Ethics, Hypocrisy, and “Young Goodman Brown”
Re-reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” in 2017.
“I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say [….]”
“I marvel they never spoke of these matters; or, verily, I marvel not, seeing that the least rumor of the sort would have driven them from New England. We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness.”
So goes the rebuttal of Goodman Brown in response to the devil’s claim that Brown’s family has long consorted with sin. And really, why shouldn’t Goodman Brown deny this? It’s not like he was told about any of these sins before. If he didn’t know about them, then he can’t be responsible for them. And after all, he can’t change what his ancestors allegedly did, which clearly removes any guilty association on his part. Right?
Let’s pause before getting into that and review what’s going on in this short story. Goodman Brown, a young, married man in Puritan Salem, takes leave of his wife, Faith, to venture into the woods for a little sin and temptation. True, we don’t quite know what kind of sin he was looking for, but there are thoughts on the matter.
If you paused for a moment at his wife’s name, then good, you’ve picked up on the double entendre. Goodman Brown doesn’t just take leave of his wife; he also takes leave of his beliefs, venturing forth from his “righteous” community to go into the “sinful” forest.
In a forest clearly designed to represent danger and evil (as opposed to the safety and morality of the city), Goodman Brown meets the devil, who shares a great many unsavory things about Goodman Brown’s family and the town: the devil helped Brown’s grandfather torture people of different religious beliefs; he helped Brown’s father burn down Native American villages; he reveals that he is friends with the leaders of the church and the government.
Since Goodman Brown didn’t have any control over what his father, grandfather, or community leaders did, why should this matter to him? Isn’t he supposed to be his own person?
This knowledge starts chipping away at his belief system. Goodman Brown roots his beliefs in the actions and appearances of others rather than in his own personal, internal notions of morality. Like his fellow Puritans, he is overly concerned with the appearance of goodness. And what’s that line about appearances and deception? Yep, you guessed it, but he hasn’t figured it out yet. Goodman Brown clings to his blissfully ignorant view of the world, hoping that if he can return to Salem without being seen with the devil, then his moral standing will remain secure:
“I shall take a cut through the woods until we have left this Christian woman behind. Being a stranger to you, she might ask whom I was consorting with and whither I was going.”
The Puritan focus on appearances and a binary approach to morality (you’re either all-good or all-evil; there is no middle ground) created a rumor mill that destroyed or ruined the lives of many people. Furthermore, since even sinful dreams and thoughts were considered just as bad as actually committing the sin, Puritans rarely shared their thoughts with others. This perpetuated a culture of hypocrisy in which people had to appear good and never discuss sins or personal failings.
The story eventually comes to a rather chilling climax. Goodman Brown approaches a fiendish cabal in the forest, seeing not only all the members of his community there, but also his wife, Faith. He makes an attempt to try and save her, but as Hawthorne makes clear, this attempt is futile and far too late. The evil envelops him, and later he awakes in the forest, leaving us with this question:
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! It was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown.
Remember that whole bit about sins and dreams? This is why Goodman Brown returns to Salem and cannot share his experience with his wife and peers. To talk about a bad experience would have brought suspicion on him, leaving him with no healthy outlet to share his tale. This destroys any chance of happiness and perpetuates a cycle of repression:
And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom.
To bring this full circle, are we to hold ourselves accountable by the actions of our ancestors? Nathaniel Hawthorne appears to think so. One of his ancestors includes John Hathorn — the only judge from the Salem witch trials to never express remorse for the killing of twenty innocent people.
Hawthorne knew of his ancestor’s role in the Salem witch trials and actively took steps to condemn that relation: he changed the spelling of his name and wrote extensively on the repressive nature of Puritanism to show others what can happen when we don’t openly discuss our flaws and learn to experience the world with nuance and forgiveness.
So what lessons can we learn from re-reading “Young Goodman Brown” in 2017? Let’s look at the most salient points:
- Goodman Brown never heard of any sinful behavior from his family. This causes him to strongly denounce any claims that such things even happened.
- Goodman Brown firmly believes that the people of Salem are devout. This causes him to embrace evil when their hypocrisy is revealed in the forest.
- Goodman Brown never talks about his experiences in the forest, whether real or imaginary. This causes him to perpetuate a cycle of repression and hypocrisy that passes on to his children and grandchildren.
Keeping those three main points in mind, let’s see what we can take from them:
- Denying painful community and family history creates false impressions and shuts down opportunities for honest discussions of past events.
- Focusing on external representations of ethical or moral behavior hinders opportunities for internal reflection and the development of personal convictions.
- Refusing to openly discuss experiences harms close friends, loved ones, and perpetuates a culture of appearances without substance.
So, can we absolve Goodman Brown of the guilt of his ancestors? I think Hawthorne would consider claiming ignorance a poor excuse. Absolution requires acknowledgment and informed action. Hawthorne took active steps to redeem the sins of his ancestor by showing the world the harmful influences of a repressive society through his writings.
When we don’t pay our experiences forward, we end up creating more Young Goodman Browns who don’t know how to view their own experiences critically and with nuance. This can lead to reactive behavior, accusations, and political corruption.
It may be easier to look at the world in terms of absolutes, but more lasting gains come from honest talk and personal reflection. A cut-and-dry, black-and-white, good-and-evil approach to life leaves little room for forgiveness and joy.
— Wesley
