Young Goodman Brown

1967 Words8 Pages
Introduction Young Goodman Brown is a short story written by an American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The plot of this story is of 17th Century of Puritan New England. The Calvinist belief of humanity is addressed in this story. It highlights the state of depravity in which humanity existed. The hypocrisy of Puritan culture is also highlighted in this story. This story is presented as a journey of Young Goodman Brown which led him in the loss of his faith and virtue. This paper also refers to the story of William Wilson by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is written by the author describing the years he spent outside London. This story is based on rationality. These two stories give us the best example of human psychology. These stories also tell about human capacity of doing evil. The social expectations also play an important role in persuading a person to reach to his capacity of doing evil. This paper gives an analysis of these two stories to provide an insight of human nature and his daily life experiences that inclines a person to do a certain task. These actions of a person are also guided by ego, power of will and external environment. http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11931 http://mirasenglisha1-09-11.wikispaces.com/file/view/Young_Goodman_Brown_eNotes%5B1%5D.pdf Thesis In the story of ‘Young Goodman Brown’ sin is utilized for the representation of conflict between good and evil in nature of a human. The clash between the two faces of human nature is identified in this story. These faces are of public goodness which everyone portrays but there is a private wickedness behind every face. This wickedness forces a person to do evil even at the stake of others benefit. The combination of good and evil is portrayed by the characters as Young Goodman Brown and his wife faith. The character of faith is portrayed as the sin of adultery as
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