“Young Goodman Brown” as a Dark Romantic Story
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” along with many of his other short stories, follows the conventions of a Dark Romantic tale. While the Romantic writers of his time were writing about the beauty of the world and the goodness of mankind, Hawthorne and other Dark Romantics were subverting the establishments being celebrated by others. After a short time in what was intended to be a utopian Transcendentalist community, Hawthorne grew to find Transcendentalists’ optimism irrational and instead adopted Edgar Allan Poe’s ideology (Velella). More cynical than Romantics, Hawthorne believed in a realistic view of humans that includes all inherent flaws.
Dark Romanticism, which shares some characteristics of Gothicism, grew out of opposition to the Transcendentalist movement of the nineteenth century. “Transcendentalists believe that one cannot truly know anything; knowledge cannot be gained through study but instead through experience” (“Dark Romanticism”). This can be seen through Hawthorne’s ambiguity in “Young Goodman Brown.” The reader does not know where Goodman Brown is journeying, nor do they know the reason. The “elder person” (Hawthorne 586) is never given a name or an explanation as to why he takes the physical form of Goodman Brown’s grandfather. Hawthorne never explicitly states what the group in the woods is doing or for what reason, and he also never specifies if Goodman Brown’s nightmarish experience is reality or just a dream. Goodman Brown himself does not know if his experiences are real, but “it [is] a dream of evil omen” for him (Hawthorne 594), and by the end of the story he is also unsure of his belief in God. He doubts “whether there really [is] a Heaven above him” (Hawthorne 590).
While Romantics and Transcendentalists celebrate the beauty of nature and believe it holds all truths, Dark Romantics have a darker view. They believe that “when [nature] does reveal truth to man, its revelations are evil and hellish,” and overall, Dark Romanticism portrays nature as more “sinister” (“Dark Romanticism”). Goodman Brown’s overnight journey leads him primarily through the woods on a path described as “dreary,” “lonely,” and containing “all the gloomiest trees” (583). Here Goodman Brown imagines the “devilish Indians” (586) who could be lurking in every shadow and behind every tree, creating a feeling of suspense and making the elder man’s appearance all the more startling. Goodman Brown later refers to the forest as “heathen wilderness” (Hawthorne 590), where no good Christian should go. His presence in these unholy woods causes him to further doubt what he has believed as truth, and it seems as if “Nature [is] laughing” (Hawthorne 590) at him. Here, Nature becomes an evil character — far from the virtuous and nurturing character the Romantics believe it plays — and joins with the townspeople to antagonize Goodman Brown.
Hawthorne’s writing primarily demonstrates characteristics of Dark Romanticism through its denial of human perfectibility. “While Transcendentalists believe humans are innately good and can achieve perfection” (“Dark Romanticism”), Dark Romantics again take a more misanthropic position. “Dark Romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction” (“Dark Romanticism”) — a prominent theme in “Young Goodman Brown.” To give villainy a physical presence, Hawthorne follows the Dark Romantic convention of using “images of anthropomorphized evil” (“Dark Romanticism”) through his portrayal of the townspeople as witches and the traveler as a devil. When Goody Cloyse walks with the elder traveler, she mentions potion-making and broomsticks, which are both traditionally associated with witches. Later, Goodman Brown goads on the evil forces, saying, “Come witch, come wizard, come Indian powwow, come devil himself!” (Hawthorne 591). Although the forest’s clearing appears to contain “an altar or a pulpit” (Hawthorne 591), its purpose is for witchcraft and devil worship, and it holds the bowl of blood that is used to “anoint” Goodman Brown and Faith. Also, the townspeople hold black mass in the middle of the night as a complete opposite to Christian traditions.
Offering a biting criticism on institutional religion, Goodman Brown recognizes the people in his community as hypocritical. Goody Cloyse, someone who he thought “was going to Heaven” (Hawthorne 589), is the first person he discovers is familiar with the traveler, and she is followed soon after by the town’s minister and deacon. In the forest clearing, Goodman Brown finds a crowd of people “all of excellent repute” (Hawthorne 591) amidst the sinful. Goodman Brown sees the “good” and evil people peacefully co-mingling and realizes there is no difference between them. Those who have claimed to be good are only disguising their sins and pretending to be devoted to the Christian religion, while the sinners make no attempts to hide their faults.
The traveler welcomes the townspeople to “a communion of [their] race” (Hawthorne 593) — humans who try to convince themselves they are good but are destined to embrace evil. Even when Goodman Brown tries to resist sin, he fails. At one point he refuses to continue on the journey with the traveler, and he praises himself for his ability to rebuff the temptation. Later, however, he finds himself with “no power to retreat one step, nor to resist, even in thought” (Hawthorne 593), even when the ghosts of his parents urge him to fight back. This represents humans’ inability to defy their innately sinful nature and be truly good.
This tale, paralleling Hawthorne’s own life, is about a man who finds human nature to be more sinister than he originally believed. Goodman Brown, like a Transcendentalist, believes in the inherent goodness of the people in his life. However, like Hawthorne, Goodman Brown is converted to a Dark Romanticism. He finds that “Evil is the nature of mankind” (Hawthorne 593) and everyone is sinful underneath the surface.
Works Cited
“Dark Romanticism.” New World Encyclopedia, New World Encyclopedia, 10 Sept. 2015, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dark_romanticism.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Fiction, 13th ed., edited by James H. Pickering, Pearson Education, Inc., 585–94.
Velella, Rob. “Dark Romantics: Hawthorne and Poe.” Hawthorne in Salem, National Endowment for the Humanities, www.hawthorneinsalem.org/ScholarsForum/MMD2805.html.
