Essay on Loss of Faith in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown

Loss of Faith in Young Goodman Brown In the Bible, God commands Moses to go up Mount Sinai to receive divine instruction. When he comes back, his people, the Israelites, have gone crazy. They have forgotten Moses, and forgotten their God. They form their own god, a golden calf, and build an altar. They even had a festival for the golden calf. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and sat down to indulge in revelry (Exodus 32:6). Moses then went down the mountain and got so angry that he smashed the tablets with the Ten Commandments on them. The Israelites lost faith because they could not see the God they were worshipping, so they forgot him and began worshipping a false idol. The Israelites are not very†¦show more content†¦The Devil carries a staff that bore the likeness of a great black snake (Hawthorne 318). Hawthorne uses this as a reference to the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible. The serpent in the Bible led Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. Eating from this tree barred Adam and Ev e from paradise (Genesis 3). The staff in Young Goodman Brown leads Goodman Brown to the ceremony in the forest. Goodman Browns faith is destroyed after the ceremony. Later Goodman Brown declares that he comes from a race of honest men and good Christians (Hawthorne 318). The Devil reminds him of all of the wrong that these men have done. This causes loss in faith because Young Goodman realizes that all of his forefathers have done bad deeds in the name of good. Pride causes man to lose faith. Man also loses faith because of erroneous values. Man often believes that good deeds can erase evil deeds. Young Goodman Browns young wife, Faith, symbolizes mans religion. Before leaving for his evil deed in the forest, Young Goodman Brown says, After this one night Ill cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven (Hawthorne 317). Man often justifies misconduct by doing good actions. A person may go out on a Saturday night and get drunk, but the next morning he will be in church, hoping to redeem himself. Many times man believes that he is alone in his faith. Near the end of the story, Young Goodman Brown cries out Faith! Faith! LookShow MoreRelated Goodman Brown’s Loss of Faith in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown1492 Words   |  6 Pages Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote Young Goodman Brown based on morals and what Easterly in Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown calls spiritual maturity (Easterly 339). In the short story, Goodman Brown, a young Puritan lea ves his wife of three months to watch a witch ceremony in the forest. During this point in time, Puritans based their lives on teachings of religion and morality; therefore, witch-meetings were surely immoral, and they betrayed the commitment of God. Dwelling inRead More Essay on Loss of Faith in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown874 Words   |  4 Pages Young Goodman Brown:nbsp; Loss of Faith nbsp; Faith can be defined, as a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Young Goodman Brown is about a man who leaves his wife, Faith, at home alone for a night while he takes a walk down the road of temptation with the devil. Along the road he sees many people that he would never expect to see on this road, his wife included. He returns to his life in Salem a changed man. 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There ye stand, my children, said the figure, in a deep and solemn tone, almost sad, with its despairing awfulness, as if his once angelis nature could yet mourn for our miserable race. Depending on one anothers hearts, ye had still hoped, that virtue were not all a dream. Now ye are undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome, again, my children, to the communion of your raceRead MoreNathaniel Hawthorne s Young Goodman Brown847 Words   |  4 PagesFaith is a word often used to describe the trust that one has in God; as expressed in a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† In Young Goodman Brown, one of Hawthorne’s biggest themes is faith. Hawthorne wrote this story to illustrations how temptation and the views of others can influence the way an individual lives. â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† takes place in the 1800s during the time of the Salem Witch Trials; where emphasis was po sitioned on the strict moral rules and the searchRead More Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Browns Apocalypse Essay1006 Words   |  5 PagesNathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Browns Apocalypse      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most criticism and reflection of Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown centers on a good versus evil theme. Critics also debate interpretations of the main characters consciousness; is Brown awake or dreaming.   What is certain is that he lives and dies in pain because his belief in his righteousness isolates him from his community.   It is also certain that Hawthornes interpretation of Browns mid-lifeRead MoreAnalysis Of Hawthorne s Young Goodman Brown 946 Words   |  4 Pages In Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’ the main character, Goodman Brown leaves his wife alone for a night to go to a secret meeting in the forest. As it turns out the religious Goodman Brown is actually sneaking off to meet with the Devil. While in the forest with the devil he sees many influential people from town there as well, including his wife. They seem to be about to be taken into the cult when Goodman Brown looks at his wife and begs her to remain with her Faith. Next thing he knows heRead MoreYoung Goodman Brown:: Analyzing Browns Identity1190 Words   |  5 PagesIn the short story â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† Nathaniel Hawthorne sets the locale of the story during the Salem witch trials at his convenience to include the Calvinist theme of sin, that belief in which formed the early history of New England’s social and spiritual identity. As a dark romantic, Hawthorne includes the elements of human nature, mysticism, good and evil, and one ’s own spirituality to convey his message to the reader. However, it is left to the reader’s own digression to interpret his ambiguousRead MoreBiography of Nathaniel Hawthorne1273 Words   |  6 Pagescharacter, views, and faith. Although all parents try their best to successfully raise their children, even the most perfect of families cannot hide their deep, dark secrets forever. Raised as a Puritan, Nathaniel Hawthorne grew up with a devout family intensely immersed in religion. As he matured, Hawthorne discovered that his seemingly pious family was disturbingly flawed, a discovery that would radically change his life. In his short story â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan family secretsRead MoreYoung Goodman Brown964 Words   |  4 PagesOne: Reader-Response Criticism Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† is a short story in which the author attempts to convey several different messages or themes throughout the literary piece. Themes in literary works can sometimes be better understood by analyzing the piece with a specific literary criticism technique. A few of these literary criticism techniques include Marxist, Formalism, and Reader Response just to name a few. Given Hawthorne’s style of writing and this short story in