Young Goodman Brown Rhetorical Analysis

Temptation can overwhelm even the purest of people. In fact, even Jesus, our Savior, was tempted by Satan; however, unlike the majority of God’s creation, he defeated his temptation. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about the reality of temptation in a very unrealistic sense. “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents a short story regarding a young man’s fall from his Faith, literally and figuratively. To express his powerful ideas pertaining to the works of Satan, Hawthorne uses symbolism through allegorical characters and objects. Hawthorne incorporates this type of symbolic language, characters, and objects throughout his story through the examples of the dark forest in which Young Goodman Brown had to travel through to reach the Devil’s meeting; Faith, Brown’s wife; and the simple, elegant pink ribbon that his Faith wears in her hair. The dark forest in which Young Goodman Brown is deceitfully and sinfully led into presents an example of Hawthorne’s incredible symbolism within the story. The darkness that engulfs the forest symbolizes evil intentions and wicked behaviors, …show more content…
Young Goodman Brown’s Faith is an obvious symbol of his Christianity and faith in God. His Faith holds him back from his journey as long as possible, and still, while Brown slowly turns away from his precious possession, his Faith is hopeful of his safe return back home to her. Faith essentially begs her husband to stay home with her; this, in the terms of our own spiritual Faith, shows that God gives us a choice whether we want to follow Him or not, but the decision remains in our hands to make. Faith, a pure and innocent figure in Hawthorne’s story, wears a pink ribbon in her hair; this simple ribbon represents the last great example of symbolism in the short

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Young Goodman Brown Rhetorical Analysis