The Art of the Short Story, Essay Example

Goodman Brown undertakes the hero’s journey in the story that Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote. The journey is perceived to be a usual stage of events that several writers use in stories to display the mental, physical, and emotional change the hero experiences in the entire story. The Hero’s Journey uses three main parts, such as Separation, Supreme Ordeal, and Unification. Hawthorne utilizes all these stages so that he can show the absence of Goodman’s innocence through loss as the character undertakes the Hero’s Journey.

Claim/Warrant

Goodman Brown gets married to Faith, who becomes his newly wedded wife and decides to undertake a journey that the young man Goodman Brown goes into the forest during the night. Goodman tended to be innocent and perhaps seemed to have a naïve soul and was admired by the townspeople and was named “mindless fellow.” During the time Goodman and his wife Faith were walking, Goodman attempts to severally look back and eventually decides to get rid of the devil. Nevertheless, Goodman Brown observes that even Faith tends to have given up to the similar evil trail that he was now on, Goodman gives up and proceeds into the forest (Gioia, Dana 349). He then comes across witches’ Sabbath, which is a place where he discovers familiar faces of individuals that he initially went to for spiritual direction; Goodman again discovers that his wife was also amongst them and tends to be overwhelmed by the experience. Eventually, Goodman undergoes dire experience, and, in the end, he wakes up and realizes that he is alone in the wilderness.

Three Main Parts of Archetypal Journey

The event occurred when Goodman Brown decides to go out during the night into the wilderness. It is perceived to be not clear the motivation Goodman had accepted with the sense that; his drive was for fighting or provoking the devil. There is an assumption that Goodman Brown tends to have uncertainties in his Faith and tended to be curious concerning the furtive occurrence that was occurring during the night (Mambrol, Nasrullah n.p). Immediately he departs; he begins to question his decision since his wife will feel disturbed if she discovers the purpose that Goodman was planning to undertake.

The woods tend to be a lifeless road, murky by the darkest trees of the woods, which were hardly next to one another so that they could allow the narrow path to be extended through it. The road that instantly closed behind the woods was perceived to be lifeless as it could, and there tend to exist a distinctiveness in such loneliness to the extent that the traveller was not able to comprehend who may be hiding behind the countless trunks and the thick bushes that were ahead of him. Goodman encounters the shape of a man, and this shape was anticipated to be the devil’s face. The devil will try to ensure that it had gained Goodman’s confidence so that he will carry out the devil’s duty during the night. The encounter only means that the young man Goodman had already surrendered to the devil, and this seems to be a very significant character in the story. There is a proximity feeling that is built through the comparison of the image of the devil to that of Goodman’s father (Gioia, Dana 349).

The other traveller in the journey is known to be the supernatural aid component. The traveller is defined to be nearly fifty years and his resemblance to Goodman Brown. He then guides him into the wood and persistently pushes him not to stop walking (Gioia, Dana 349). Goodman decides to turn aside but was vigilant in watching his companion who proceeded softly sideways of the road until he came within a length of staff of an aged dame. The dame was making the utmost attractive look with singular swift for such an older woman and murmuring certain blurry words as she walks. Later, the traveller who was discovered to be the devil provides Goodman Brown with various information concerning his ancestors and family and the way these individuals happened to have done awful things like worshipping the devil and practising black magic.

In the woods, Goodman Brown again discovers several individuals that were from his town; the individuals he anticipated that were good and would not, by any chance, carry out awful things like worshipping the devil. Goodman Brown can see his Sunday school teacher during his childhood, and the whole Deacon Gookin headed to practice devil-worshipping and the minister. When Young Goodman Brown was seeing all evil happenings that were engulfing him, he attempts to pray so that he can save himself from the devil. During this time, the blue sky was still being seen directly, where the black multitude of clouds was moving suddenly through the northward. He starts to hear some voices that were originating from the sky. The voices were anticipated to be emanating from godly religious figures like Faith, who was his wife (Ryken, Leland n.p). Goodman also observes that on the ground, there was a presence of a pink ribbon worn by Faith in her hair. The incident makes Goodman Brown experience a significant impact of hopelessness since this scenario could signal that his wife is also making her way into the wood to carry out evil practices. He then started shouting, “Faith!” with a voice of pain and fear, making the forest’s echoes to mock him, crying, “Faith! Faith!” as if the incident puzzled languishers were looking for her through the darkened forest.

Goodman Brown feels that he is hopeless without his wife, also within him had a feeling of deception because the voluntary rite that was attended by the neophytes they seemed not to act as a restraint. Those people who are not initiated were forced to have Faith in God by inverting the principles and force them to give in to Satan. Nevertheless, the task carried out by the neophytes has to be systematical so that he could pledge himself in the initiation. Goodman Brown has to experience a disorientation feeling so that he could prove the level of his steadfast ability, and he is in a position of controlling his emotions and himself too. After the incident, Goodman takes the staff, and it looks like he is flying rather than walking or running (Gioia, Dana 353). Immediately before he leaves for the rite, the descriptions of gothic are noticed.

During the night, Goodman Brown arrived at the initiation ceremony in the forest, an important symbol of the rite, and the initial anticipation of the visualization of the ceremony. Goodman sees a red light in which he discovers that it is a fire. By using his auditory sense, Goodman happens to hear voices that were singing a hymn, and the hymn tended to be familiar to him (Gioia, Dana 353). Later, he finds out that there was a pulpit that was made of stone and was enclosed with four blazing pines, which comprises of the four natural components. The character also discovers there tend to be several neighbors from Salem, a large number of these people were well-known for their special sacredness. When the ceremony was on the verge, the converts were instructed to step forward, and Goodman Brown nears the meeting.

The ritualists start the ceremony by recommending the neophytes. The identity of the neophytes is mysterious until they are initiated and given an identity by the dark wizard. The devil makes a continuing claim and speech that praises the neophytes for partaking the rite. The devil’s speech meant that the worshippers who are initiated are in a position of getting power that will enable them to observe and distinguish in human personality, even the utmost secrets which are perceived to be unclear and utilize the power in spreading the malevolent acts. The initiated worshippers will be capacitated in finding out the way the church elders have whispered terrible utterances to their households’ maid. The way a woman has provided her husband with a drink to be a widow; or the way kids have created alacrity in inheriting the wealth of their fathers. After that, an acceptance summon is pronounced by the devil (McKeithan 95). The summon tends to be the embodiment of the philosophy of the sect that is the baptism mark. The mark is made using a liquid, and is marked on the neophytes’ forehead and signifies their connection to wickedness. The soul color is anticipated to be nocturnal, and people who are not initiated are forbidden to be used on them.

The following morning Goodman makes his journey to Salem (Gioia, Dana 356). He comes back to his life, where he experiences anxiety, emptiness, disbelief, and sadness. He tends to evade his neighbors that he comes across on his journey back; he has a feeling that these neighbors were most probably in a witch ceremony some hours back, and now they are carrying out their virtuous lives (Mambrol, Nasrullah n.p). The incident makes Goodman Brown tormented psychologically as this could be seen in his face, thereby changing his appearance.

In conclusion, the Archetypal Journey is also a ritual ceremony where the theological aspect is displayed. It can be witnessed in associations of desperation and Faith, Evil and Good, or guilt and Grace. In Young Goodman Brown’s story, the hero decides to start a journey that begins from light to darkness, where Goodman Brown and his worldview transform. The transformation is anticipated in the double outlook and double decency concerning humankind, where there exist deception and appearances. Young Goodman Brown decides to battle for his wife in the wood; however, in the end, he witnessed that he loses the fight symbolically since he is incapable of trusting anyone. Thus, the transformations he underwent are entirely negative, making this type of journey to be about knowledge, but a bad one.

Works Cited

Gioia, Dana/ G. R. S. The Art of the Short Story. Pearson P T R, 2005. Print.

Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Stories.” Literary Theory and Criticism, 26 Nov. 2019, literariness.org/2019/11/26/analysis-of-nathaniel-hawthornes-stories/. Accessed 19 May 2020.

McKeithan D. “Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”: An Interpretation.” Modern Language Notes, vol. 67, no. 2, Feb. 1952, pp. 93-96, The Johns Hopkins University Press. www.jstor.org/stable/2909960. Accessed 19 May 2020.

Ryken, Leland. “Discuss Hawthorne’s Classic Story ‘Young Goodman Brown’.” The Gospel Coalition, 12 Dec. 2012, www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/discuss-hawthornes-classic-story-young-goodman-brown/. Accessed 19 May 2020.