Ambiguity in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay

Ambiguity in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† There is no end to the ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†; this essay hopes to explore this problem. Peter Conn in â€Å"Finding a Voice in an New Nation† makes a statement regarding Hawthorne’s ambiguity: Almost all of Hawthorne’s finest stories are remote in time or place. The glare of contemporary reality immobillized his imagination. He required shadows and half-light, and he sought a nervous equilibrium in ambiguity. . . . Where traditional allegory was secured in certitude, however, Hawthorne’s allegorical proceedings yield only restlessness and doubt. The stable system of correspondences that tied allegory’s images and ideas together was†¦show more content†¦When it shows signs of having been groped and fumbled for, the needful illusion is of course absent, and the failure complete. Then the machinery alone is visible and the end to which it operates becomes a matter of indifference (50). When one has to grope for, and fumble for, the meaning of a tale, then there is â€Å"failure† in the work, as Henry James says. This unfortunately is the case of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† It is so ambiguous in so many occasions in the tale that a blur rather than a distinct image forms in the mind of the reader. The Norton Anthology: American Literature states in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne†: Above all, his theme was curiosity about the receses of other men’s and women’s beings. About this theme he was always ambivalent [my italics], for he knew that his success as a writer depended upon his keen psychological analysis of people he met, while he could never forget that invsion of the sanctity of another’s personality may harden the heart even as it enriches the mind (548). Ambivalence, or the simultaneous and contradictory attitude and/or feelings toward an object, etc., may well be the cause of the extreme ambiguity, doubt, uncertainty in the mind of the reader of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† Intentional ambivalence on the part of the author in order not to offend too many is a plausible explanation, as I would see things. Terence Martin in Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses what I interpret as a possibleShow MoreRelatedAmbiguity In Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown1485 Words   |  6 Pagesunintentional ambiguity in the text. In the case of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, the author crafted a complex story filled with ambiguity. What are, then, translators to do when faced with the momentous task of translating an important piece of American literature like Young Goodman Brown? They must undoubtedly turn to literary criticism, which seeks to produce in-depth interpretations of literary works; in particular, translators must turn to literary criticism that analyses ambiguity in theRead MoreEssay on The Ambiguity in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown1587 Words   |  7 PagesThe Ambiguity in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†      Ã‚  Ã‚     The literary critics agree that there is considerable ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† This essay intends to illustrate the previous statement and to analyze the cause of this ambiguity.    Henry James in Hawthorne, when discussing â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† comments on how imaginative it is, then mentions how allegorical Hawthorne is, and how allegory should be expressed clearly:    I frankly confess that I haveRead More Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown1512 Words   |  7 PagesAmbiguity and Uncertainty in Young Goodman Brown   Ã‚  Ã‚   In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of mans inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism.   Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthornes deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibilityRead MoreAmbiguity And Symbolism In Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown1952 Words   |  8 Pagespeople. The short story called Young Goodman Brown is a good example of how people are trapped in this war and gives a somewhat description of what it could be like in a losing fight against evil. The message of the story is that everyone has a dark nature in them somewhere, whether it can be triggered by something traumatic, or by their surroundings as they grew up to adulthood from only knowing that. The premise of the story is mostly about how Goodman Brown leaves Salem village to undergoRead MoreYoung Goodman Brown:: Analyzing Browns Identity1190 Words   |  5 PagesIn the short story â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† Nathaniel Hawthorne sets the locale of the story during the Salem witch trials at his convenience to include the Calvinist theme of sin, that belief in which formed the early history of New England’s social and spiritual identity. As a dark romantic, Hawthorne includes the elements of human nature, mysticism, good and evil, and one’s own spirituality to convey his message to the reader. However, it is left to the reader’s own digression to interpret his ambiguousRead More Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Browns Apocalypse Essay1006 Words   |  5 PagesNathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Browns Apocalypse      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most criticism and reflection of Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown centers on a good versus evil theme. Critics also debate interpretations of the main characters consciousness; is Brown awake or dreaming.   What is certain is that he lives and dies in pain because his belief in his righteousness isolates him from his community.   It is also certain that Hawthornes interpretation of Browns mid-lifeRead More A Critique of Puritanism in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essays635 Words   |  3 PagesYoung Goodman Brown: A Critique of Puritanism   Given Nathaniel Hawthornes background, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that Young Goodman Brown is a critique of   Puritanism.   Hawthorne lived in the deeply scarred New England area, separated from puritanism by only one generation.   His grandfather had been one the judges who presided over the Salem Witch trials.   Some of the principle motifs that run through Hawthornes works are hidden sin, the supernatural, and the influenceRead MoreEssay about Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown – Point of View1642 Words   |  7 PagesNathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† how does the author present the characters, dialogue, actions, setting and events which comprise the narrative in this short story? This essay will answer these questions. R. W. B. Lewis in â€Å"The Return into Time: Hawthorne† states that â€Å"there is always more to the world in which Hawthorne’s characters move than any one of them can see at a glance† (77). In Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† this fact is especially true since the main character, Goodman BrownRead MoreThe Dichotomy of Self Reliance and Conformity1169 Words   |  5 Pages This was the Romanticism Period. An incredible number of miraculous masterpieces were contrived during this period of enlightenment, including Nathaniel Hawthorne’s dramatically thematic and ambiguous short story, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†, as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson’s intriguingly influential and uplifting essay, â€Å"Self-Reliance†. Hawthorne’s writing aspires to implicate theories and themes about the reality of the world we live in and to illustrate our individual limitations through the art ofRead More Essay on The Value of D reams in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown723 Words   |  3 Pages Young Goodman Brown:nbsp; The Value of Dreams Young Goodman Brownnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Birthmarknbsp; nbsp;Nathaniel Hawthornes stories Young Goodman Brown and The Birthmark both make use of dreams to affect the story and reveal the central characters. With each story, the dreams presented are extremely beneficial to the development of the story as they give the reader a new view of the plot itself, or the characters within. At the same time, however, it becomes difficult to determine