Goodman Brown Historical Perspective

The historical perspective of Goodman Brown The story Young Goodman Brown was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835.The story itself is about a man named Young Goodman Brown who leaves home to go to the forest for some unknown and and ulatemly unimportant errand. While in the forest he meets a man who both dressed and looks oddly similar to him the man also carries a snake like staff. As they walk together they run into Goody Cloyse she is an older woman who Goodman as know since he was a child. She complains about the need to walk the older man throw his staff on the ground for her and than leave with Goodman. When he hears his wife's voice in the trees, he calls out but is not answered. He then runs angrily through the forest, distraught that his wife is lost somewhere in the forest. He soon stumbles upon a clearing at midnight where all the townspeople assembled. At the ceremony, which is carried out at a flame-lit altar of rocks, the newest acolytes are brought forth—Goodman Brown and Faith. They are the only two of the townspeople not yet
initiated. Goodman Brown calls to heaven and Faith to resist and instantly the scene vanishes. Arriving back at his home in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain whether the previous night's events were real or a dream, but he is deeply shaken, and his belief he lives in a Christian community is distorted. He loses his faith in his wife, along with all of humanity. He lives his life an embittered and suspicious cynic, wary of everyone around him.

The story is set during the Salem witch trials with was a common setting for his stories. The Salem witch trials where a series of hearings, prosecutions, and executions in the late 17th century. Over twenty people were put to death based on rumor and suspicion, including Martha Corey and Martha Ingalls Carrier who are referenced briefly in “Young Goodman Brown. One of the judges was John Hathorne Nathaniel Hawthorne’s great grandfather. In seventeenth-century New England, most people shared a strong belief in witchcraft. The origins of the belief in witchcraft and went back to Europe, where, by some estimates, five hundred thousand people were executed for witchcraft between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Prior to the Salem outbreak of 1692, almost three hundred people had been accused of witchcraft in New England; more than thirty had been hanged.

Hawthorne don’t write these stories out of ignorance of this point in history as "Young Goodman Brown" not only presents the issue of the Salem witch trials, but a number of its characters have the names of Salem residents charged with witchcraft, and its major action takes place in the noisy pasture of the period designated as a witches' gathering place.
To convey the setting, he used the language of the period is to enhance the setting. Hawthorne gives the characters specific names that depict abstract pure and wholesome beliefs, such as "Young Goodman Brown" and "Faith". The characters' names do not represent who the characters are by the end of the story. The inclusion of this technique was to provide a definite contrast and irony. Hawthorne aims to critique the ideals of Puritan society and express his disdain for it, thus illustrating the difference between the appearance of those in society and their true
identities

As for Hawthorne's ties with the persecution of the witches, they are based partly on his paternal ancestors, in particular on John Hathorne (1641-1717), the third son of Major William and Anna Hathorne and an important merchant in Salem. John Hathorne was also the famous "witch judge" blamed by many, such as Charles Upham, for playing a major role in the witchcraft trials in Salem and Salem Village in 1692. According to his descendant [Nathaniel], John Hathorne "inherited the persecuting spirit, and made himself so conspicuous in the martyrdom of the witches, that their blood may fairly be said to have left a stain upon him. So deep a stain, indeed, that his old dry bones, in the Charter Street burial-ground must still retain it, if they have not crumbled utterly to dust" (37-38). (courtesy of University of Missouri Press, 1998). It is believed that Hawthorne felt some guilt or responsibility for his grandfather's action as not only did he add a “W” to his last name most of his writing career was spent exploring American Puritanism, often finding more to critique than praise.

Despite or because of his clear bias on the topic Hawthorne’s personal investment in these events combine with his own knowledge of the history of the salem witch trials gives the story “Young Goodman Brown” and the other stories he has written a unique blend of fantasy and realism that makes them more interesting they would not have if they were purely fantasy or based solely on the events.