Analysis Of Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Lady With The Dog

For Goodness’ Sake, Have Faith in Humanity Humans have a natural ability to know what is right and just and what is wrong. However, people are tempted on a regular basis, and often times people choose to go against what is right for what they want at the moment. Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the struggle of one man with his personal temptations in the short story, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†. Through a trip into the woods on a dark, gloomy night, Young Goodman Brown battles between what he knows is right and what sparks his curiosity—what the others and doing in the woods—the same theme portrayed in Anton Chekhov’s â€Å"The Lady with the Dog.† In this short story, Young Goodman Brown loses his faith in humanity’s ability to do good when he is convinced the great lie by the â€Å"dark one†. Young Goodman Brown (YGB) is tempted by the devil throughout the story to remind the reader what is feeding the lie to him. The â€Å"dark one† is an allegory to the devil, dressed da rkly with a serpent shaped staff. Young Goodman Brown discusses why he thinks he is making a mistake when the â€Å"dark one† tells him that it is okay to go into the woods because his father and grandfather both did before him. This statement by the traveller begins a whirlwind of a mixture of lie and truth, confusing Young Goodman Brown. While he is tempted with the concept of â€Å"everybody’s doing it,† the reader realizes that just because others before us have made mistakes does not mean the mistakes are justifiable for us toShow MoreRelated The Theme of Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay2278 Words   |  10 Pagesthe theme of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†.    To come by a clear notion of the theme of   â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† is no easy task, thanks to the confusing style of the author. As A.N. Kaul says in the â€Å"Introduction† to Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays:    Because Hawthorne was much given to evasions, mystifications, and prevarications of various sorts, because he repeatedly confuses the issues by shying sway from them, because he often talks of his fiction in terms of misty legends and