For the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne the most explored subject of all his Hagiographas is the imperfect spiritualty of adult male and the pervasiveness of wickedness throughout creative activity. Both of the narratives under analysis here. Young Goodman Brown and The Minister’s Black Veil. characteristic a immature clergyman as the cardinal character of the work and a Puritanical community in New England as the scene. Both of the narratives are fables centered on the ambiguity of human spiritualty and on the ubiquitousness of wickedness in creative activity.
Young Goodman Brown is an fable about the deep enigma of wickedness. for which the writer makes usage of all available implicative elements. from the setting- a deep and glooming wood in New England. to the characters and their symbolic names- Goodman. an obvious intimation at “good man” . and Faith. an every bit crystalline intimation at spiritual religion. to other symbolic elements such as the staff resembling a wrinkly snake. evidently the snake in the Garden of Eden. Hawthorne approaches the thought of wickedness in his allegorical usual manner. with conspicuous Biblical allusions. but besides with deep psychological penetration into the character’s psyche and head.
He delves deeply into human consciousness and the life of the mortal psyche. foregrounding the lasting struggles between virtuousness and wickedness. In Young Goodman Brown we follow the chief character on his intricate class through the dark and glooming wood. reminding us of the Garden of Eden. and we are confronted with the inexorable enticements of wickedness in a vague. confounding scene. where the line dividing-line between dream and world becomes really thin. It is Hawthorne’s ain pick to go forth the inquiry as to whether the night’s confused events and the meeting of the community of enchantresss was a dream or world.
Through this ruse. an indispensable job is set forth- the consequence is that the reader has to inquire whether the wickedness and the autumn into enticement belong to Goodman entirely or whether the full community is pervaded by wickedness and immorality. The wood is therefore a symbol for the human consciousness and for the religious life of adult male. and what Hawthorne undertakes to happen out is whether everybody is really lost on the waies of the religious. and which of the two –virtue or wickedness – is the true province of the religious life.
Another of import facet is that in the thick of the glumness of the forest meet for induction into the traditional knowledge of wickedness. both the villagers who are normally considered as virtuous and pious in mundane life. and are frequently set an illustration. and those members of the community who are usually viewed as evildoers or felons. Therefore. the two chief sides of religious life- virtuousness and wickedness are both mere visual aspects. whereas in the interior life of adult male they live together undisturbed. The Minister’s Black Veil is similar to Young Goodman Brown in many respects.
Again. the Centre of the narrative is the anguished consciousness of a immature priest. who chooses to have on a symbolic black head covering over his eyes. that prevents him from basking any sort of mortal felicity. In the terminal. the head covering is seen as a symbol for the darkness and wickedness that is hidden into the deepnesss of human consciousness and that separates adult male from his chaps. As Goodman Brown typifies the mean adult male. lacerate between virtuousness and wickedness. the curate in this narrative symbolizes the imperfect spiritualty of adult male.
The black head covering that hides the face of the immature priest is but the symbol of the outward representation of wickedness. Harmonizing to Hawthorne. wickedness is built-in in the psyche and is merely veiled by the visual aspect of virtuousness. Sinfulness lies hence deep within and separates all work forces from one another as the black head covering separates the curate both from visible radiation and from Communion with his chaps. Hawthorne therefore tackles mortal imperfectness and the permeant nature of wickedness in creative activity. Both narratives emphasize the nature of human spiritualty. at the really nucleus of which wickedness and unlawfulness thrive.
