Corruption In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
One major theme in the short story “Young Goodman Brown” is the weakness of humans to corruption. The author of the story, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses many elements of fiction to depict how even the holiest of people can fall victim to evil and corruption. Some elements of fiction used to support Hawthorne’s theme include characterization to help develop the theme and plot to explain the theme. The first element of fiction used is characterization; characterization adds extra detail needed to fully develop the theme of the story. Without characterization the characters would be flat and boring, which would make getting the theme across to the reader very difficult. There are three main characters in “Young Goodman Brown,” the first being Goodman Brown himself. Goodman Brown is a major characterization key in the trying to show the theme; he
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represents both the innocence of man and how easily man can be corrupted.
Throughout the story he is trying to resist the temptation and stay pure, but by him willingly going into the dark forest, represents his ability to be corrupted. Another main character in the story is a traveler that Goodman Brown meets in the forest. The traveler is not just any traveler; he is actually the devil and throughout the story he tries to convince Goodman Brown to give in to the wickedness. The last main character is Faith; she is Goodman Brown’s new wife and a representation of Goodman Brown’s spiritual faith. Faith wears pink ribbons in her hair which becomes an important detail in the story’s plot.
The next element of fiction is plot and the story’s plot describes how susceptible people are to corruption and how even people of good faith can be led astray to do evil. Throughout the story you see many people from the village that have been corrupted
and are on their way to the witches meeting, including the town’s minister, but none as important as Goodman Brown. At the beginning of the story Goodman Brown sets out on a mission; the mission is to go to a witches meeting that is being held in the forest that night. On the way to the meeting Goodman Brown meets a fellow traveler, turns out the traveler is also the devil. On the way to the meeting, the devil tries to sway Goodman Brown to evil, but Goodman Brown resist the devil’s attempts because he still believes there is good in the world and he insists on staying strong for his new wife, Faith. To convince the devil that Goodman Brown will not give in to the wickedness, Goodman Brown states, “With Heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!” (Hawthorne 456). That is until Faith is no longer “below.” After that proclamation, Goodman Brown sees pink ribbons falling out of the sky and there is his Faith flying on a broomstick, no doubt to the witches’ meeting. With that Goodman Brown shouts, “My Faith is gone!” (Hawthorne 457) by that he means both his wife and his spiritual faith. The converting of Faith from good to evil, made Goodman Brown weak and even more willing to be corrupted. At the end of the story Goodman Brown resists the devil, but he does not resist evil. He gets consumed by evil because for the rest of his life he sees no good in the world; he constantly judges everyone in his village and condemns them all. The theme was proven by Goodman Brown’s weakness leading to his corruption.
Ultimately, characterization and plot help develop the theme of the story, weakness of humans to corruption. Characterization helps build up the characters and is used to add extra detail needed for developing the theme. Likewise, the plot also helps develop the theme; it gives to the storyline the how and why some people convert to evil.
represents both the innocence of man and how easily man can be corrupted.
Throughout the story he is trying to resist the temptation and stay pure, but by him willingly going into the dark forest, represents his ability to be corrupted. Another main character in the story is a traveler that Goodman Brown meets in the forest. The traveler is not just any traveler; he is actually the devil and throughout the story he tries to convince Goodman Brown to give in to the wickedness. The last main character is Faith; she is Goodman Brown’s new wife and a representation of Goodman Brown’s spiritual faith. Faith wears pink ribbons in her hair which becomes an important detail in the story’s plot.
The next element of fiction is plot and the story’s plot describes how susceptible people are to corruption and how even people of good faith can be led astray to do evil. Throughout the story you see many people from the village that have been corrupted
and are on their way to the witches meeting, including the town’s minister, but none as important as Goodman Brown. At the beginning of the story Goodman Brown sets out on a mission; the mission is to go to a witches meeting that is being held in the forest that night. On the way to the meeting Goodman Brown meets a fellow traveler, turns out the traveler is also the devil. On the way to the meeting, the devil tries to sway Goodman Brown to evil, but Goodman Brown resist the devil’s attempts because he still believes there is good in the world and he insists on staying strong for his new wife, Faith. To convince the devil that Goodman Brown will not give in to the wickedness, Goodman Brown states, “With Heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!” (Hawthorne 456). That is until Faith is no longer “below.” After that proclamation, Goodman Brown sees pink ribbons falling out of the sky and there is his Faith flying on a broomstick, no doubt to the witches’ meeting. With that Goodman Brown shouts, “My Faith is gone!” (Hawthorne 457) by that he means both his wife and his spiritual faith. The converting of Faith from good to evil, made Goodman Brown weak and even more willing to be corrupted. At the end of the story Goodman Brown resists the devil, but he does not resist evil. He gets consumed by evil because for the rest of his life he sees no good in the world; he constantly judges everyone in his village and condemns them all. The theme was proven by Goodman Brown’s weakness leading to his corruption.
Ultimately, characterization and plot help develop the theme of the story, weakness of humans to corruption. Characterization helps build up the characters and is used to add extra detail needed for developing the theme. Likewise, the plot also helps develop the theme; it gives to the storyline the how and why some people convert to evil.