Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Browns Apocalypse Essay -- Young

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown's Apocalypse      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most criticism and reflection of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown centers on a good versus evil theme. Critics also debate interpretations of the main character's consciousness; is Brown awake or dreaming.   What is certain is that he lives and dies in pain because his belief in his righteousness isolates him from his community.   It is also certain that Hawthorne's interpretation of Brown's "mid-life crisis" has ambiguity and leaves a reader with many different feelings about what and why certain things have happened.   Hawthorne's use of symbolism in his allegorical tale Young Goodman Brown causes the main character's revelations about the sin within his community, his family and himself.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Young Goodman Brown's journey into the forest is best defined as a kind of "general, indeterminate allegory, representing man's irrational drive to leave faith, home, and security temporarily behind, for whatever reason, and take a chance with one(more) errand onto the wilder shores of experience" (Martin).   Brown has a curiosity that "kills"   his naive outlook on life and changes him until his death.   He has a mission to go into the forest and   meet the devil.   A mission that he begins out of curiosity and a "deep need to see if the teachings of his childhood, his religion, and his culture, have armed him sufficiently to look the devil in the face and return unscathed" (Hodara 1).   The symbol of the forest, late at night, can be interpreted as the untamed regions of Brown's heart where the devil roams freely as he roams in the forest. The forest is the devil's ... ...ism.   Vol 3. Detriot: Gale, 1989.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The Great Short Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Fredrick C. Crews.   New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1992.    "Hawthorne, Nathaniel,"   Microsoft (R) Encarta. Microsoft Corporation. Funk & Wagnall's Corporation, 1994.    Hodara, Alan.   "Some Thoughts On Young Goodman Brown."   (26 Oct. 1996).    Jones, Madison.   "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Short Story Criticism.   Vol 3. Detriot: Gale, 1989.    MaGill, Frank, ed.   Critical Survery of Short Fiction.   Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salam Press, 1981.    Martin, Terence. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Short Story Criticism.   Vol 3. Detriot: Gale, 1989.    Mikosh,   Bert A., "A View of Young Goodman Brown."    (11-9-96).    Segura, Gilberto.   "The Allegorical Goodman Brown."   (11-9-96).