One of the things about Young Goodman Brown is the way reality and dream interpenetrate. The story begins with Goodman Brown leaving on a mysterious journey; his wife, Faith, asks him not to go, and he thinks to himself that it is good she does not know what "work is to be done tonight," and the thought of her purity makes him want to hurry and be finished with his current "evil purpose."
We don't...
One of the things about Young Goodman Brown is the way reality and dream interpenetrate. The story begins with Goodman Brown leaving on a mysterious journey; his wife, Faith, asks him not to go, and he thinks to himself that it is good she does not know what "work is to be done tonight," and the thought of her purity makes him want to hurry and be finished with his current "evil purpose."
We don't know what his "purpose" is, but there is plenty to suggest that Goodman Brown is into some scary stuff. Goodman Brown enters the forest where he fears there might be "a devilish Indian behind every tree." The man he is to meet in the forest has a strange resemblance to Goodman Brown -- could he be his father? He carries a staff worked into the shape of a snake, which seems to move, though it must be an "ocular deception." Later they overtake Goody Cloyse, Goodman Brown's old teacher and spiritual advisor, on the path. Goody Cloyse talks about the "meeting" and how "a nice young man is to be taken into communion tonight." She complains how her broomstick has "disappeared," and about having to walk, and the old man throws his snake-staff down before her, which causes her to vanish.
Clearly, at this point, though we do not know exactly with the meeting might be, we have left the daylight world of Salem village and have entered shadow world in which people who we presumed to be good are in fact just the opposite. This insight is brought home to Him when he reaches the meeting and finds that he himself, and his wife Faith, are the ones to be baptized in evil!
No comments:
Post a Comment