Themes And Symbols In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Themes and Symbols Reading a short story, what is the whole meaning of that story? Does it portray to evil, happiness, or loneliness? In all stories there is a theme; which is the overall meaning of the story. Symbolism uses symbols to signify ideas or qualities. In “Young Goodman Brown” Goodman goes into the forest and contemplates about going to a meeting, in the story, symbols are used throughout. Symbols support the theme that everyone possess good and evil. One symbol is the character names. Faith and Goodman are two characters name that have symbolism about them. Faith in this story means having a belief in something; it is not just his wife’s name. An example in “Young Goodman Brown”, is that Goodman has faith in God and also his …show more content…
Salem stands for the evil in the witch trials. This symbol represents the theme of the story, because it shows how evil is in the town. Multiple town members are present at the meeting. Some of the members are the minister, Deacon Gookin, and Goody Cloyse. These villagers are all members of the Puritan Church and it surprised Goodman that they were all attending the meeting. It made him realize that everyone has evil in them and it changed his perspective of them. When he returned home he would not talk or associate himself with these people. “Goody Cloyse, that excellent old Christian, stood in the early sunshine, at her own lattice, catechizing a little girl, who had brought her a pint of morning’s milk. Goodman Brown snatched away the child, as from the grasp of the fiend himself.” (par. 68). With this Goodman showed the true evil in the town’s people and did not keep it a secret. Evil is in the town; nevertheless, covered up by the good qualities. Evil and good are born in a person; which is the theme of the short story “Young Goodman Brown”. Symbols in the story support the theme like the names of the characters, the serpent staff, and the town of Salem. Everyone will sin in life just like these characters. Good and evil is in the world all around us; therefore, we all sin and make good
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