Nothing that is good ever comes out of the forest, and it is said that it could possibly represent the darker side within ourselves. The forest in tales is often dangerous and caotic. It produces abnormality, witchcraft, and also wolves and predators. The forest is a place where "nothing ever remains innocent” (Orenstein 75). In the “Little Red Riding Hood” tales and variants, the forest is always the setting in which the girl comes in contact with the wolf.
His wife Faith portrays everything that is pure and holy to Goodman Brown. Goodman Brown is at first very hesitant of his journey in the forest. However, his concern slowly weakens whenever he meets his companion, a character who appears as an image of his dark and evil side. His companion symbolizes the devil, directing him down the road of evil through the forest. He even possessed a staff, “which bore the likeness of a great black snake (246).” The snake-like appearance of the staff symbolizes the cunning and dangerous character of his companion.
Because of his position of superiority, he viewed the peasants as inferior beings. Facing his son’s demise, Gaspard is shown “howling over it like a wild animal” (Dickens 84). This scenario establishes the idea commoners are regarded as non-human. Dickens describes the Monsigneur as having a “face like a fine mask” (Dickens 83). Portrayed as a man of fine face, the Monsieur lacks visible evidence of hardship unlike then peasant living in extreme poverty.
Goodman Brown Looses His Faith The story of Goodman Brown begins with a sad goodbye between the young man and his wife, Faith, as he prepares to embark on what he believes is a necessary journey. His Loving wife tries to convince him not to travel on this journey, but he begins his journey anyway, believing he can overcome any obstacles that stand in his way. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism in several ways and also incorporates several themes throughout the story. The most prominent theme that can be seen when reading the story is that of good versus evil and the loss of faith. When Goodman Brown begins his journey, he leaves his loving wife being a good Christian man.
The forest shows a symbol of evil throughout the story. When the forest is being described in the story, it has a gloomy effect to the readers. “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.” (Hawthorne 1). The setting of the story is taken place at night so with this description, it sets kind of an unsettling mood to the readers, even to Goodman Brown. “ ‘Too far!
Like a newlywed couple Brown’s trust in his spouse (Faith) is not as strong. I believe this is the reason he sets out into the forest to test his faith in God. “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. “ Brown is describing his path to evil as dreary and dark. He knows he is heading down a road, which will leave him scarred for life.
Saki’s short story tells the tale of Ulrich von Gradwitz who sat forest on his land in the Carpathien mountains on a quest to find and murder his rival Georg Znaeym. The Gradwitz and Znaeym families had been rivals for many generations as the Znaeym family poached pray from the Gradwitz’s forests. Znaeym was also out in the forest that night hunting on Ulrich’s land. The men finally found each other, alone, as their men were out in the forest separated from them. The men began to argue just as the wind picked up and the tree under which they stood came crashing down, trapping them both under branches, twigs, debris, and underbrush.
Christopher Lucious Williams American Literature September 12, 2012 Critical Analysis • Interpretation: “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man that decides to go on a journey to test his faith. What I noticed about the story is that the author, Nathaniel Harthorne, named Brown’s wife Faith. It show’s Harthorne’s use of irony to portray his message in the story. He left his home and his wife to go through a few endeavors. The story questioned me whether or not this was a dream or reality.
When late at night the child's body is returned Heaney sees this as “the corpse” (not a person). Back to top This contrasts wonderfully with the final section of the poem, where he is alone with his brother. Note the personal pronouns “him”, “his”, “he” - as opposed to “the corpse”. The calm mood is beautifully shown in the transferred epithet (“Snowdrops/And candles soothed the bedside” - literally they soothed the young Heaney). The flowers are a symbol in the poem, but also in reality for the family (a symbol of new life, after death).
So this paper will basically analyze psychologically Goodman Brown according to Freud theory and paranoid complex. Samuel Freud's theory which divided the psyche into three parts; id, ego and superego plays a big part in studying Brown's actions. Through the story, Brown is suffering from a struggle between his id which represents desires and his superego which represents perfection. Brown at the beginning of the story decides to leave his wife to go to the forest at night. His journey leads him to leave the village which is a place of light and security to the forest which is a place of darkness, dangerous and unknown destination.