Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, during the time of the Salem witch trials. Hawthorne had resentment toward “Puritan Pride”, so he wrote an allegory about his feelings in 1835. In Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne uses symbolism throughout the whole story. He was known as the “master of symbolism.” One significant symbol in the story was the main character’s wife’s name, Faith. In the story, Hawthorne could’ve been writing “Faith” as Young Goodman Browns wife, or Goodman Brown’s “faith” as a believer in the higher powers.
From the start, Hawthorne describes Goodman Brown as a good Puritan who is devoted to his wife, “Faith”, whose name he uses like a shield for his soul. Goodman Brown leaves on a journey without “Faith”, his new wife, in the same way that the Puritans left their “faith” at home and set out on a journey apart from Jesus Christ. Brown’s desire to journey without “Faith” leads to her...