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Cultural Context Essay
Cultural Context Essay
“Young Goodman Brown”
Thomas Lovins
ENG310
Alexia Kosmider
16 February 2014

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “Young Goodman Brown” is a story of Puritanical fear and crisis of faith set in the colonial period right around the same time of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Brown is led through the woods by a mysterious man to complete a family tradition and face his destiny as a suspicious man, perhaps to head the trials of the witches himself. The story is culminated when Brown arrives at the site of a ritual and all the participants "A grave and dark-clad company!" (Hawthorne, 1835) are people who could be known to him. He is drawn into the circle and unable to resist, even “the shape of his own dead father beckoned him to advance.” (Hawthorne, 1835) The story ends with him awakening, unsure if the whole thing was just a dream but unable to regain his faith ever again and unable to look at his fellow townsfolk the same way.
Puritans were taught to recognize the negative aspects of their humanity and their unworthiness of God’s Grace. However, Hawthorne set this story in the time of the Great Awakening and it is easy to see how he incorporated his ideas of Puritans’ struggles due to the movement into his story. The character Goody Cloyse is thought by Brown to be a witch and a devil worshiper when he meets her in the forest, even though she was his teacher and had taught him his catechisms. This is important because during the Great Awakening it was believed that the way one lives life is more important than the catechisms one says. “What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil, when I thought she was going to Heaven! Is that any reason why I should quit me dear Faith, and go after her?” (Hawthorne, 1835) Here you see where Hawthorne clearly states that just because someone he thought was devout in their faith changes their beliefs does not mean that he will stray from his faith and be tempted by the Devil. Puritans’ beliefs were


References: Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1835) Young Goodman Brown. In W. Martin, The Art of the Short Story (pp. 198- 207). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company Historyrocket.com (2012) The Great Awakening And Enlightenment In Colonial America Retrieved from http://www.historyrocket.com/American-History/The-Great-Awakening-And-Enlightenment-In-Colonial-America.html on 15 February 2014 Kennedy (2012) The Influence of History and Puritanism on Young Goodman Brown Retrieved from http://sakridge.umwblogs.org/portfolio/the-influence-of-history-and-puritanism-on-young-goodman-brown/ on 14 February 2014 Linder, Douglas (2009) The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary Retrieved from http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM on 13 February 2014 McCabe, Micheal (1998) The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne 's "Young Goodman Brown" retrieved from http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/hawthorne.htm on 16 February 2014 Ushistory.org (2014) Religious Transformation and the Second Great Awakening U.S. History Online Textbook retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/us/22c.asp on 16 February 2014
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