View of original sin theme of Hawthorne’s writing through arguing Young Goodman Brown’s experience

Nathaniel Hawthorne（1804-1864） is one of the most influential American romantic novelist in 19th century. His short novels do not only buy him renowned fame in America， but also hold an important position in worldwide literature. His works always show an interesting conception while carry profound and lasting implied meanings， and he is good at making his readers thought-provoking through presenting the psychological contradiction of figures or finishing his story with an open-ending.

Among his great works， Young Goodman Brown is the most classic one， which describes a villager， called Goodman Brown， goes to a meeting with an evil being in the deep dark forest at night， and when arriving at the spot， he is astonished to find that the most respected person， the most devout believer and even his wife Faith are all here to attend the Witches Sabbath. This story， often characterized as the recognition of evil and depravity as the nature of humanity， leaves us a thought-provoking ending. That is， after the meeting， suffering the painful psychological disorder and changing his mind and his belief to doubtfulness， he can not face all the people around him even his wife with his true heart anymore. Finally， Brown dies without knowing whether this experience is true or not. For us， we can not know whether his experience is a dream or not as well. In this essay， this argument is to be discussed with specific details from the original.

Lets focus on if there is any evidence which assumes that all he experiences is not a dream.

First of all， “in a large sense， the setting here is early Puritan New England. The story takes place in a place called Salem Village， known as the village of witchcraft in the 1690s”[1]. Hawthorne sets this story in such a real and down-to-earth historical background， which， to some extent， makes this story seem to be true.

Whats more， in the original， there is a sentence—“The next morning， young Goodman Brown came slowly into the street of Salem Village” which tells us straightly his experience is not a dream. If the original went like “The next morning， young Goodman Brown woke up lying on his bed”， maybe， there would be different meaning. However， “he came into his village” is a very obvious evidence making it worthy believing. There is an another evidence. “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest， and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting？ Be it so， if you will. But， alas！...” This is an interaction between narrator and readers which shows the thoughts of narrator about this story. Here， “but” and “only”， from authors point of view， are two signs that shows strong feelings of the writer and his attitude towards the experience of young Goodman Brown which he believes the experience of young Goodman Brown is not a dream.

In addition， regarding this story as a true experience of Goodman Brown， readers can dig out the depth of the thoughts and the values lying in Hawthornes work. In Hawthornes most works， he tends to reveal the “vice” hidden in humans heart. If the experience is true， the story can bear more profound meaning and give readers more spaces to think about the “vice” that may also appears in our real life.

Therefore， to consider the experience of Goodman Brown as a true story， not a dream， readers can have a deeper and further thinking of this story and of what this story really wants to reflect. That is to say， when people read this work， they can feel that evil and depravity in human nature， and this is what Hawthorne really wants readers to know. He is somewhat like a preacher. He preaches that people should “explore the original sin that hides deeply in our heart and this illustration of sin becomes the repetitively classic topic of his works.” And it is fully manifested in Young Goodman Brown. Readers can have rough overviews or comprehensive explorations of this topic through the details in Young Goodman Brown， for example， whether Goodman Browns experience is a dream or not. That is the purpose of this essay.

Reference：

[1]沈黎霞.The Setting in Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne[J].校園英语，2014（29）：253.

[2]耿毅.从《小伙子布朗》看霍桑小说创作的“原罪”主题[J].云南师范大学学报（哲学社会科学版），2003（03）：96-99.

【作者简介】高留勇（1997.01），男，汉，山西太原人，华中师范大学，本科在读，研究方向：英美文学。