and some humans have predetermined salvation via unmerited grace. Puritanism is the principles and beliefs demanding strong faith and moral conduct by some 17th-century English protestants disregarding church reformations under queen Elizabeth 1, aiming to regulate, control, and simplified forms of worship.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

A comparison of how Goodman's Browns wife faith is a symbol of puritanism, Faith had put on a cap with pink ribbons when bidding Brown goodbye; in the Bible, white signifies purity and innocence while pink symbolizes sin. Pink ribbons and cap signify browns faith is blended of sin and purity in that he felt sorry for leaving faith but tries to justify this with the great resolve on his anticipated journey. "of all nights in the year; this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou call it, forth and back again, must need to be done 'twixt now and sunrise. What, my sweet, pretty wife, cost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married" (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Faith called Goodman, but he was turned down, which symbolizes turning his back on Christianity, instead choosing the forest that implies evil and witchcraft.

Brown's wife's name was Faith, which means believing in the intangible and invisible that lacks proof for existence. Brown left Faith home alone for a journey despite her request that she stays with her that night. "Please put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your bed tonight. 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."(Hawthorne).This symbolizes puritanism in that if you abandon your faith and beliefs, some bad omen will follow.

Brown left Faith and pursued his journey into the forest; he took a dark and dreary path with a gloomy forest cover that barely let the path through shutting it immediately. This symbolizes puritanism, that lack of faith creates loneliness and solitude creeps in and leaves uncertainties and peculiar darkness since in the forest, Brown never knew what awaited him. "There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree. What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" (Hawthorne)

Goodman leaves Faith embarking on his journey, where he sees and meets many evil people along. He meets an old man gravely dressed that resembles him seated by the oak tree and has a walking stick that resembles a serpent, the man asks him, "The clock of the Old South was striking as I came through Boston, and that is full fifteen minutes gone." (Hawthorne). Brown replies, "Faith kept me back a while" (Hawthorne). This symbolizes a puritan belief that faith in God keeps us safe. The old man tells brown that it is his turn to walk the journey and opens up to him of how he had been acquainted with their family, helped his grandfather, a constable in smartly lashing a charlatan woman from the street of Salem and his father set fire on an Indian village. Brown ends the matter and tells the old man that he is a good husband, and "there is my wife, Faith. It would break her dear little heart, and I'd rather break my own." (Hawthorne) .This symbolizes puritanism in that faith should be shielded by all means no matter the circumstance.

Brown left faith and pursued a journey with the devil, along the journey they met a good woman that he recognizes as his catechism teacher, she was praying and upon the old man touching her with her serpent-shaped stick she screamed, called him the devil and confronts him that he will not take brown into his communion that night .this symbolizes puritanism in that whenever you doubt faith, evil is cautiously striking in, since the old man drops his stick. They instantly vanish with Brown, and they cannot find the woman.

Brown hears faith's cry for help from the forest, he is in hiding and hesitates and is silent, and he listened to the scream that drowned into murmurs that faded away leaving a clear sky, he came out running filled with anger and vengeance. Faith's ribbon fluttered lightly down the sky; Brown said, "There is no good on earth, and sin is but a name. Come, the devil; for to thee is this world given." (Hawthorne) This is a symbol of direct puritanism in that with lost faith, there is no hope; he even calls upon the devil, despair strikes, and he even doubts the faith of others around her. Brown runs through the forest relentlessly searching in fear that her wife is lost, the path grew darker and wilder, vanishing and leading him to the drearier wilderness.

He embarked to Saleem the next morning after losing faith, he could not tell if the happenings were dreams or real, his spiritual faith was gone, his beliefs distorted and he lost faith in humanity, he would not kneel for a word of prayer with his family and would turn away from his wife, "And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave... they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom." (Hawthorne) .This symbolizes puritanism that it is after the journey and its experiences that Brown lost faith, and his life was a full lost purpose for he no longer believed since he feared evil would prevail again.

After leaving his wife for the journey and into the woods, Young Goodman Brown is then referred to as Goodman Brown .this symbolizes puritanism in that it is assumed he left Faith, whose name symbolizes Christianity, for impurity and evil deeds and therefore does not deserve the title Young Goodman Brown anymore.

Goodman pursues his journey to the forest alone, leaving her wife Faith at home, this symbolizes puritanism in a similar way in Queen Elizabeth's one time puritans abandoned their faith and set out to on a self-righteous life journey but their efforts were in vain as no one is perfect and they demanded high morals.

In conclusion, Goodman Brown's wife was a symbol of puritanism throughout since Goodman turned down on Faith's plea that they stayed that night and chose the woods that were considered evil and full of witchcraft at the time. Faith symbolized true Christian faith. The pink ribbons symbolized innocence and purity. The narrative concluded that with God, life has a purpose, and faith was to be protected and upheld throughout since they believed in high moral conduct and righteousness.

Works cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Maryland: Wildside Press, 2005. Print.

Kizer, Kay. The Puritans. Web.

Q, Josie "Young Goodman Brown. Puritanism in Hawthorne's Story," https://ivypanda.com,n.d. Web. 10 Monday 2019