Faith And Irony In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Through the short story “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne is able to get the readers attention by writing about a man’s journey within many elements that shape his life. In every aspect of the short story, Nathaniel Hawthorne was able to shed light on the tragic truth of how appearances can be deceiving. He shows this eye-opening theme by manipulating the powerful affect characterization, a motif, and irony has for fully incorporating his theme throughout the story. Notably, Hawthorne included Faith as a character with traits that were necessary for the faith Goodman Brown carried to support the overall theme of how what we see may not always be true. While Brown was beginning his journey into the woods he proclaimed how Faith was …show more content…
A common satan worshipper would be expected to be spotted in a crowd yet Brown had a “moral and spiritual adviser” who was found talking to the Devil about “being all ready for the meeting” in the woods. This spiritual adviser was Goody Cloyse who was not who she appeared to be because behind her façade she was worshipping evil. Consequently, Brown was hoodwinked by this lady who came across as being a holy god lover. Not only did Nathaniel Hawthorne ironically incorporate Goody Cloyse as a Satan worshipper but also the minister and Deacon Goodkin who were found by Brown deep in the sinister woods. As Brown hesitantly continued within the woods he heard two familiar voices of holy men he was quite fond with. Ironically, in spite of their religious background, the two men discussed how they would “rather miss an ordination dinner than to-night’s meeting” with the horrid Devil. Contrary to the belief the villagers had towards the two men, they were completely mistaken. In reality, these two God-fearing men were followers of the Prince of Darkness who was prepping Brown to become his follower as well. With this in mind, Brown contemplated how and why “where no church had ever been gathered” did he find “these holy men be journeying” because ironically they were known to be godly. Nathaniel Hawthorne exploited irony in his short story to promote

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Faith And Irony In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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