Nathaniel Hawthorne was a troubled spirit. He lived with a family curse burdening his everyday and it is easy to see that he worked through many of the wretches that haunted him within his writing. The evening that I sat down to read Young Goodman Brown I happened to have the travel channel on for background noise and couldn't help but pay attention to the fact that the scheduled show was covering the "World Creepiest Destinations" and the world famous Winchester Mystery House was in the number one spot. I thought that it was an odd connection once I came to class and learned about the Hawthorne family history. It just so happens that Sarah Winchester was also haunted by a family curse, in fact it is said that she became so possessed by the souls that had been slain by the infamous Winchester Rifle (the sake to all the families money) that she started building this maze of a house to try to confuse them and keep them away from her. In the 38 years leading up to her death she had carpenters working around the clock creating staircases leading to the ceiling and doorways that opened to nowhere. Creepy huh? So Sarah spend $5.5 million building a mystery house and Nathaniel wrote stories. I think I'd be more comfortable sitting in a room with Hawthorne. This whole Winchester thing kinda creeps me out! A cool connection nonetheless.
Anyways, getting back on track towards "Young Goodman Brown"...This story plays with the Puritan conception of the wilderness as the Devil's playground. The Puritans believed that the forest had alluded God's hand and was never domesticated. Therefore, when venturing into this sort of place no one was immune. Brown's Faith, yes, his wife, what did you think I was referring to? Asked him to stay awhile longer on her behalf. But wait...what if Hawthorne is playing a bit with his words here? Do you think he dare do such a thing? If he meant faith in the religious sense then does that mean that Brown's "faith" knew that he would be tested beyond his limits on this night as he ventures into the darkness...of the forest? Hmmmm....
Even as Brown enters the woods he asks himself, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow?" Yes,what if? Yet, he continues forth. A few pages further we find Mr. Hawthorne playing with his words again "What if a wretched old woman do choose when I thought she was going to heaven: is that any reason why I should quit my dear Faith and go any farther?" Would he really be loosing sight of his wife if he went further? or would he be testing his religion? Better yet, a few moments after asking himself this question he sees his minister and deacon on horseback jogging through the woods. I am "tempted" to think that this is Hawthorne's representation of how he sees the devil's temptation. Then Goodman goes on to say "With Heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!"...but wait Mr. Brown...what good is it to stand firm against the devil when your Faith has already gone down below? I mean that is what you subconsciously said...right?
Well, as the story progresses the "faith" wordplay continues and Hawthorne even throws in zingers like "humanize" which sounds an awful lot like "human eyes." Brown is overcome with all sorts of images and feelings (Hawthorne doesn't hold back here)and we are left to ask what the scariest thing in the forest was that night, could it have been Goodman Brown himself? and he does choose his Faith in the end right? I mean can you ignore your faith one moment and then take it back? Kudos Hawthorne, kudos. You will leave us wondering for a long time. Which is maybe your way of getting rid of your own monsters...by letting them loose on others...
My favorite quote: (other than all the Faith wordplay)
"A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream. On the Sabbath day, when the congregation we singing a holy psalm, he could no listen, because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain."
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