Analysis Short Story “Young Goodman Brown” By Nathaniel Hawthorne

A. Themes

The themes in the story are religion themed, mysterious and secret story, implicit moral education story/ contain moral or philosophical implications.

B. Plot Summary Plot

Summary in this story is happened in the village of Salem, Massachusetts, in the Puritan community of god-fear. On the front doorstep of his house, his wife kissed by a Young Goodman Brown, and he began the journey into the forest but he did not return the next day. In the other side, He gets a challenge of braving the forest and faces the temptations posed by the forces of evil. Then, Goodman Brown really might want to join the brotherhood of evil also. When in the woods, he meets a mysterious man with a face that resembles likes a snake, and eventually they continue their journey together. From time to time, Brown expressed a desire to return, but his feet kept him away move on. Along the way, there are members of the clergy, through their journey, while Brown hid behind the bark. At that meeting location, he experienced a terrible shock when he discovers that his beautiful wife, a plain also participate. Young Goodman Brown really surprised because he saw his wife, and in his heart, “why my wife could be in their members” but he’s still trying to find known until he participated in the group and see more about their activities. After the incident Young Goodman Brown was never the same again, he was one who liked to be sad when he had it firmly, like the gloomy solitude, a desperate man “. Finally, in this story he died (young goodman brown) leaving his wife and family. 

C. Characters

Goodman Brown : Recently married Puritan who lives in Salem in the 1600′s. He believes in the goodness of the townspeople until he sees many of them attending a witches’ sabbath in the forest. Goodman is a title equivalent to Mister.

Faith : Goodman Brown’s wife. The Devil Figure : Mysterious man who meets Goodman Brown in the forest and accompanies him part way to the witches’ sabbath, where Brown is to be inducted into an evil brotherhood.

Minister : Church leader who leads Goodman Brown to the unhallowed baptismal altar in the forest.

Deacon Gookin : Salem Churchman who attends the witches’  sabbath.

Goody Cloyse : Teacher of cathechism who attends the witches’ sabbath.

Martha Carrier : Salem resident, described as a “rampant hag,” who attends the witches’ sabbath. The devil had been promised her that she would be the queen of hell. With Goody Cloyse, she leads Faith to the unhallowed baptismal altar.

Powwows : Indian medicine men who attend the witches’  sabbath.

D. Setting

The action takes place in the second half of the seventeenth century in Salem, a town northeast of Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Puritan settlers established Salem in 1626 under the name of Naumkeag. Several years later, the town changed its name to Salem, apparently after the Hebrew word shalom, meaning peace. (Jerusalem derives the last two syllables of its name from the same Hebrew word. In full, Jerusalem means city of peace.) Salem was a theocracy in which the Christian moral law, as interpreted by the Puritan settlers of the town, was supreme. “Young Goodman Brown” takes place around the time of the Salem witch trials, held in the spring and autumn of 1692. During these infamous trials, twenty innocent women and men were found guilty of witchcraft and executed.

E. The Structure

Exposition:  The exposition occurs at the beginning of a story or the first paragraph, this is story, the author reveals as the protagonist. The protagonist is Goodman Brown, a man trying to find his way through life. He makes a journey through the woods with an elderly man who is the antagonist. This is evident when Goodman is at home he knows who he is and what kind of man he wants to be, but when he leaves the shelter of his home and family, he seems to struggle with decisions he must make in the forest.

Rising Action: The rising action begins when Brown, out of the village, enters the dark, gloomy, and probably haunted forest. He has not gone far before he meets the Devil in the form of a middle-aged, respectable-looking man, whom Brown has made a bargain to meet and accompany on his journey. Perhaps the full realization of whom his companion is and what the night may hold in store for him now dawns on Brown, for he makes an effort to return to Salem. It is only a feeble attempt, however, for, though the Devil does not try to detain him, Brown continues walking with him deeper into the forest. The struggle or complication between the opposing forces through a series of events leading to a crucial situation.

Falling Action: The issue or outcome of the turning point in which a series of events occur in contrast situation and condition in this story.

Climax : The climax of this story occurs when Goodman Brown, standing before the altar with Faith to receive the mark of baptism from the devil, hesitates at the last minute and urges his wife to “look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one.”

Conclusion: The conclusion, or denouement, of this story then begins when he suddenly finds himself alone in the forest, as if he has just awakened from a dream. What he experienced in the forest – whether dream or reality – changes his life. He is now suspicious of everyone, just as the Puritans of real-life Salem were when they participated in a witch hunt that resulted in the execution. After the incident Young Goodman Brown was never the same again, he was one who liked to be sad when he had it firmly, like the gloomy solitude, a desperate man “. Finally, in this story he died (Young Goodman Brown) leaving his wife and family.

F. Archaic Words & Meaning

Abashed : It means ashamed = Malu

A dull pace : It means = long boring way = Menjenuhkan

Aptly : It means = exactly = Persis/ menyerupai

Attire : It means with robe = (jubah)

Dost thou : It means = do you? = Bukan?

Dreary : It means with dismal / bleak = (buruk/suram)

Devilish : It means with malicious/ evil = (jahat)

Errand : It means with a mission (misi)

Must I Tarry away from thee : It means = I have to stay away from you = Saya tinggal tidak jauh dari kediaman anda

Prithee : It means = Please = Silakan

Smote : it means / same with hit = (memukul)

Thither : It means there = Ada Thou /thee / youe : It means = you (kamu)

Thy : It means = you (kepunyaan)

Twixt : It means = between = antara

Wretch : It means = missarable = Penjahat

Whence : It means= from what palce = Asal

G. The symbolism of ‘Faith’, ’Evil’,  ‘Innocent’.

In this story (Young Goodman Brown), we found symbols, such us:

Faith : The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God’s will

Evil : Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; and evil plant; an evil crop. (Not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously). “Shape of Evil”, “the mystery of sin,”

Innocent : Not harmful; free from that which can injure; innoxious; innocuous; harmless; as, an innocent medicine or remedy. (Simple, artless, foolish). “Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One.”

H. Additional Statement

From this story (Young Goodman Brown) there are some examples of figures of speech include similes, and metaphors.

A simile can be pinpointed when you see the word “like” or “as”. The author to compare two things that aren’t truly alike uses this figure of speech such as saying someone who is nauseous is “white as a sheet”. Another figure of speech, the metaphor, sets two things equal to each other instead of comparing them. An example of this would be saying, the wind on the field of grass was a sea tossing and turning with waves. The story may be viewed as an allegory.

An allegory is a narrative which has two meanings, the literal one and the symbolic one. Each character and action in the literal story has a symbolic counterpart. “Young Goodman Brown,”  like most allegories, contains moral or philosophical implications. Brown is not just a Puritan who lived in seventeenth century New England; on another level hi represents each of us. He is, in a sense, Everyman, as his name symbolizes. He eats to taste evil briefly and then settle down to an exemplary life with his wife, Faith. Her name, too, suggests that she symbolizes her husband’s religious faith.

The journey Brown takes into the forest represents the one each of us takes into adulthood when we become aware of the nature of evil. The forest itself, where most of the action occurs, is a gloomy place associated with evil acts; it can be said to represent unredeemed man. It is contrasted with the quiet village, which symbolizes goodness and is associated with daylight. The allegorical struggle between Brown and his faith begins when he leaves Faith, daylight, and the village to journey into the dark forest.