Which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, The scene in “Young Goodman Brown” where brown enters the woods solidifies this idea: More than theme links these works-vivid imagery in both stories showcases Hawthorne’s mastery of language and craft. Although Hawthorne does not specify the act, Hooper has something to do with it because the woman he helped bury is the last soul on earth to see his face. The ebony veil is a symbol of Hooper’s sin for an act against a young woman which takes place before the story began.
In the character’s final speech, Hooper refuses to take off his veil and speaks of each man as having “n every visage a Black Veil” (“MBV” 342). Hooper tries to show the characters how they truly are-with walls between them. Just as Brown’s character knows what he and others are doing in the woods, Reverend Hooper in “The Minister’s Black Veil” must deal with his sin and the hidden sins of others. Brown acknowledges his “conscious of the guilty purpose” (“YGB” 328). Despite his wife’s pleas and his wishes to stay at home, Brown chooses to enter the murky woods. Young Goodman Brown is an ordinary man who normally keeps the tenents of his faith, but chooses to stray for a single night of cavorting with the devil. When coupled with the theme of good versus evil, Nathaniel’s Hawthorne foreboding tone illuminates mankind’s struggle against temptation he uses vivid imagery and theme to isolate his characters and expose the vulnerability of the human condition.īoth stories deal with a man’s reaction to evil.
In “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne leads the title character into a shadowy place where “e had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind” (“YGB” 325). One example from “The Minister’s Black Veil” is Reverend Hooper, who is “ept in the saddest of all prisons, his own heart” (“MBV” 341). Hawthorne’s dark writing style illustrates the torment of his characters as they battle the ages-long war of good versus evil. IMAGERY AND THEME IN “YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN” AND “THE MINISTER’S BLACK VEIL”Īccording to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s character, Young Goodman Brown, “’There is no good on earth and sin is but a name’” (“YGB” 329).
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