consider the following: 1. Young Goodman Brown thinks of his wife: "Well; she's a blessed angel on earth; and after this
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 10:05 am
consider the following:
1. Young Goodman Brown thinks of his wife: "Well; she's ablessed angel on earth; and after this one night, I'll cling to herskirts and follow her to Heaven". Much of his faith is centered inthe characters around him, whether they be his wife or theministers of his church, and as one by one they are revealed intheir corruption, Brown sees their true natures as a sort ofbetrayal. Explain Brown's disillusionment in the context of theexternal nature of his faith.
2. Much attention centers on the twisted serpent's staff ofgoodman Brown's companion: it is the only thing that distinguisheshim from a worldly man of the village, and it passes from him, toBrown, to goody Cloyse. Describe the influence of this staff on thestory. What does it symbolize?
3. Nathaniel Hawthorne's narrator will not say whether or notyoung goodman Brown dreamt the entire episode in the forest, butthe next morning, the narrator calls the minister "the venerablesaint," terms goody Cloyse "that excellent old Christian," anddescribes Faith as "bursting into such joy at sight of him. "Depending on whether Brown is right about the villagers' hypocrisy,these descriptions may or may not be ironic. How would Brown's"desperate" life after this night in the forest appear to someonewho had no knowledge of what he had seen? Do you read Brown'seventual end as ironic, given what you know?
4. What influence does the way that Puritans value outwardexpressions of faith and righteousness have on young goodmanBrown's disillusionment? Do you take the fact that Brown's funeralwas well attended by his family and neighbors as evidence that theyregarded him an example of a good Puritan, despite the fact thathis faith in his wife and friends had been stripped away? We aretold that "his dying hour was gloom", and we can assume from thestory's last paragraph that Brown was consistently gloomy from themoment he awoke from the night in the forest until his death. Butif he were never sure that his neighbors were not lying in theirexpressions of faith, and would expect them to lie anyway if theyfollowed the devil, does the story record his example as a successor a failure in the context of his religion?
Points for further consideration:
1. Young Goodman Brown thinks of his wife: "Well; she's ablessed angel on earth; and after this one night, I'll cling to herskirts and follow her to Heaven". Much of his faith is centered inthe characters around him, whether they be his wife or theministers of his church, and as one by one they are revealed intheir corruption, Brown sees their true natures as a sort ofbetrayal. Explain Brown's disillusionment in the context of theexternal nature of his faith.
2. Much attention centers on the twisted serpent's staff ofgoodman Brown's companion: it is the only thing that distinguisheshim from a worldly man of the village, and it passes from him, toBrown, to goody Cloyse. Describe the influence of this staff on thestory. What does it symbolize?
3. Nathaniel Hawthorne's narrator will not say whether or notyoung goodman Brown dreamt the entire episode in the forest, butthe next morning, the narrator calls the minister "the venerablesaint," terms goody Cloyse "that excellent old Christian," anddescribes Faith as "bursting into such joy at sight of him. "Depending on whether Brown is right about the villagers' hypocrisy,these descriptions may or may not be ironic. How would Brown's"desperate" life after this night in the forest appear to someonewho had no knowledge of what he had seen? Do you read Brown'seventual end as ironic, given what you know?
4. What influence does the way that Puritans value outwardexpressions of faith and righteousness have on young goodmanBrown's disillusionment? Do you take the fact that Brown's funeralwas well attended by his family and neighbors as evidence that theyregarded him an example of a good Puritan, despite the fact thathis faith in his wife and friends had been stripped away? We aretold that "his dying hour was gloom", and we can assume from thestory's last paragraph that Brown was consistently gloomy from themoment he awoke from the night in the forest until his death. Butif he were never sure that his neighbors were not lying in theirexpressions of faith, and would expect them to lie anyway if theyfollowed the devil, does the story record his example as a successor a failure in the context of his religion?
Points for further consideration: