Briana Estrada
“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of a young man still freshly married to his seemingly pure and good wife named ‘Faith’ and who is on some type of personal journey for one night. In my perspective I think it was probably a journey of sin or secrets within the village & church and the people of the town who carry a higher and respectable/holy reputation within the village indulge in their true fantasies. Faith tries to convince Goodman Brown to stay but he seems determined to go on this journey; it raises certain questions such as, maybe he has been on this journey before? Or heard about the purpose of the journey, whatever it was he knew that Faith was hesitant of it because he knew himself it was not going to be for a good purpose.
As we start reading about Brown’s journey the author really portrays elements of a true gothic literature setting are described as a ‘gloomy dark forest’.
Further into the story we learn about an respected village woman named Goody Cloyse who reveals herself as the devil and a witch, then the minister Deacon Gookin presents himself at the devils ceremony, this just furthers the oddness and erupts the theme of the ‘uncanny’ especially when Brown learns the truth about his father,grandfather and supposedly his wife Faith who made similar packs with the ‘devil’. Overall this story brings out the themes of morality, and the hidden secrets within religion & faith also Good vs. evil within oneself, because these people were to be portrayed as these puritans and reputable people within the village ,but theres also a hidden darkness and secrets of the people in these communities, this relatively existed for centuries/ hundreds of years and still does today. This also can be a type of gothic, because people have dark sides to them.
I like to think of Young Goodman Brown not a journey of sin, but a journey of revelation of who people really are. For society, we behave one way, and then can truly be ourselves behind closed doors, or within a group sharing similar interests. I don’t think he’s been on this journey before, because I feel he is so adamant about leaving because he is curious. His curiosity cant be diverted, and he must find out whatever is at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. I like how this story portrays how Brown questions his faith. Religion requires blind faith to have, and some people simply can’t do that. Brown found his answer, and he also learned ignorance is bliss….. possibly.