Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown 2

Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown Hawthorne depicts a 17th century Puritan attempting to reach justification as Brown’s faith required. Upon completing his journey, however, Brown could not confront the terrors of evil in his heart and chose to reject all of society. Puritan justification was a topic Hawthorne was aware of as a journey to hell necessary for a moral man. Having referred to the heart of man as hell, Puritans founds themselves in …

…much as the pioneer puritans worshipped and studied the bible. Hawthorne uses symbolism and irony to illustrate the theme of man not knowing that sin is and unavoidable part of human nature. The idea that man can lead a perfect life seems to dominate the view of Hawthorn’s Puritan everyman, Young Goodman Brown. Thus making Hawthorne’s character illustrate the consequences of embracing too pious of an attitude and too simplistic of a view.