Essay On Hypocrisy In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
When Goodman Brown meets the devil in the woods he has a staff with a serpent carved into it. The serpent can be symbolic of sin, because Christianity associates the serpent with Eve's temptation and original sin. Also, in the beginning when Goodman Brown talks about Faith's ribbon she is seen as virtuous. However, when he sees her ribbon lost in the woods, he believes she has lost her soul to the devil.
Considering many of the members of church are seen conversing with the devil, I think Goodman Brown's dream or vision in the woods is a paradoy of the hypocrisy in the church.When he finally returns home from his night in the woods, he is greeted by Faith and she still has the pink ribbon in her hair. He is left with a bittersweet awareness that appearances are not neccesarily true. Hawthorne seems to agree with Brown's ideas considering Brown indifference to church service. Hawthorne's history with the Puritan's probably left him feeling oddly similar.
Alymer's seems to symbolize an unrealistic desire for perfection and control over nature. However, Georgiana's birthmark possibly represents that nature is imperfect, flawed, and uncontrollable. While Almery's assistant seems to be a symbol of logic. He states "If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birth-mark" (649). Because Alymer and Georgiana's …show more content…
I think we can learn about humankind from observing nature, but Aylmer and Georgiana do not take Aminidab's warning against removing the birthmark. This makes me think Hawthorne would suggest we can learn about humankind from observing nature, but it does not neccesarily mean we always do. Because in both "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birth-mark" there are themes of re-evaluating others and one's decisions after being powerless to Nature, it seems Hawthorne would consider Natures more mixed in its relationship to
Considering many of the members of church are seen conversing with the devil, I think Goodman Brown's dream or vision in the woods is a paradoy of the hypocrisy in the church.When he finally returns home from his night in the woods, he is greeted by Faith and she still has the pink ribbon in her hair. He is left with a bittersweet awareness that appearances are not neccesarily true. Hawthorne seems to agree with Brown's ideas considering Brown indifference to church service. Hawthorne's history with the Puritan's probably left him feeling oddly similar.
Alymer's seems to symbolize an unrealistic desire for perfection and control over nature. However, Georgiana's birthmark possibly represents that nature is imperfect, flawed, and uncontrollable. While Almery's assistant seems to be a symbol of logic. He states "If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birth-mark" (649). Because Alymer and Georgiana's …show more content…
I think we can learn about humankind from observing nature, but Aylmer and Georgiana do not take Aminidab's warning against removing the birthmark. This makes me think Hawthorne would suggest we can learn about humankind from observing nature, but it does not neccesarily mean we always do. Because in both "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birth-mark" there are themes of re-evaluating others and one's decisions after being powerless to Nature, it seems Hawthorne would consider Natures more mixed in its relationship to