Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman talks about a story of a young puritan man caught into an agreement with the devil, which he tries hard to resist. All the goodness in his mind about society are wrecked when he realizes that people from his community consisting religious leaders and faith his wife are in the same evil brotherhood. Goodman represented an allegory. An allegory uses symbolic ways to portray several of human traits and situations. For instance, the name Brown symbolized everyone in that society while Faith symbolized Brown’s faith in humankind and the society as a whole. He left his wife while disowning the belief he had in godliness of humanity. Instantly when he got to the wood, the deep dusk in the forest created a colossal loneliness in him. The wood symbolizes areas where Brown looks at his doubts and desires (Cummings, 2012).

Goodman Brown comes into-view to symbolize human beings faced with temptation; he wished to explore the forest of sin with an aim of speaking and satisfying his curiosity about the activities and even take participation. Brown met a man in the forest which symbolized devil as a snake. From these we comprehend Adam being deceived by the snake in the Garden of Eden. Just like Adam who was tricked by the snake from the tree, Goodman Brown was attracted by the entire forest to evil hence they both suffered greatly.

Faith symbolizes Brown’s religious faith and her pink ribbons stand for purity and innocence. However, when Brown met her at the witches Sabbath, just like Eve, yearning for more knowledge, faith loses her purity and innocence. During the baptism, Brown turned to his wife faith and told her “Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One.” He was confused when he found himself in the forest hence was not sure if he was dreaming or it was reality that he attended the witches Sabbath. He faced consequences because of what happened and eventually he became “a harsh, gloomy, mysteriously meditative, and suspicious, if not a worried man.” What Brown experienced in the forest, whether on dream land or reality, changes his entire life? Makes him now suspicious of everyone, just like the Puritans of real-life Salem participated in a witch hunt that resulted in mayhem (Cummings, 2012).

Psychologists theorized all humans share firm inborn desires and ideas which stay in the mind at the unconscious level. For example, human beings react to sunlight in the same way and observing it as a symbol of joy and happiness or even God. The way mankind links darkness with evil deeds is exactly how Brown associated with evil when attending evils Sabbath in the dark forest. These indicated primordial symbols like sin, evil and death according to this story. Primordial means things that existed from the world’s beginning. Symbols like violent storm, overcast sky, mountains, flowers and autumn among many others.

What Brown experienced at some point that is normal, people with stable mind, just like anyone or people around, sometimes have to accept delusions and fantasies as authentic events. It is vital to keep in mind that, they sometimes perceive evil in a person who does not have evil (Cummings, 2012).