Religious Symbolism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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INTRODUCTION: From the earliest Hawthorne’s books, it is well-known that his purpose was not telling adventures or describing places, but it was writing about ideas. In fact, the Young Goodman Brown work oppose the ideas of Heaven and Hell. This story is, in a few words, an allegory about the evil and the loss of one’s faith. Therefore, this essay will discuss how and to what effect Hawthorne uses religious symbolism in this short story.

To begin with, I have to say that many of the symbols that Hawthorne uses in his stories refer to a Puritan imagery. Therefore, to understand the story and its meaning, it is necessary to consider the timeframe. Young Goodman Brown takes place in New England in the last few years of the XVII century. This

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