Young Goodman Brown: Evil is the Nature of Mankind

Young Goodman Brown: Evil is the Nature of Mankind. Young Goodman Brown: Evil is the Nature of Mankind.

Young Goodman Brown: Evil is the Nature of Mankind

” ‘Lo! there ye stand, my children,’ said the figure, in a deep and solemn tone, almost sad, with its despairing awfulness, as if his once angelic nature could yet mourn for our miserable race. ‘Depending upon one another’s hearts, ye had still hoped, that virtue were not all a dream. Now are undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome, again, my children, to the communion of your race!’ ” This particular quote has the mark of cynicism that although may not be common in our time for writing, was probably a very common writing style during certain times in the history of American Literature. This of course would depend on the dominating religious culture of the time. Since Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writings were created briefly after the times of the Salem Witch Trials, since one of his ancestors was a judge at the trials, it would be apparent to most that the religious overtones were ones of the righteousness and damnation (Norton Anthology, p. 547). Their inherant belief, which was very much portrayed in the story, was in predestination. This meant that they believed that all the chosen ones were selected before birth by God, and no matter what their actions were, they were saved. Everyone else apparently went to hell. They believed that one could tell who a chosen one was by their deeds and action of goodness and kindness. However, one should still try to be as good as they possibly could even if they weren’t one of the chosen because God might have mercy on them and save them anyway for being so good. So the concensus during this particular time was that those that were righteous were chosen and that everyone in the community should be more like them. This was a very common theme in Young Goodman Brown. The entire story was plagued with irony; those that goodman Brown thought were so righteous and that he strived to be like were indeed truly evil, and he himself who followed so closely in their image, in fact had not so fully succumbed to that evil along with the others. At the end of the story, it becomes apparent that the theme has changed from one of predestination to the underlying theme that the devil himself stated at the end of the quote; evil is the nature of mankind.

At the beginning of the quote, the devil uses the word “Lo.” In the past this word has been used as a word for bow down. It is as though he is setting up even from the beginning of the quote for the people to worship him and not God. Not only this, but he uses the phrase “my children” which is a phrase that Jesus often used in his sermons. He is so glad to be able to take advantage of the sins they have commited so that he can prove that he does have followers and that even and especially the righteous would praise him and worship him. This they would do despite the fact that his sin was the betrayal of God himself. Sociohistorically, the Puritans always thought of themselves as chosen and pure of heart as they did in this particular story and as young goodman Brown had always thought they were. In the quote, however, the devil points out that no matter how righteous of an appearance any of them gave in the community, they were all still there at his gathering worshipping him and not God or Christ. The devil also says “Now ye are undeceived.” This upon first reading seems like a normal way for him to say it; however, upon further analysis one realizes that he could also have said “Now you know the truth.” Had he said this, it would have implied that they just weren’t aware of the fact that the world and the humans in it were evil, but the way he states it implies that they were deceived by something or someone. He could be suggesting that they were either being deceived by the people who created the doctrine of predestination or by God himself. It seems as though if the writer were not of Christian faith or were resentful of the people of the Christian faith, he could be using the voice of the devil in his story to get even with all those who had been righteous and who looked down upon him. It is almost as if he is saying all those who thought they were so good are in actuality just as low as anyone else because contrary to everyone’s belief, we are all evil.

The devil is aware that they depend upon each other, especially the righteous, as the guidelines for proper behavior and moral faith, and he plays on this as it being all a big sham. He says “depending on one another’s hearts” which meant that each individual in the community should strive to have a heart as pure as the hearts of the chosen and the righteous. How ironic it is for young goodman Brown to find out that the hearts of the preachers, the good women, and all the maidens were there at the gathering praising the very thing that they stood on their pedestals and swore against each day at church. That they gathered by day to preach the word of God and savior for man, and by night, they gathered in evil and darkness to praise the evil one and be deceitful. Hawthorne portrays the situation as a whole with irony and the two-faced reality that maybe he thinks the world really is.

The devil mocks his followers in a fit of sarcasm by using a voice that had a “deep and solemn tone, almost sad, with its despairing awfulness, as if his once angelic nature could yet mourn for our miserable race.” Upon first reading this, the reader might be under the impression that the devil might actually feel a little sympathy for himself and for the human race for being doomed to evil, however, I realized that this was actually not true. The point of that line is that the devil is sarcastically making his voice sound sympathetic to mock the people for ever believing that there was any hope for goodness and redemption. He says “ye had still hoped, that virtue were not all a dream.” Essentially he is poking fun at all those who stayed strong and had faith in their God, mentionably goodman Brown. The climax of Brown’s faith has to be when the devil seduces his wife, Faith, which is a pun on Brown in actuality loosing his own faith and joining in with the rest of the community. It’s almost as if the devil is saying that they all got together and tried so hard to be different from the rest of the world and too bad that they couldn’t be the exception because not only are they evil, but so is everyone else. When the devil seduces his wife, not only has Brown lost his “Faith,” but so has everyone else. The devil also says “Evil must be your only happines,” and the meaning of this is that they can only be happy if they succumb to evil. This is because evil is what they are, and they can only find the comfort they need in evil things.

Finally, the shortest but in my opinion most meaningful part of the quote was “Welcome, again, my children, to the communion of your race!” At first glance this sentence seems simple in meaning and nature, merely a statement, but in actuality it is full of wonderful and dynamic meaning. First of all the use of the word “again” implies that their gathering is ritualistic in nature and is not an uncommon occurance. In fact it has been going on for quite a long time. This is in reference to the fact that the evilness and the devilish gatherings with Satan himself have been on going throughout the history of man. Next the use of the word communion has several hidden meanings in this particular context. For Christians, Communion is the recieving of the religious body of Jesus Christ, and when the devil says “these are the christians of your race” he is proving just how evil humanity is when even those who claim to be Christian are gathering with the devil by night. Also it is the portrayal of his communion as an antithesis to the communion of the body of Christ which is so holy in opposition to the evilness that happens at the devil’s communion. His is the recieving of evil. Then there is the irony of communion as celebrating the death of the savior Jesus Christ versus the celebration of the death of the righteousness amongst their race. On a different note, communion can have a seperate meaning that has nothing to do with the death of Christ or taking his body. Communion can also mean sharing of something whether it be Christian faith or not. However, in this situation it can be sharing in the fact that they have lost their faith and they are indeed evil. Evil is something they all have in common. Finally a striking observation that can be made is the way in which Hawthorne writes “communion.” In the Christian faith, communion has always been capitalized because it represents the taking of the holy body of Christ. In the devil’s quote, Hawthorne doesn’t capitalize communion. Communion when not capitalized refers to a group of people sharing something in common, but given the context of the story, we can’t ignore the biblical connotations of communion. Therefore we are justified in pointing out these various definitions of communion.

Obviously Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates his skill at combining many meanings and implications about the pervasive evil nature of man in the story Young Goodman Brown. This statement can be argued by observing both his literal and symbolic meanings. “Evil is the nature of mankind.” This is the epitome of the story from Satan’s taking the persona of a religious leader to the people viewing him as one. The story can be read at many different levels from the shallow reader to the very indepth reader. However, behind every level is the underlying theme that evil is the nature of mankind.

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Young Goodman Brown: Evil is the Nature of Mankind

Young Goodman Brown: Evil is the Nature of Mankind

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