Characterization in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Young Goo

This essay will demonstrate the types of characters present in Nathaniel Hawthornes schoolboyish Goodman Brown, whether static or dynamic, whether flat or round, and whether protrayed through screening or telling. R. W. B. Lewis in The Return into Rime Hawthorne states there is always more to the world in which Hawthornes characters move than any one of them can discern at a glance (77). This is especially true with such flat or two-dimensional characters as are generally found in Young Goodman Brown. These type characters are built on a single idea or quality and are presented without much individualizing detail (Abrams 33). Faith, of course, represents or symbolizes the theological truth of faith Goody Cloyse, as a catechism teacher, represents goodness the unnamed fellow-traveller in the woods is symbolic of evil. Q. D. Leavis explains this symbolic use of characters The first batch of works I specified including Young Goodman Brown is essentially dramatic, its use of lang uage is poetic, and it is symbolic, and richly so, as is the dramatic poets. . . Where the symbol is the thing itself, with no separable paraphrasable meaning as in an allegory the language is directly evocative (27). The flat character Faith is not developed like her husband her dialogue is restricted to the initiation few paragraphs. She speaks only four sentences in the entire story Dearest heart, whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, prythee, put off your journey until sunrise, and residue in your own bed tonight. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that shes afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husb... ...ng Goodman Brown. 1835. http//www.cwrl.utexas.edu/daniel/amlit/goodman/goodmantext.html Kaul, A.N. Introduction. In Hawthorne A hookup of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Leavis, Q.D. Hawthorne as Poet. In Hawthorne A Coll ection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Lewis, R. W. B. The Return into Time Hawthorne. In Hawthorne A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Swisher, Clarice. Nathaniel Hawthorne a Biography. In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996. Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.