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There are quite lots of experts who have researched Hawthorne’s works. Sun Liang points out in his Metaphor of Title and Color – An exposition of symbol in Young Goodman Brown that “the title, the protagonists’ names and the color of pink, black and red have a abundant symbolic implications, and the writer’s idea can be embodied from the excavation of evil in human’s soul, the hope of Goodness and the foundation of the truth and beauty”. (50) What’s more, someone claims in The Symbolism behind Young Goodman Brown that the symbolism throughout young Goodman Brown is mainly spiritual in nature and the best indication of this shown as Brown loses his faith and follows the devil on the evil path.
The aim of this thesis is to get a clear picture of the symbolism and symbolic meaning in the story by deeply reading and analyzing the symbolism in the theme, the symbolic meaning of all the characters and the colors. So the thesis consists of five parts. Except for the introduction and the conclusion, there are three chapters. The introduction simply tells Young Goodman Brown’s author and its theme. Chapter 1 gives clear analysis of the symbolism in theme. Chapter 2 explores the symbolism in all the characters, including the symbolic meaning of Goodman, Faith, and the fellow-traveler. Chapter 3 presents the symbolism in colors and it consists of pink, black and red. The conclusion summarizes the analysis of the symbolism in this novel, at the same time points out the importance of the analysis, that is, it presents reader a clear picture of the symbolism and symbolic meaning in the story.
II. Symbolism in the Theme
Generally speaking, a symbol is something which is used to represent something other than itself. In literature, it is most often a concrete object which is used to represent something broader and more abstract – often a moral, religious, or philosophical concept or value. In terms of symbolism, it means the use of one object or a symbol to represent or suggest something else. Broadly, the term symbolism may refer to symbolic meaning. The Scarlet Letter is usually regarded as the first symbolic novel to be written in the United States. Young Goodman Brown is a strong example of an allegorical tale. In this chapter, I will illustrate the symbolism behind Young Goodman Brown’s theme.
2.1 Young Goodman Brown’s Theme
Young Goodman Brown is one of Hawthorne’s most profound tales. In the manner of its concern with guilt and evil, it exemplifies what Melville called the “power of blackness” in Hawthorne’s work. In the story, a young man journeys through a terrible forest at night and has visions of his close friends and innocent wife dancing with the devil. Astonished with what he had seen and heard, he was tormented morally and psychologically. Hawthorne uses symbolism to describe the young man who reluctantly leaves his world of innocence. This young man soon realizes that evil is indeed very widespread and existent in his world. Allegorically, the protagonist becomes an Everyman named Brown, a young man, who will be mature in one night by adventure that makes everyone in this world a fallen idol. However, the story is manipulated in such a way that we as readers feel that Hawthorne poses the question of Good and Evil in man but withhold his answer, and he goes not permit himself to determine whether the events of the night of trial are real or the mere figment of a dream.
2.2 The Symbolic Meaning of Its Theme
Sin and innocent is the most prominent theme of this short story. Every setting and detail around the protagonist Brown related to the theme has symbolic meaning. “Young” Brown means that he was mentally in a state of innocent, meanwhile, is the herald to be tempted to the “sin”. The marriage between Brown and Faith symbolizes the combination of him and his faith. However, only three months after his marriage, Brown was determined to begin his journey to the mysterious forest, which is a symbol of a fragile basis of this combination. In the process of the journey, Brown has been struggling between going back to Faith and continuing it, which is a symbolically struggling between sticking to his faith and going to the sin. On this point, there are several descriptions in the text.