Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown

David Andrew Loman (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1835

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Allegory
Story

Resources

First published in 1835 and set in 1690s New England, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory about a young Puritan who loses his faith. Departing at sunset from the village of Salem, Massachusetts, Young Goodman Brown enters the surrounding wilderness where he encounters “the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire”, who may well be “the devil himself” (Hawthorne 10:75). The devil terrorizes Brown by revealing – or so it appears – that the people he most reveres are all members of the devil’s congregation. First, the woman who taught Brown his catechism, then a minister and his deacon, and finally, worst of all, Brown’s wife Faith – all, in the hallucinatory forest, seem to …

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4413 words

Citation: Loman, David Andrew. "Young Goodman Brown". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 September 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34713, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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