The time that Goodman Brown’s journey takes place and the use of symbolism helps in the realization of sin in others. ”Twixt now and sunrise’ and ‘of all nights in the year”(Hawthorne) are both phrases spoken by the Protagonist Goodman Brown. Both the phrases imply that the journey that Goodman Brown embarks upon happens to take place at a time late at night and also maybe even possibly a special date like Halloween. By the using Halloween as the date that Goodman Brown travels into the forest it helps to give the reader a more eerie tone as the protagonist wanders through the forest, for Halloween is he date in which witches and demons come out to carry out their mischief.
The woods also symbolizes the journey into sin for Young Goodman Brown, for the Puritans believed that the forest itself was evil and wild. The forest is also described in many ominous ways. Walking around in the middle of the night in the forest gives Goodman Brown an unsettling feeling describing it as “darkened by all the gloomy trees”(Hawthorne). This gloominess help give the reader a better picture on how the forest looks as he journeys deeper into the woods where no ‘solitary Christian prayed'(Hawthorne).
To Goodman Brown’s surprise this gloomy place was the exact place where to witched meeting took place and all those whom he perceived as being for spiritually pure were present as well. Shocked by the presence of those he knew very well at this eerie place deep in the forest in the middle of night, made Young Goodman Brown realize that man is susceptible to change from being pure to becoming sinful. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the religious background of the setting of “Young Goodman Brown” to help show how easily a person can change from pure and honest to sinful. [”The Puritan church was a religious body that placed responsibility for salvation on individuals rather than religious leaders. ”The Puritans also believed that God had predestined some of his creations for salvation].
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Goodman Brown happened to be grandson to one of those predestined for salvation, and because of this he felt that it would not be of any consequence for him to make a little sin by heading into the woods at night. Goodman Brown shows that because of his high confidence in being spiritually pure he is willing to sin because he feels like his actions won’t affect his standing in getting into heaven and ends up pursuing his journey into the woods. The Puritans also believed that the Bible warned them that there were witches and also humans carrying out the devil’s work. This can be shown in the short story of “ Young Goodman Brown”. Goodman Brown initially finds everyone in his town to be a saint in his eyes. As he journeys into the woods he slowly finds those who he thought were saint like,were not at all as pure as he thought they were.
The very person who taught Goodman Brown the catechisms, Goody Cloyse, and even his wife Faith were in the woods at night. ”What if a wretched old woman do chose to go to the devil’ describes Goody Cloyse being susceptible to sinning in the eyes of Goodman Brown who though her of all people was going to heaven…”(Hawthorne) The woods being the place of evil that nobody was supposed to travel through after sunset. Goodman Brown’s view on everyone changed once he returned from his journey into the woods. Even though he wasn’t sure if what he witnessed in the woods was reality of just a dream,Goodman Brown would never look at anyone in the town the same The physical setting also plays a major role in affecting Goodman Brown’s views.
The short story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts a location which historically holds religious events. The belief system that those living in Salem at that time happened to be Puritanism,which was a very strict belief. They ultimately wanted to eliminate sin,but found it impossible to do so because of the nature of man to sin. Even though everyone sins one way or another they chose to be cognitively dissonant of their own sins by not allowing others to know about their sins. [The famous event that happened in 1692 was the Salem Witch Trials, which happen because of their belief in witchcraft. During these trials innocent people would be falsely accused of being a witch or being affiliated with the devil that the town deemed the the only reasonable punishment for them was death. ]
The idea of keeping sins hidden from others and the belief that witchcraft existed in Salem can be shown to both be related to the short story. Another important factor related to the physical setting in the short story of “ Young Goodman Brown” has to be the mentioning of the two locations Salem and Boston. ” The clock of the Old South was striking, as I came through Boston; and that is a full fifteen minutes agone”(Hawthorne). Goodman Brown starts his journey in Salem but somehow in a mere fifteen minutes manges to trek his way all the way to Boston.
The two cities are not close enough for anyone to travel by foot in the timeframe that Goodman Brown did. This implies that something supernatural was happening. This could have been the doing of Goodman Brown’s traveling companion, which later the he discovers to be the Devil himself. Goodman Brown trusted this elderly stranger and believed that he too was pure of heart, which is usually a characteristic shown of the elderly, but is soon hit with the realization that this man was sinner and the actual Devil himself.
