Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown is a story by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Related Topics:
American - Nathaniel Hawthorne

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This short story takes place in Salem, New England during the Puritanical witch paranoia of the 1700s. The main character, Goodman Brown, departs from home and his wife, Faith, late in the evening to meet with a grim figure deep in the woods. Upon meeting there are many indications that the grim figure may in fact be the devil, who proceeds to goad Goodman Brown farther into the woods to witness a demonic ritual attended by Salem's supposed Christian townsfolk. It is later implied that the entire experience was only a dream, though Goodman Brown seems to endure a psychological scar consistent with the story's theme of retribution for any contact with the devil or his works. Brown lives out his days as an embittered cynic, deeply suspicious of all people around him. One possible moral of the story pertains not so much to Young Goodman Brown's encounter with evil but rather to the way he personally deals with his experience/dream. Another interpretation is that the dream/experience is a metaphor for religious disillusionment (note the "loss of Faith").

Related Topics:
Salem - New England - Puritan - Witch - 1700s - Devil

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