What Is The Symbolism In Young Goodman Brown

In society, a great amount of importance is placed upon titles. Titles are created to define a person’s level of education, social class, or even family situation. While Nathaniel Hawthorne gives his male characters names with a significant amount of meaning behind them in “Young Goodman Brown”, he also makes use of symbolism in actions to further the complexity of each personality. Specifically, Young Goodman Brown starts off with name symbolism that paints him as a lovable young man, but as the story progresses and other types of symbolism come into play, a contrasting personality emerges from the young protagonist.
As the main character, Young Goodman Brown represents a general person in which readers can easily empathize with. This is drawn from his last name Brown, which was common back in the 1800s. The name Young easily matches up to the “dear husband” who has a fresh, passionate love for his wife and an “excellent resolve for the future,” keeping an optimistic and pure outlook on life that is common within young folk. Goodman Brown begins with what appears to be very strong faith towards his values and his religion. This is reasonable for young person who has yet to face challenges in the world and still has a naïve outlook on life. In addition to the positive aspects of the first and last parts of his name, the Goodman in Young Goodman Brown
is also a title used back in the day, in reference to a “simply clad” humble man of an average social class. This extends on the idea that readers are meant to empathize with the protagonist and experience the journey of character development with him in order to fully understand meaning behind the symbolic actions that take place. Alternatively, a more literal interpretation takes the word ‘good’ that simply means a man with positive intentions.
However, it is quickly revealed that Goodman Brown is a more complex character than a simple ‘good man.’ Goodman Brown begins to go deeper into the forest, and while he literally enters a darker area of the world, he also figuratively becomes more corrupt when he “[feels] himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose,” revealing that he clearly understands his actions to have more sinister undertones. It now becomes more obvious that Goodman Brown is more aware, of evil than first imagined, and that he is willing to risk his faith for a bout of naïve curiosity. Despite what appears to be an easy conversion, Goodman Brown demonstrates an intricate battle between good and evil when he “stubbornly” refuses to “budge another step” once he realizes the true potency of the evil in the forest. This proves that contrary to the simplicity of his name symbolism, Goodman Brown encompasses a conflict between good and evil through the complicated symbolism of his arduous journey in the forest. His altercation with the devil in keeping his faith ultimately ends with a loss, as he becomes “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful….. [and] desperate man.” The large contrast between this description and his name symbolism stretch him has a character who has grown and developed onto opposite sides of the spectrum of good and evil as he lose the youthful naivety and curiosity that he once possessed to a dark and bitter man who’s paranoia destroys his trust in everyone he loved. It is said that a single experience can change a person’s life forever, and for Young Goodman Brown “it [is] a dream of evil omen,” that transforms him from a young man with and optimistic outlook on life into pessimistic person who questions the validity of his faith.
The symbolism of his omen is so powerful that Goodman Brown is permanently effected, despite the fact that he considers the idea that the whole experience might have been a dream. Hawthorne’s efficient use of symbolism creates a clear message of good versus evil and the gray area in between that many, if not every reader, will be able to empathize
with.