Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay

Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Young Goodman Brown In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a soul of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of mans inability to operate within a framework of righteous absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference amongst good and evil and Hawthornes deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of humanity and in the existence of moral absolutes. According to Nancy Bunge, Hawthorne cancelly centers his story upon a Puritan protagonist to convey the self-righteous that he regards as the antithesis of wisdom(4). Consequently, Young Goodman Brown is unable to go for the indefinable vision of betrayal and evil that he encounters in the forest. The uncertainty of this vision, enhanced by Hawthornes deliberate, yet effective, use of ambiguity, is also seen in the character of Faith, the shado ws and apparition of the forest, and the undetectable boundaries that separate nightmarish dreams from reality. The ambiguity surrounding Young Goodman Browns wife, Faith, immediately becomes apparent at the storys beginning. As Young Goodman Brown is leaving his comfortable and adoring Puritan home to embark upon this mysterious journey, Faith unexpectedly plunges her pretty head into the street allowing the wind to tousle and play with the pink ribbons of her cap(1199). Hawthorne uses natural imagery, such as the image of the wind playing with Faiths pink ribbons, to convey Faiths attachment to nature the dark and mysterious part of life that is somewhere out of doors the constraints of Puritan society. In fact, the image... ...rne A Study of Short Fiction. Ed. Nancy Bunge. New York Twayne Publishers, 1993. 136-41. Bunge, Nancy. Nathaniel Hawthorne A Study of Short Fiction. New York Twayne Publishers, 1993. Dolis, John. The Style of Hawthornes Gaze. Tuscaloosa U of Alabama P, 1993. Elder, Marjorie J. Nathaniel Hawthorne Transcendental Symbolist. Ohio Ohio UP, 1969. Fogle, Richard Harter. Hawthornes fictionalization The Light and the Dark. Nathaniel Hawthorne A Study of Short Fiction. Ed. Nancy Bunge. New York Twayne Publishers, 1993. 133-35 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol1. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. New York Norton, 1994. 1198-1207. Millington, Richard H. Practicing Romance. New Jersey Princeton UP, 1992. Ponder, Melinda M. Hawthornes Early Narrative Art. New York Edwin Mellen Press, 1990.