YGB – Criticism

Those who have read Hawthorne’s works understand that his stories are filled with symbolism and allegory. Because of the amount of uncertainty about his stories, critics have often tried interpreting them, each critic seeking to find his or her own explanation for what the true meaning of the story they are examining is. Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, the primary story of this blog’s focus, is no exception to this examination process. Certain critics have claimed YGB (Young Goodman Brown) to be an allegory about human nature, others believe that a Puritan message lies within, while still others believe it to be a sexual allegory.

YGB as an allegory of human-kind’s sinful nature:

One of the most popular interpretations of Young Goodman Brown is that of the belief that it is an allegory for the sin that stains the soul of every man and woman upon the earth. Critic Martin Terence (1998) expounds on this viewpoint.The primary setting of the story, a dark woods (DiYanni 555), is generally thought of as the inner sanctum of Brown’s mind, a dark place where he confronts the devil on a metaphysical rather than physical level.  Proponents of this theory claim that  after Brown’s ordeal in the woods, he returns to the physical world  where he finally realizes that all humans, no matter how holy or unblemished by evil they may seem, are united in a inescapable congregation of sin.

YGB as an allegory of the Puritan doctrine of Justification:

Another popular theory about Young Goodman Brown is that it tells the story of a false Puritan Justification. Puritan theology, the subject matter of many of Hawthorne’s stories, stated that a person could be saved from eternal damnation only when he or she had become fully cognoscente of their own sin and accepted the fact they were sinful creatures without a hope of redemption. Only when that person had accepted their fate would God deliver them into His grace, giving them the means to be saved. This process of despair followed by enlightenment was known as Justification.
Critics who stand by this theory, such as Claudia Johnson (1998) believe that Brown’s walk through the dark woods represents his slow descent into the acknowledgement that as with everyone else, he too is stained with sin. However, when Brown returns home and for the rest of his life, he is always more cognoscente of  others’ sin rather than his own (DiYanni 561). Because of this, he supposedly never felt the full weight of his sin and was therefore kept from God’s grace, doomed like his life on earth to be lonely and miserable forever.

YGB as an allegory of the conflict caused by sexual sin:

Critic Harry Campbell (1998) and other proponents of this theory believe Young Goodman Brown to be a allegory for the conflict Brown feels after cheating on his wife. Brown’s woodland journey through this theory is the sexual adventures he is embarking on, climaxing during the orgiastic communion under the devil’s watch. The pink ribbons which appear throughout the story represent the women’s sexuality, while the serpentine staff of the devil represents the men’s sexuality. Before the climax, Brown himself thought he was the only one of his family to fall into temptation, but he learns from the devil that this is not so, that the devil himself gave his father “a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip’s war” (DiYanni 555). Under this theory, this is an analogy to his father who fought in the war and raped his Indian captives. Later, during the devil’s congregation, Brown struggles with the guilt of his sins and the irrepressible urge of sex. Finally, Brown’s uncertainty towards humanity after returning home is his sorrowful recognition that everyone is united through their universal sexual urges, despite the moral cost that may come if these urges aren’t repressed.