What Is The Symbolism In Young Goodman Brown

In society, a great amount of importance is placed upon titles. Titles are created to define a person’s level of education, social class, or even family situation. While Nathaniel Hawthorne gives his male characters names with a significant amount of meaning behind them in “Young Goodman Brown”, he also makes use of symbolism in actions to further the complexity of each personality. Specifically, Young Goodman Brown starts off with name symbolism that paints him as a lovable young man, but as the story progresses and other types of symbolism come into play, a contrasting personality emerges from the young protagonist.
As the main character, Young Goodman Brown represents a general person in which readers can easily empathize with. This is drawn from his last name Brown, which was common back in the 1800s. The name Young easily matches up to the “dear husband” who has a fresh, passionate love for his wife and an “excellent resolve for the future,” keeping an optimistic and pure outlook on life that is common within young folk. Goodman Brown begins with what appears to be very strong faith towards his values and his religion. This is reasonable for young person who has yet to face challenges in the world and still has a naïve outlook on life. In addition to the positive aspects of the first and last parts of his name, the Goodman in Young Goodman Brown
The symbolism of his omen is so powerful that Goodman Brown is permanently effected, despite the fact that he considers the idea that the whole experience might have been a dream. Hawthorne’s efficient use of symbolism creates a clear message of good versus evil and the gray area in between that many, if not every reader, will be able to empathize