Known for his pivotal novel, "The Scarlett Letter," and the short stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," Nathanael Hawthorne is one of American Literature's most versataile writers. This artistic flexibility is one of the traits that American authors have repeatedly manifested in their displays of subjective diversity, as seen in Mark Twain's randomnly amusing short stories, Poe's nightmarishly unique tales of "The Grotesque," and, more modernly, Stephen King's ability to inject fear into, quite literally, anything. Hawthorne's possession of this trait was proven many times in his writings, however, one of the most excitng is seen in the finesse with which he weaves a tale of terror using one of mankind's deepest insecuriteis in the story, "Young Goodman Brown."
Hawthorne begins the tale by setting the scene in an idyllic Puritan colony, describing the seemingly mundane routines of the community, children playing, the minister walking to his church, and other small details. Slowly, Hawthorne’s vision zooms in on Young Goodman Brown, a loving husband who matches the community’s unremarkable image. However, Brown’s impending journey offers the opportunity for something more interesting than the innocent monotony of the Puritan village. Bidding goodbye to his wife, Brown sets off towards his undisclosed location. It isn’t long before he meets an unusual personage in the form of a man whose features bear an unusual similarity to Brown’s. Through his conversation with this other man, Brown begins to unravel the truth, that being that this individual is in fact, the devil himself, a reality that is reinforced by the character’s black serpent staff. Unfortunately, the terror is only beginning as the devil begins to render Brown’s reality asunder, beginning by saying, “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and it’s not a trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip’s war. They are my good friends both.” The Devil then implores Brown to join him on the path traveled by his forefathers. Brown then refutes the Devil, saying, “We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness.” However, Brown’s faith begins to shake as the Devil reveals his next revelation, replying, “Wickedness or not, I have a very general acquaintance here in New England. The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest.” Continuing in this increasingly nightmarish situation, Brown begins to notice the people of his village moving onward toward whatever foul destination the devil has planned for them. Ultimately, the story climaxes when Brown is brought to the meeting place in the middle of a dark forest where he sees his entire village, including his wife, eagerly awaiting his initiation into their malevolent ranks, a prospect that Brown desperately denies, calling on heaven to release him from the devil’s grasp. And with that, everything is restored to its original form, the village moving along as always, nothing appearing amiss. However, Brown’s faith in man is left in ruins after his experience, turning him into a bitter man who lives on in a state of complete disconnect from all those he once held dear, the story ending with a description of his funeral, saying, “They carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom.”
Culturally, the state of horror has fallen to a low of near unprecedented scale as writers and filmmakers have forgotten the richness that once pervaded works of the unsettling. However, it is in the light of this abysmal state that makes Hawthorne’s work so excellent as it shows the true potential that once was fully harnessed by the great authors of old. “Young Goodman Brown’s” true strength lies in its emphasis on the universally held fear that perhaps everyone else is divergent and that one is completely alone in this life, doomed to be forever forlorn. Hawthorne uses this concept of complete estrangement from the world to its maximum potential through the utilization of colorful symbolism, most notably seen in Brown’s wife. It is immediately apparent that her name, Faith, represents Brown's confidence in the mankind. Adding to this is the prevalence of Faith's ribbons, the story's metaphor for innocence, something that Brown discovers to be a lie. However, up until the point of that revelation, it is the purity that Faith's ribbons represent that gives Brown the foundation upon which he roots his faith, possibly alluding to the Bible's repeated warnings against placing one's confidence in man over God. Finally, nearing his dark destination Brown hears his wife in the forest as she too moves toward the Devil's gathering, prompting him to desperately call out to her, even as her voice is swept away, leaving dead silence, and from this silence comes the turning point in Brown's journey, "But something fluttered lightly down through the air and caught on the branch of a tree. The young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon. "My faith is gone!" cried he, after one stupefied moment. "There is no good upon earth and sin is but a name." Thus, the story's nightmare is twofold, on one side rests Brown's doom to be completely alone in this life, the other being his total loss of faith, cursed to live in a state of hopeless despair, a terrifying scenario that Hawthorne skillfully weaves with delicate symbolism and precise pacing.
It's seems almost almost a pity that Hawthorne didn't exercise his incredible talent for horror more in his writings as his work in "Young Goodman Brown" indicates a level precision that could have rivaled Poe. However, this makes "Young Goodman Brown" all the more special as Hawthorne's lone masterpiece of terror. The interposition of stark symbolism and a psychological narrative, all forged under the backdrop of a universally held fear impart a level of artistic mastery to Hawthorne that is almost unprecedented.
