The Allegorical Young Goodman Brown :: Young Goodman Brown YGB

The Allegorical Young Goodman brownish The story about Young Goodman Brown centers around the allegory of a man match against his past and his desires to reach beyond that which his benighted heaven would put before him. The allegory is Christian due to the references in Young Goodman Brown to the disturb and Satan it only seems logical that the crux of the story is based upon the phantasmal imagery of Hawthornes New England in the times of Salem and active religious strife. The beginning of the story mentions the goodmans wife, Faith. The names of the characters alone serve as an indication of what Hawthorne puts as an obvious religious allegory with the goodman and conviction soon to be pitted against an unspeakable evil. The goodman even swears that after this night he will cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven. The devil awaits Young Goodman Brown as he states that the clock of the old(a) south was striking but a few minutes past (Hawthorne is stating how quickly the devil can move--intensifying the airs of the preternatural). Young Goodman Brown replies to the devil that faith was keeping him away--Hawthornes play on words should not be overlooked as this also leads to the realization that a man (a good one) can get by with the devil and possibly win. At this stage in the story the reader still has hope for the goodman who must now deal with what he feels is his duty honor-bound. A good man in Hawthornes day was a psyche who came from a proper lineage. This very lineage Hawthorne exploits as he begins the goodmans discourse with the devil. The goodman claims that he is from a family of good men that have never been into the forest on such an errand to meet the devil Hawthorne depends upon this defense to criticize the patriarchal lineage upon which a person places his worth. This view is quickly derailed as the devil himself states that all of his ancestors were with him as they tortured women in Salem or burned to the ground Indian village s, and afterwards the devil and his ancestors would go for a friendly walk. Hawthorne has derided the institution of Young Goodman Browns lineage, and his societys view of honor by pointing to some simple facts. The question remains as to whom or what is the devil.