Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay

Ambiguity and Uncertainty in new-fashioned Goodman brown In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of incertitude that illuminates the theme of mans inability to operate within a framework of example absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference in the midst of good and evil and Hawthornes deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of gracious temper. Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of humanity and in the worldly concern of moral absolutes. According to Nancy Bunge, Hawthorne naturally centers his story upon a prude garter to convey the self-righteous that he regards as the antithesis of wisdom(4). Consequently, Young Goodman Brown is unable to accept 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 in addition seen in th e character of Faith, the shadows and darkness 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 reverent Puritan home to send upon this mysterious journey, Faith unexpectedly plunges her pretty head into the street allowing the hustle 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 outside the constraints of Puritan society. In fact, the image... ...rne A say 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. Tus caloosa U of Alabama P, 1993. Elder, Marjorie J. Nathaniel Hawthorne Transcendental Symbolist. Ohio Ohio UP, 1969. Fogle, Richard Harter. Hawthornes fabrication 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.