| Title | : | Young Goodman Brown |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1557423628 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781557423627 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 48 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1835 |
Young Goodman Brown Reviews
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Depending upon one another's hearts, ye had still hoped that virtue were not all a dream. Now are ye undeceived. Evil is the nature of mankind.
(Woods at night - Desmond Raymond)
As my second foray into Hawthorne, this ambiguous morality tale struck me as equally ironic and even darker than
The Ambitious Guest. The gloomy darkness of the forest atmospherically mirrors the darkness of the human soul; a journey in quest of enlightenment and initiation leads only further away from the light and ends in despair and gloom. As evil is in the heart of man making a choice between good and evil is as futile as it is impossible - The fiend in his own shape is less hideous, than when he rages in the breast of man. One cannot live in happiness and veracity at the same time. Young Goodman Brown's eyes have been opened. The price to pay for knowledge is enduring, all-consuming bitterness, as he has lost his belief in the goodness of humanity - including his own - forever.
(Picture: Neil Ross)
This night has opened my eyes
And I will never sleep again.
*** ½
Thanks to the wonderful
Short Story Club for making me read this story. -
Such a wonderfully (and eerily) subversive story of a man who sees what lies behind the virtuous facade. A classic "dark romance," it's got all the hallmarks of another kind of classic: that of the "hero cycle" (to use Joseph Campbell's famous phrase), where the hero has to leave society to gain wisdom, which he then brings back with him. Here, though, the "hero cycle" is completely inverted. The wisdom that Young Goodman Brown gains, when he's off in the woods, is the belief that the townsfolk he thought were virtuous are in fact hypocrites and deceivers in league with the devil. He can't even look at his wife in the same way afterwards. Was what he saw in the woods real or just a dream? It's never resolved, but it doesn't matter, because dreams and reality are one in this tale. The grim final sentence makes clear the depths to which he's shaken and the extent to which he was never the same again: "And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom."
-
A short story written in 1835, but set in the 1600s, in language of the time. It's New England, specifically, Salem, which is a bit of a clue.
Young Goodman goes on a late-night errand, against the wishes of his new wife, Faith. Again, clues in the names. He has some “evil purpose” and vows to himself that after this, he will “cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven”.
A forest, not a garden
“He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind.”
Image: Spooky wood in Massachusetts, specifically Witches Woods of Beverly (
Source)
In the forest, Goodman has several encounters: some supernatural, some clearly laden with symbolism, and others mildly comic. But the forest is the star: a dark one, with subtle menace. Discussing it with Ilse, I recalled Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market, which I reviewed
HERE. Rossetti's wood is more secular and sensual, but both have a disturbing supernatural power.
“ Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream?”
What Goodman sees and hears changes everything - or does it? That question would have been the perfect way to end it, in my opinion. However, Hawthorne then explains what happened, along with something of the theological and philosophical aspects: almost a second Fall in a second Eden arising from forbidden knowledge. Perhaps nineteenth century readers wouldn't have accepted anything vaguer?
Overall, this story was too imbued with religious fears and disputes of the time for my taste, exacerbated by my relative ignorance of US history.
Short story club
I read this as one of the stories in
The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with
The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story
here.
You can join the group
here. -
Young Goodman Brown, first published in New-England Magazine, VIII (April, 1835), is one of Hawthorne’s enduring classics. This simple story of a young Puritan who undergoes certain life-altering experiences when he accompanies the “traveller with the twisted staff” to a ceremony deep in the nighttime woods is both memorable in itself and representative of the great themes that darken and enrich Hawthorne’s fiction: the Puritan connection with evil, the deceptive nature of everyday life, the precariousness of individual human faith.
Although the story is obvious in its symbolism (for example, young Brown has a wife named “Faith” whom he loses track of in the course of the story), it is sure and subtle in its development, as we, along with young Goodman Brown, come to doubt the reliability of the social world and what good we are willing to claim for it, and for ourselves.On the Sabbath-day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen, because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear, and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit, with power and fervid eloquence, and with his hand on the open Bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss or misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers. Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith, and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled, and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away.
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Not one of my favourites!
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This was another reread for me. The story is short and effective. The story takes place during Puritan America in Salem, Massachusetts. The main character is a young man named Young Goodman Brown who sets out on a journey. Shortly into the journey, dark and confusing imagery slowly take over.
The story culminates to a Satanic initiation deep in the forest. What makes it confusing is that all the devil worshippers at the meeting are the fellow townspeople including his young wife, Faith. Then suddenly he's in Salem Village the next day.
I thought the story was powerful because we don't know if the witch meeting in the forest was real or it was all a dream. All we know is the experience changed Young Goodman Brown. His perception is overridden with doubts and distortions, skepticism in religion, and spends the rest of his days in uncertainty.
"And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave... they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom."
I liked this one very much because there's solid impact in such a short narrative. I would recommend this one to anyone. Thanks! -
Into the woods, who knows what may be lurking on the journey?
As an indictment of religious hypocrisy, this is powerful stuff. Young Goodman Brown leaves his wife Faith (some pretty blatant symbolism here), journeys into the dark forest, encounters the devil himself, and - most importantly- grapples with the evil within his own heart. His internal battle is made exponentially more difficult when he’s confronted with the evil and hypocrisy that’s actually in the hearts of the devout-seeming people he knows.
Does he win? And was it real? Well, that’s open for debate. Read it! It’s much more subtle than I initially gave it credit for, especially in its ending.
You can read it here:
https://www.owleyes.org/text/young-go.... There's some really interesting commentary in the story's footnotes on this webpage.
#2 in my spooky October 2019 classics reads. -
Young Puritan, Goodman Brown, enters the forest one night and imagines/dreams that he and his fellow 17th century neighbors, villagers, all good Puritans, are in cahoots with the Devil himself. And unless God is tolerant of ignorant fools, I suspect Hell itself is populated with these religious fanatics, these witch burning despots.
-
Short review for a short story. Besides, this is the first story in the Group Read of BOOK, and the very copious discussion has addressed a myriad of points.
What perplexed me in this story was that I did not clearly see the point that Hawthorne may have been trying to convey. This is such a pessimistic account written by a man still in his relatively young age (published in 1835 when he was just over thirty) – that it just had me wonder. I don’t know his work well at all, having read only the
The Scarlet Letter, which had also baffled me. But even if he had well-formed ideas regarding his society with its political institutions, with the way it practiced religion, as well as some rejection of the discreditable episodes in the history of his country (the story is set during the Salem witch trials in which I learn that one of his ancestors had been involved), this story still comes across as singularly bleak.
He is certainly masterful in the use of his literary craft for creating the chilly and eerie atmosphere. He chooses his adjectives, designs his images, and creates his symbols with care. Literary references abound. For me the Homeric devices, and in particular the Dante framework stood out foremost. And in the comparison with Dante, I go back to the pessimism. The Florentine wrote his masterpiece out of spite, but after the Inferno there was a way out and a final bliss. And in this escape a woman and a religious figure showed the way.
Not so with Hawthorne’s figure of Faith – she of the pink ribbon. -
Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that all of humanity exists in a state of depravity, but that God has destined some to unconditional election through unmerited grace. Hawthorne frequently focuses on the tensions within Puritan culture, yet steeps his stories in the Puritan sense of sin. In a symbolic fashion, the story follows Young Goodman Brown's journey into self-scrutiny, which results in his loss of virtue and belief.
The story begins at dusk in Salem Village, Massachusetts as young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife of three months, for some unknown errand in the forest. Faith pleads with her husband to stay with her, but he insists that the journey must be completed that night. In the forest he meets an older man, dressed in a similar manner and bearing a physical resemblance to himself. The man carries a black serpent-shaped staff. The two encounter Goody Cloyse, an older woman, whom Young Goodman had known as a boy and who had taught him his catechism, in the woods. She complains about the need to walk and, the man rudely throws his staff on the ground for the woman and quickly leaves with Goodman. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: دهم ماه سپتامبر سال 2002 میلادی
عنوان: براون، یک مرد خوب و جوان (گودمن براون جوان)؛ نویسنده: ناتانیل هاثورن؛ مترجم: شیوا نورپناه؛ تهران، حفیظ، 1379، در 22 ص؛ شابک: 9649302220؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی قرن 19 م
ناتانیل هاثورن، در این داستان روحیه حاکم بر آمریکای قرن هفده میلادی را به تصویر کشیده؛ داستان در نیوانگلند پیوریتن رخ میدهد، مکان داستان تم روال آثار و داستانهای هاوثورن است. هاوثورن باورهای پیوریتن و کالوینیسم دارد آنها باور داشتند بشریت در تباهی کامل قرار دارد، به جز برای افرادی که با لطف الهی به دنیا آمده اند. هاوثورن به طور مکرر سعی میکرد که دورویی جامعه پیوریتن را در ادبیات خود نمایش دهد. داستان به شکل نمادین، ماجراهای سفر یانگ گودمن بروان در خویشتن بینی و در پایان از دست دادن باورهای او را دنبال میکند
چکیده: یک روز عصر- در اواخر قرن هفدهم میلادی- گودمن براون جوان که سه ماه است ازدواج کرده، خانه اش در سیلم در ایالت ماساچوست و زن جوان و زیبایش- فیث(ایمان)- را ترک میکند تا به جنگل برود و شب را در آنجا برای انجام کاری که از آن چیزی نمیگوید، بگذراند. تنها این را میگوید که باید در فاصله ی غروب تا طلوع آفتاب آنجا باشد و کارش را انجام دهد. اگرچه دل فیث گواهی شومی میدهد و به شوهرش التماس میکند که از رفتن به جنگل منصرف شود و این کار را به وقت دیگری موکول کند، ولی براون به التماسهای زنش گوش نمیکند و راه میافتد. البته اعتراف میکند که کارش کار خیری نیست ولی دقیقاً نمیگوید که کارش چیست. از توضیح نویسنده ی داستان چنین برمیآید که گودمن براون دارد میرود تا در مراسم آیینی جادوگران در جنگل شرکت کند، گرچه این کار از او که یک مسیحی معتقد و مؤمن است و به همسرش تذکر میدهد که دعا را فراموش نکند، بعید و عجیب است.؛
آغاز رو به اوج داستان آنگاه است که براون پس از ترک دهکده وارد جنگل تاریک تسخیرشده میشود و هنوز راه چندانی نرفته که شیطان در قالب مردی میانسال و به ظاهر محترم به او میپیوندد تا طبق قرار پیشین که با هم گذاشته اند، همراه با هم به جنگل بروند. همینطور که پیش میروند شیطان حرفهای حیرت آوری میزند که براون را شگفتزده میکند. او میگوید که اجداد براون خشک مقدسهایی متعصب و استثمارگرانی ظالم و جنایتکارانی بیرحم بوده اند و دستی هم در جادوگری داشته اند و خلاصه بندگان خالص و مخلص شیطان بوده اند.
کمی بعد به براون میگوید که ستونهای جامعه، کلیسا و سردمداران ایالت نیوانگلند همگی هرزه، کفرگو و همدست و همپیمان با او هستند و جادوگرانی هستند که به او خدمت میکنند. در همین حال براون آموزگار درس دینی دبستانش را در لباس جادوگرها میبیند و صدای خادم کلیسا و یکی از شماسهای آن را میشنود که سوار بر اسب درباره ی مراسم عشای شیطانی که قرار است در آن شرکت کنند و براون هم برای شرکت در آن عازم جنگل است، صحبت میکنند. ؛
گودمن براون که میکوشد تا مانع فروپاشی دنیای تصورش از اطرافیانش و باورش به شریف و مؤمن و درستکار بودن آنها شود، سعی میکند دعا بخواند و به خدا پناه ببرد ولی آنگاه که ناگهانی ابری سیاه آسمان را میپوشاند، دعا خواندن را فراموش میکند و حیرتزده غرق تماشای ابر میشود. از دل ابر همهمه ی صداهایی را میشنود که صاحبان بعضی از آنها را میشناسد، صدای افرادی مؤمن و خداترس. صدای زنش را هم در بین صداها تشخیص میدهد، و دهشتزده میشود. وقتی ابر میگذرد و روبانی صورتی- مثل همانی که زنش دور کلاهش میبندد- را میبیند که رقصان از آسمان به زمین میآید، غرق در یأس و پریشانی میشو��، و با عجله به طرف مجمع جادوگران میرود. به آنجا که میرسد با جمعی از آدمهای شریر و بعضی از آدمهایی روبرو میشود که آنها را میشناسد و تا آن زمان به نظرش، مؤمنانی درستکار بوده اند. وقتی به سوی محراب، هدایتش میکنند تا با گمراهان پیمان برادری و وفاداری ببندد، فیث به او میپیوندد. داستان به اوج میرسد که پیش از اجرای مراسم تعمید، براون با فریاد به زنش میگوید که به آسمان نگاه کند و طلب آمرزش و رستگاری کند، ولی دمی بعد پی میبرد که تنهاست و همسرش کنارش نیست
در ادامه به بخش گرهگشایی داستان و افشای راز آن میرسیم. صبح روز بعد گودمن براون که به سیلم بازگشته احساس میکند که به کلی تغییر کرده و آدم دیگری شده است. حالا دیگر به همه بدبین است و به هیچکس اعتماد ندارد، نه به همسرش و نه به همسایگانش و مقامات کلیسا. به همه با دیده ی شک و بدبینی نگاه میکند، و تردید دارد که در میان آنها آدم خوبی وجود داشته باشد. او تا زمان مرگ در همین حالت شک و بدبینی به سر میبرد و با کدورت خاطر، میمیرد. ا. شربیانی -
This is, in my opinion, one of the single greatest short stories ever written. The narrative is so tightly woven, the dialogue genius and subtle, and the prose are extremely sharp. While much criticism tries to explain the allegory as a man's venture into the realm of the sexual, I think that the story is much more universal. For one thing, there's very little to indicate that Goodman Brown's journey is specifically sexual (Freudians will disagree, but I remain unconvinced), and I feel that Hawthorn's concerns were much more akin to hypocrisy and false expectations we have, and how we thus betray ourselves.
The most fascinating character is, of course, the Devil, and this is one of the best I've read. He's not opening malicious, and his subtlety is what makes him so frightening. His ability to ensnare Brown tighter and tighter intrigues me. The way Goodman Brown falls from grace is so cleverly planned, and yet it's so obvious to us as readers, and to the victim himself, though he doesn't realize it. How often do we find ourselves digging our own graves, doing things that we know are foolish, yet pushing farther against our greater knowledge. Of course, we can never anticipate the actual consequences, and that's why we are so easily tempted, and that is one of the things Hawthorne does such an amazing job of exploring here.
It's unfortunate that such an awesome story cost the protagonist his Faith and happiness, but it probably wouldn't be nearly as amazing if that weren't the case. -
Young Goodman Brown, such a pathetic doofus and such an emblematic representation of the rot and confusion at the core of American society, then and now…
Nathaniel Hawthorne can be hard going, and after reading all of his major works and much of his shorter stuff, I thoroughly understand why he’s not being read much these days. Even The Scarlet Letter has mostly fallen out of public school curricula, and those English teachers that dare teach it will generally instruct their students to skip “The Custom House” entirely. Hawthorne is hard for today’s readers, which is too bad because his central message of the dark hypocrisy underlying the foundations of life in America and informing nearly everything we still do in America a century and a half later is a timely one, although it’s a message that sadly many states seem intent today on forbidding being taught in their schools altogether.
It had been a good thirty years or so since I’d read “Young Goodman Brown,” and so it was long overdue for a reread and I’m grateful for the impetus this morning of being invited to a reading group that is taking it on. Over those last thirty years in America, that so-called Silent Majority of the Nixon years morphed into the self-righteously smug Moral Majority and now has become a frightening unsilent, immoral minority of screechingly intolerant neo-fascists and racists who parade about these days cloaked in a superficial facade of evangelical Christianity. A century and a half later, Hawthorne himself might be disappointed, but he would not be surprised at us. These are the same townsfolk of Salem, Young Goodman Brown’s neighbors, his community and religious leaders, his father and grandfather, these Puritans quite unchanged over the centuries, once quite eager to thrash a Quaker or burn down an Indian village, now content to deny their fellow citizens voting rights, spread a crippling pandemic, or flood their society with guns and lies.
Today, thirty years later, it’s fun to imagine Jerry Falwell Jr, Madison Cawthorne, or Majorie Taylor Greene out there in the darkness of the forest engaging in foul rites, but the even more interesting aspect of the story for me as an older reader is the figure of the now old Goodman Brown at the end of the story who that night may have looked to heaven and resisted the evil one in the forest, but whose miserable life has been appreciably none the better for it. Over the years he has grown into a stern, bitter old man with no love in his heart for his family or his fellow man. Wielding his intolerant beliefs as a sort of cudgel against humanity and retreating into an emotional and spiritual kind of isolation from the supposed taint of the world around him, Brown has ironically not rejected the evil of the forest at all but instead embraced it with a blind intensity that plunges him into misery and ruins his life and happiness with his beloved wife, Faith. -
A young man becomes thoroughly disenchanted after he discovers that beneath the goodness of all the upright people he knew was a lurking evil, hypocrisy and sin.
The story begins sweetly, with its protagonist Goodman, and his wife Faith exchange kisses as Goodman starts on a journey. Then he meets his travelling companion, the devil, and the story gets stranger and stranger. Allegorical to the extent of winking at its own allegory, this was a nice introduction to Hawthorne -
We are all sinners. We are all wizards and witches.
-
"Young Goodman Brown" is a dark allegory about a young Puritan who leaves his wife, appropriately named Faith, to meet the devil in the darkening woods. The story has imagery relating to the Garden of Eden with the serpent and temptation. The devil tells Goodman Brown that he was present when Brown's Puritan ancestors whipped Quakers and set fire to an Indian village. Goodman Brown is shocked to see the pious members of his church gather to worship the devil and practice witchcraft. Was it a dream or reality? He was totally changed by the experience with the devil, and suspected everyone of evil.
The story raises questions about the nature of evil, and whether the devil is the image of man's natural dark side. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne had an ancestor who was a judge in the famous Salem witch trials, and his works show that this family history upset him. Perhaps if a person is looking for evil in others (as Goodman Brown did for the rest of his life), instead of seeing the good in other people, it sets up an atmosphere where people will be intolerant of someone that's a little "different." This will create a social situation where people can be called witches on flimsy, imagined evidence in the name of religion. Knowing the author's family history, and the social/religious atmosphere in Puritan times made the story more meaningful -
“It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveller knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that, with lonely footsteps, he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude.”
My second gothic story in as many weeks, and I liked this one much better!
This little horror story predates publication of Hawthorne’s
The Scarlet Letter, my only other experience with him. At first it feels very heavy and allegorical, telling of “Goodman” and his wife “Faith.” You think you’re in for
The Pilgrim's Progress, but instead it takes a little detour and you end up in the Twilight Zone.
The writing was clumsy to my ear and difficult for me to understand, but when I slowed down and thought about it, I began to enjoy it. It tells of Young Goodman Brown’s evening journey into the forest, where he meets up with the devil and discovers the dark side lurking behind his good puritan neighbors and church leaders. The trip causes irrevocable changes in Young Goodman Brown’s view of life, but rather than spell anything out, Hawthorn allows the reader to come to their own conclusions.
Very well done, and full of gothic magic and darkness. I heard that this story influenced Stephen King, and I just bet it inspired Rod Serling too. -
Though Hawthorne did not belong to any church he was steeped in the Puritan tradition. This means he believed in what the church fathers called Original Sin based on the fall of Adam & Eve who disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.
In the story, Goodman Brown ventures into the thick forest at night. He has an appointment with the Devil, a man with a crooked staff. After this encounter, as Goodman continues on his way, he encounters pious people, all of whom are revealed as evil, including his own wife. Hypocrites!
"On the Sabbath-day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen, because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear, and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit, with power and fervid eloquence, and with his hand on the open Bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss or misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers. Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith, and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled, and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away."
This is the author’s condemnation of the Puritans.
I see at least two influences on Hawthorne for this story. One is Dante’s Inferno, where Goodman encounters people he knew in real life who are now damned.
The other is The Pilgrim’s Progress in which Christian sets off to find the truth. Along the way he encounters many characters, good and bad. When it’s over, like Goodman, Christian doesn’t know if these encounters were real or just a dream. It does not matter, it all leaves a lasting mark on the voyagers, they will never look at people the same anymore. Pilgrim has found Faith, Goodman has lost his.
===========
*Often Hawthorne is placed in the tradition of “dark romanticism” along with Poe, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stoker. -
A metaphoric, ambiguous short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne that takes place in the transcendent sphere of Goodman Brown leaving him to question his belief and the Christian value system.
A great read to philosophize about Hawthorne´s ambiguity and possible purpose and messages that he wants to convey to his reader.
IG: nilguen_reads -
Disclaimer: This review is, properly speaking, not a review, but rather an 'excuse' for me to keep rambling a little. Sorry if it was too much.
Perhaps I've never mentioned this before, but back in 2020 I didn't speak English at all. I studied the language as another subject when I was in high school, and in college I had to take some English classes in order to fulfill some requirements and be able to get my final diploma afterwards. In short, I wasn't good at it – I still remember a final exam where I had to talk about politics, Mexico-United States relations or something like that, and how I ended up getting rather nervous, and couldn't even pronounce correctly the last name of the American president at that time; I got a 6—the minimum passing grade in Mexico—and I still think it was because my professor felt sorry for me.
When I became a member of the Goodreads community, I never imagined that, after two years, I will be here, typing a review in English, speaking and talking to some people who I met here on Goodreads, also in English, and even keeping a real conversation for two, three hours with people who have become good friends of mine. From using Google translate many times when talking to the first friend I made here—needless to say that this Google thing was more trouble than it was worth—to sharing my thoughts and feelings about a reading in front of a group of people (a book club) from all over the world on Zoom; a whole, different world was actually just in front of me—it was actually a daunting, yet beautiful experience. Ultimately, what I have achieved so far is something that kind of makes me feel proud of myself.
At the end of the day, I think it is great how your life may change because of one App—an App that is, by the way, far from being the best platform in terms of its design and functionality—and mainly because of the people you meet there.
I know, I'm rambling on my stuff again. Sorry, but sometimes I can't help it, especially now with this review slump that doesn't let me go straight to the point (I started typing this review two weeks ago, so you probably get my point). The thing is that a few weeks ago my friend J. called me, a friend I usually call every Saturday to talk about everything and nothing, from the first snowfall of the season in his city—it hasn't even rained for months in mine—to what faith means to both of us. In the middle of our conversation, he mentioned he used to be a huge fan of Stephen King—he has read about 60 books by King, being The Dark Tower, volume 1 his favorite one so far—and that he also read a short story, The Man in the Black Suit, that is hugely inspired by another short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that is called—wait for it—Young Goodman Brown. No sooner had he mentioned this Hawthorne's story than a brilliant idea came to my mind, and immediately after I said 'let's buddy-read it, it seems to be a very short story, right?,' he said 'yes,' and here I am, trying to review this quite short, yet meaningful tale, and I haven't even started to do so. Yet.
Perhaps Young Goodman Brown wasn't that meaningful after all if I'm giving it only 3 stars, but here is the thing: the tale itself is very well written—it was my first time reading a Hawthorne story in its original English, and so the quality of the prose was beyond my expectations—very symbolic, and really compelling (I couldn't put it down from beginning to end). That being said, the plot itself didn't say almost anything to me; it was as if I had never read the story, or as though the story was just incredible while reading it, but after 'living the experience' it was almost meaningless to me. I know, I said before it was meaningful and now I'm saying the opposite, however, and I said this to my friend too, when I was reading the tale, the storyline, the main character, and even the way the characters speak—the tale is set in the 1700s, so the old English makes complete sense—was great, I liked all of these elements together; but when I finished it, and especially after more than one week, the tale has 'gone,' so to speak. Even the climax of the story—I'm not going to say anything about it in order to avoid spoilers, but for those who have read this author before, it has something to do with a very typical topic in many Hawthorne's works—which was the best part of the entire tale, is almost not with me anymore.
What I truly loved, and the reason why this is a 3-star story for me, is the character development of the protagonist, especially what he becomes at the end of the story—it is totally priceless. Only for this reason, I would recommend giving it a try, and if you are a Hawthorne lover, I would recommend you go ahead and pick it up right away.
Finally, I'd like to share with you one of my favorite lines, though there are other ones that are also worth reading:
Let us hear which will laugh loudest. Think not to frighten me with your deviltry. Come witch, come wizard, come Indian powwow, come devil himself, and here comes Goodman Brown. You may as well fear him as he fear you.
P.S. I almost forgot to tell you that this tale is by no means a horror story, perhaps a story with some gothic elements, but nothing to be scared of. -
Having read
The Scarlet Letter, which I found pushing myself to complete, I was hoping that by reading this short story I would have a change of heart about
Nathaniel Hawthorne just as I did with
H.G. Wells. Sadly for
Nathaniel Hawthorne I had no change of heart.
H.G. Wells
The Time Machine and
The Island of Dr. Moreau bored me senseless while
The Magic Shop and
The History of Mr. Polly entertained and my opinion of
H.G. Wells changed as well.
Young Goodman Brown was a tedious read. Interesting concept, the difference between “good and evil”, but overall, quite a forgettable short story. -
The events that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 have echoed down the years like few others in our history. It's impact can be seen even four generations later in
Nathaniel Hawthorne's scathing indictment of society in a village ironically named after the Hebrew word for peace. Hawthorne, a great, great grandson of a judge from the witch trials, uses this spooky tale of a midnight gathering to condemn those who used a facade of piety and righteousness to condemn others for the most venial reasons. His story brings to mind a verse from the Bible.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. (Matthew 23:27)
-
*Read for Gothic Fiction*
I really enjoyed the whole battle between good and evil. The writing wasn't my favorite, but it's an enjoyable short story. -
I really liked this dark story of a man’s meeting with the devil and his realisation there’s hypocrisy all around him.
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“The fiend in his own shape is less hideous than when he rages in the breast of man.”
A classic romantic transcendentalist tale full of religious allegory and metaphors, extending beyond the obvious. Hence it could be interrupted in so many ways, all but carrying the soul of the story intact that ‘A man is not always what he seems, it’s all a facade while good and evil lie in closer proximity than one tends to imagines.’ -
a haunting tale of what happens to a man, Goodman Brown, who battles with his conscience to keep his faith and the consequences of it.
I also liked this one in how Hawthorne plays with the idea of faith by giving Goodman Brown's wife the same name. The story is packed with dark imagery. How Hawthorne tells this tale helps me appreciate the good Vs bad in a religious context. -
Okay, I've read this enough times that I think I can do an actual review. I know people are always arguing over the GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL--or at least they used to. So, I would like to submit this story as THE Great American Short Story.
To me, it's plainly, simply, iconic. It doesn't just represent American culture: the ideas go even deeper to the unconscious soul of the human race. It just happens to be set in America, and in its embryonic state---that's what makes it such a great choice as a representation of the uniquely American mindset, capturing all our contradictions at their ancient roots.
I used to hate this story, and all Hawthorne, mostly because it was about the Puritans. Doesn't everyone hate the Puritans? They're so boring and strict in their monotonous black and uniform starched white collar and cuffs. Their sour outlook about life, their busybody interventions into others'. But this story is about the underbelly.
It's almost like a psychedelic Grimm's Fairytale .. it takes place in the dark woods! What's out there? Witches? The Devil? Nudity? Children being corrupted? Dark vows? Yes!!!
What's so amazing about this story is its end. I'll try to do this without a spoiler. It so rightly captures the source of all that is wrong with the world--if you want to call it evil, or sin, fine. But it mostly has to do with perception. That old "Judge not--" axiom from the Bible, which I always thought as parallel words for the Golden Rule.
He never looked at his wife the same way. That's a shame. Koo Koo Ka Choo. -
My rating 4.1
The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne leans on Dante’s Divine Comedy in the section on hell.
The writer permeated his story through dreams, but the human soul can very easily succumb to various weaknesses of body and mind. The devil questions the faith of Goodman Brow that he carries within himself as a puritan. Human weaknesses scare him so much in the end that even to death, that fear does not come out of him. The dark side is easy to cross, and few can be saved when the Devil takes over their hearts. In the end, we all spend our whole lives trying to stay on the right path.
Sometimes I wonder if this is possible in our world because there are too many things that can drag us into the Devil’s Hellfires. The devil, if he exists, will have a perfect harvest of souls immersed in evil. -
An interesting story, especially in light of the fact that Hawthorne’s grandfather was involved in the Salem Witch Hunts. An ambiguous story with scant motivation, in my eyes, but I might be missing something regarding the cultural rituals of the time.
Read with the Short Story Book Club. It'll be interesting what the others say about this story.
Characters 6/10
Atmosphere 9/10
Writing Style 8/10
Setup 8/10
Plot 6/10
Intrigue 9/10
Logic 7/10
Enjoyment 9/10
7.75/10 = 3.9 stars -
10/10
The Pocket Inferno
I'm a great fan of Hawthorne. This is my 3rd/4th re-read, over decades -- as it keeps cropping up, in various anthologies and guises for me.
One can draw many parallels with Dante's little hell, and with Christian's little pilgrimage -- and shooting forward 15o years, one can see who dwelt in Stephen King's mind as he wrote all his twisted, delightfully gruesome tales. (I think King owes more to Hawthorne in fact, than he does to Poe, in reigning master of the macabre, for there is in H. that certain sinister puritanism that doesn't quite make it into the heart of Poe.) While I delight in the horror of Poe, if I really want to have nightmares, I'll turn to Hawthorne for he rustles in the corners of my soul like a creepy, lurking spider, and awakens all sorts of fears and neuroses ... Nothing better! : )
A tip of the hat to the Short Story Club, for reviving all these old greats. -
In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorn uses symbolism to weave a story of the contradicting ideas of public morality and religious faith. The contradiction on public morality and religion seems a favourite topic of Hawthorne as both books I have read (other being The Scarlet Letter) seem more or less to touch upon the same theme. It was an okay read, but I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed it. I read it to complete a challenge that I've taken for the year; and if not, I probably wouldn't have bothered at all.
