Period 1 AP Literature & Composition 24 October 2014 Analysis of Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, Young Goodman Brown, the devil’s staff symbolizes the inevitable loss of innocence that will arise from the temptation of the sinful nature of man, probing at the idea that no one is truly pure. The beginning of Young Goodman Brown starts off with a sense of mystery and suspense. The audience understands that Goodman Brown is going on a “journey” in the woods of Salem. Hawthorne depicts Brown as a man who takes pride in his faith and his family. Shortly after he starts his journey, he meets with the mysterious traveler with a serpent on his staff.
The short story portrays the theme of good overcoming evil is when Webster grips Mr. Scratch's arm, overcoming his power and forcing Mr. Scratch to sign an agreement to leave stone and all other New Hamshire man alone. Another way this theme is shown in the short story is that the trial against Mr. Scratch is won by Webster even though the judge and jury are all his employees. In addition, the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia also examplifies this theme of good overcoming overcoming evil. For example in the song Johnny is apporached by the devil and is given a bet from the devil that the devil would fiddle better than him. Johnny won the bet because good overcame the evil, and Johnny was given a golden fiddle.
He leaves his house one night after dark and as he goes into the woods he “beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire sitting at the foot of an old tree” (391). The man is said to look a lot like Goodman Brown, which could suggest that every person has the capacity to do evil. Hawthorne also implies that the Devil is an embodiment of all of the worst qualities of a man. As they walk through the woods Goodman Brown starts to see people that he has known for his whole life and it makes him question how good these people are. Among them are his old Sunday school teacher, Goody Cloyse whom the Devil reveals is a witch.
Similarly, both stories bring about an area of uncertainty, in which both main characters of the stories, Goodman Brown from “Young Goodman Brown” and Connie, from “Where are You Going, Were Have You Been?” are put in vulnerable positions. In “Young Goodman Brown”, Brown leaves his wife to complete a quick “errand” in the forest. There, he meets a man holding a suspicious stick with a snake illustration, looking, however; like an ordinary man. Brown classified this ordinary looking man as the devil shortly after the man asked him if he’d like to walk with the stick. Regardless, Brown did not return back to his home, to return to his wife, Faith, he continued to follow the old man.
Andrew told Antonio, “I will wait and not enter until you lose your innocence”(71). Antonio, later in the story, seeing Andrew in Rosie’s was a confirmation of Antonio’s losing his innocence and Antonio wanted to stay innocent forever. Another example of Antonio’s developing sense of good and evil is the witch's bosque in the forest. Antonio knows the forest is evil because it is a forbidden area where witches practice the Black Mass in honor of the devil. This is the place where the Trementina sisters placed a curse on Antonio's Uncle Lucas and Antonio said, “It was truly the work of a bruja that was slowly killing my uncle!”(84).
In contrast, Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle in 2008 is a film which displays the Journey of two brothers and their separate paths. Even though the texts are in different formats, they all uphold the universal concept that determination is necessary to conquer complications in a journey. A powerful human spirit is required to reconcile and accept decisions made in journeys. In The Road Not Taken, one of the key ideas explored is simply the journey of an individual walking through the woods contemplating which path to take. The symbolism displayed though the path motif reflects the difficult choice in the journey.
He informs his wife he must set off into the forest to embark on a journey in which we are not told why. On his journey in the woods, Goodman Brown comes in contact with an eerie man who claims to have known Goodman's father and grandfather. Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the man as an evil looking man who displayed poor character, which raises Goodman's speculation of the an truly knowing his father and grandfather. The man and Goodman continue off into the forest, where they meet an elderly woman named Goody Cloyse. The woman confirms Goodman's suspicions of the old man as being an evil spirit and to which she lets him know that she is a witch herself.
04 March 2009 A Dream with Profound Effect In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, we read about a devout protestant who takes the reader on a journey of symbolism. Goodman Brown, newly married leaves his wife at dusk to venture in the woods and meet a mysterious man. We do not know his purpose of his travel but are led to believe that it is something dark, and evil. Goodman Brown becomes agitated at the reason and expectation of his journey that he thinks twice about returning home, yet he resumes on. Goodman Brown discovers others that he recognizes.
The Devil’s Advocate includes a deal with the Devil, just as other variations of the Faust legends do, but it also presents it in a contemporary and subtle way, slowly drawing the audience into the pact Kevin has made with Satan throughout his various opportunities to resist fame and fortune for the sake of the moral high ground. The Devil’s Advocate places the temptation of the Devil into a more sophisticated atmosphere than other Faustian legends have. The temptation and eventual bargain with the Devil is the recurring theme throughout the film, yet is not always apparent. Instead of there being a direct, decided bargain between the protagonist and the Devil, like there is in Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus and Goethe’s Faust, Kevin never knowingly takes part in an organized wager. Instead, Kevin’s numerous temptations with the Devil and his refusal to resist these temptations solidifies his willingness to put his pride, ego and career above all else.
Hermann Hesse’s, “The Forest Dweller”, is a short story about a young boy on a quest to find the truth of existence and the answers to all of his questions. During this journey he finds himself while becoming a free thinker and gradually becomes an individual, with a capital “I”, separating himself from the herd of forest dwellers that he used to reside with. This young man accomplished the task of being an existentialist by refusing to believe and act upon the rituals that were expected to be performed, making decisions to better himself and life to come, and realizing that he is the one to live his life in the way he chooses and not under a “leaders” expectation. The short story begins by explaining the lifestyle of the forest dwellers, the people before “man”, whom live in the isolated forests fighting for survival along with the apes. The village is labeled as a union, “The forest dwellers”, which reveals a certain identity of the people .The villagers of this ancient civilization are not accustomed to anything other than the forest they dwelled in, and seem to fear the unknown of the “outside” world and what is beyond the edge of the forest.