Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown": Cynicism or Meliorism?
Author(s): Paul W. Miller
Source: Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Dec., 1959), pp. 255-264
Published by: University of California Press
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Hawthorne's "1Young
Goodman Brown':
Cynicism
or MVeliorism?
PAUL
C
RITICS HAVE AGREED
W. MILLER
in the
Brown,
thatYoungGoodman
courseoftheHawthornestoryofthesamename,movesfroma state
of simplefaithin God and his fellowman to an evil stateinvolving
They have also generallyimdamnation,or at leastsoul jeopardy.1
plied thatas well as being an individual,Young Goodman Brown
indiis in somesenseintendedto be a type.Theyhave notgenerally
all mancated,however,whethertheythinkhe is intendedto typify
it seems
kindor onlyone segmentof it.2This questionis important,
to me, becauseon the answerone givesto it dependsone's understandingof Hawthorne'sview of man when he wrotethe story,as
of thisenigmaticbut nonetheless
fasciwell as one's interpretation
natingtale.
If, on the one hand,Young Goodman Brownis intendedto representall mankind,Hawthornehimselfmustbe regarded,at the
Paul W. Miller is a member of the departmentof English at King College, Bristol, Tenn.
E. Connolly in "Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown': An Attack on Puritanic
has recently taken exception to this view, however. He
Calvinism," AL, XXVIII, 370-375,
writes: "Young Goodman Brown did not lose his faith at all. In fact, not only did he retain
his faith, but during his horrible exper'iencehe actually discovered the full and frightening
significanceof his faith." I take furthernote of Connolly's view later in my article.
pp. 6I-62), who
2Notable exceptions include Newton Arvin (Hawthorne [Boston, 1929],
concludes that Young Goodman Brown is intended to represent all mankind, and D. M.
McKeithan ("Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown': An Interpretation,"MLN, LXVII [Feb.
95-96), to whom Young Goodman Brown is "a man whose sin led him [mistakenly]
1952],
to consider all other people sinful," and who is thereforenot representativeof all mankind.
1Thomas
[255]
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256
Fiction
Nineteenth-Century
timeofcomposition
ofthisstory,
as a totally
cynicalman,obsessed
withthenotionthateventhebestofmenarebutwhitedsepulchres,
unableeitherto savethemselves
or to findsalvation
divine
through
grace.3
But if,on theotherhand,YoungGoodmanBrownis intendedto represent
onlya certainsegment
ofmankind,
hiscreator
mustbe viewedas muchlesspessimistic
thanthealternative
interpretation
wouldsuggest.
If it is concluded
thatYoungGoodmanBrown'scondition
is not
intended
torepresent
thatofall mankind,
itremains
tobe considered
whether
suchmenas Brownare doomedbytheirnaturealoneto
separation
fromGod and man,or whether
thekindof society
in
whichtheyliveisanimportant
factor
inthisseparation.
Ifthelatterandifit be granted
thatin Hawthorne's
view,theindividuals
who
comprise
society
are in a measurefreeto alterit4-it maybe concludedthatthestory,
thoughpessimistic
so faras thefateofYoung
GoodmanBrownis concerned,
neednotbe so regarded
as it relates
to theYoungGoodmanBrownsof thefuture.
On thecontrary,
it
as melioristic
in outlook,
mightbe regarded
anticipating
thedawningofa newand better
day.
Thereremains
tobe considered
an alternative
tobothpossibilities
ofinterpretation
mentioned
above.It is embodied
in HenryJames's
conclusion
that
littleromanceof YoungGoodmanBrown[sic], forinstance,
themagnificent
meansnothingas regardsHawthorne's
evidently
own stateof mind,hisconvictionof humandepravity
and his consequentmelancholy;
forthe simple
it would meantoo,much.5
reasonthatif it meantanything,
thatthepicture
Thisistosay,ineffect,
ofmankind
in"Young
painted
GoodmanBrown"is so darkthatitcannotreflect
Hawthorne's
view
it mustbe viewedsimplyas an exercise
accurately.
Consequently
in thefreeplayoftheimagination.
ofHawthorne's
James's
interpretation
taleis convenient.
It spares
3 Witness, in this connection, Arvin's statement: "How far had Hawthorne wandered from
imaginative sanity when he became capable of viewing all human personalityas tainted and
corrupt.... Out of the very depths of that mood, and lit up by it with as lurid an imaginative
glare as Hawthorne was ever again to light, sprang that beautiful evil fancy,'Young Goodman
Brown' [op. cit., p. 6 i] ."
'An assumption ably defended by Henry G. Fairbanks in a recent issue of PMLA ("Sin,
Free Will, and 'Pessimism' in Hawthorne," LXXI [Dec. I956], 976).
'James, Hawthorne (New York, 1887), p. 102.
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"Young Goodman Brown"
257
thereaderthenecessity
ofraisingcertain
such
disturbing
questions,
as the following:Did Hawthornemean,in "Young Goodman
Brown,"
thatthemostpious-seeming
ofmen,alongwiththegrossest
sinners,
are absolutely
depraved?If he did,how can his viewof
mankind
herebe squaredwiththeviewshe expressed
in The Scarlet
Letter,wherethescarletletteritselfbecomesa symbolof natural
virtue
annealedbyhumansuffering,
orin The HouseofThe Seven
Gables,wherehumanity
is represented
bythevirtuous
if faltering
and HepzibahPyncheon
Clifford
as well as bythatmelodramatic
quintessence
of evil,theJudge?
At thesametimeone is impressedwiththeconvenience
ofJames's
approachone is led to questionits correctness.
For unlessa storyis
lightand frivolous,one expectsthe criticwho findsit difficult
to
interpret
eitherto discovera meaningin it,or dispraiseit finallyas
inferiorart.James,however,does neither.He is farfromdefining
the story'stone as frivolous,
he professeshimselfunable to finda
seriousmeaningin it,yethe doesnotdispraiseit.Insteadhe attempts
to removethestoryfromtherealmof seriousartby asserting
it was
inspiredby the "moral picturesqueness"
of "the secretthatwe are
reallynotby any meansso good as a well-regulated
societyrequires
us to appear."Jamesseemsto meanherethatHawthorne,in writing
"Young Goodman Brown,"was not interested
in revealinga truth,
but in achievinga poeticeffectbased on the paradoxicalexistence
amongmen,of evil in the guise of good.
Whetheror not Jamesis rightherewould seemto dependon the
and convictionone findsin the story.If, after
degreeof seriousness
one
thinks
finishing
it,
ofYoung GoodmanBrownonlyas a shadowy
figmentof theimagination,
one is perhapsjustified
in regardinghis
or speculativetale. But if, like the present
storyas a hypothetical
reader,one conceivesof Brownas onlya littlelessreal thanHamlet
or Othelloand muchmorerealthansuchcharacters
as Hawthorne's
Mrs. Bullfrog'or Ethan Brand,if one shudderswith Brownat the
impalpablemenace of the forest,and if, afterfinishingthe story,
one is drawnto darkspeculationon Brown'ssoul stateat death,one
Hawthorne writes of this story in his Note-Book (September i6 [i845]):
As to
"....
Mrs. Bullfrog, I give her up to the severest reprehension. The story was written as a mere
experiment in that style; it did not come from any depth within me,-neither my heart nor
mind had anythingto do with it."
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258
Fiction
Nineteenth-Century
wouldseemobligedto takethestoryseriously,
to tryto pluckout
theheartofitsmystery.7
or notYoungGoodmanBrownis intended
Whether
to represent
allmankind
wouldappeartodependuponwhether
ornottheauthor
has includedin thestorya representative
sampleofmankind,
and
ifso,uponwhether
YoungGoodmanBrownis himself
representativeof thatsample.If therewerenota fairsampleofmankind
in
thestory,
Brownwouldnotofcoursebe representative
ofall mankind,eventhougheveryone
elsein thestory
mightcloselyresemble
himin essentials.
To putthematter
ifit be granted
specifically,
thatYoungGoodmanBrownin thecourseofthestory
movesfroma stateofsimple
faithto an evilstate,and if thestorysuggests-asBrownhimself
theothercharacters
suspects-that
ofthestory,
as representatives
of
all mankind,
havegonethrough
a similarexperience,
itwillappear
thatYoungGoodmanBrown,in theessential
matters
ofthespirit,
is representative
of all mankind.But if,on theotherhand,it be
concluded
thatowingtotheDevil'sdeluding
himwithfalseimaginingsin theforest,
or showinghima sampleof mankindwhichis
nottrulyrepresentative,
YoungGoodmanBrown'ssuspicions
about
theworldarenotjustified,
thenit willfollowthatBrownhimself
is notrepresentative
ofall mankind,
butonlyofsomevile,suspicious
portionofit.
critics
whoconclude
Amongrecent
that"YoungGoodmanBrown"
viewsall humannatureskeptically,
is RichardFogle. He writes
aproposof thistale:"Hawthorne
wishesto propose,
notflatly
that
manis primarily
instead
but
the
evil,
doubtlestthisshould
gnawing
In Fogle'sview,then,Brownwouldbe representaindeedbe true."8
tiveof all mankindas wellas oftheothercharacters
in thestory.
McKeithan
a viewofthestory
presents
verydifferent
fromFogle's.
He writes:
This is not the storyof the disillusionmentthat comes to a person when he
discoversthat many supposedlyreligiousand virtuouspeople are reallysinful;
'Norman Holmes Pearson (Hawthorne's Usable Truth [Canton, N.Y., 1949], p. II) is
one critic who evidently finds the story much more convincing, as well as more profound,
than James. He writes: "The conclusions [of Young Goodman Brown] are as indefinable on
the part of the reader as of Hawthorne, but the situation obtains for limitless contemplation."
8Fogle, "Ambiguity and Clarity in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown,'" NEQ, XVIII
(Dec. I945),
448.
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"Young Goodman Brown"
259
it is, rather,
a storyof a man whosesin led himto considerall otherpeople
he misjudgedthem.9
sinful....He did notjudgethemaccurately:
In otherwords,YoungGoodmanBrowndoesnotevencomenear
withwavy
Like a mirror
to beinga representative
ofall mankind.
linesin it,he perversely
reflects
theworldas theworldis not.In this
ofa warpedandtwisted
view,"YoungGoodmanBrown"is thestory
psycheatypical
ofmankindin general.
without
Onemaybe drawntoa conclusion
verylikeMcKeithan's
all theevidence
it.One mayagree,
accepting
he adducesto support
EvenGoodforexample,
hervirtuein thestory.
thatFaithretains
as
man Brown,suspicious
as he is, has no proofto thecontrary,
thenarrator
makesclear:"Whether
Faithobeyed[GoodmanBrown's
plea to 'look up to heaven,and resistthewickedone'] he knew
of Faith the nextmorning,
not."And the narrator's
description
"bursting
intosuchjoy at sightof him [Brown]thatsheskipped
alongthe streetand almostkissedherhusbandbeforethewhole
thestrength
wouldcertainly
thatshehadsummoned
village,"
suggest
toheedherhusband's
plea.Joysuchas Faithshowedthatmorning
of resisting
temptawouldseemto be a morenaturalconsequence
withthestakesso high.
tionthanyielding
to it,especially
whether
Brown
Theremaybe somedoubtin one'smind,though,
was as wrongin his judgments
theminister
of Salem
concerning
village,DeaconGookin,and GoodyCloyse,as he was aboutFaith.
Foritappears
fromthestory
in contrast
thatall three,
toFaith,were
of Satan'spartyevenbeforetheforestmeeting.OnlyFaithand
It is at thispoint
Brownhimself
are referred
to as "theconverts."
thatan important
arises,notoftheboth/and,
butofthe
ambiguity
the figures
Young
variety.
How do we knowwhether
either/or
GoodmanBrownseesin theforest-the
figures
oftheminister,
the
deacon,theothercitizens
ofSalemvillageandofthestateofMassaandFaithherself-are
ormerely
specters
chusetts,
genuinewitches,10
oftruly
up bytheDevil?1"Theycanvirtuous
townspeople
conjured
9McKeithan, op. cit.,pp. 95-96.
10 By "genuine" witches, I mean persons dedicated to, or sorely tempted to dedicate them-
selves to, evil.
'" As was brought out in the Salem witch trials, the Devil was commonly credited with the
power of employing spectersto counterfeitthe shape of innocent persons. Such manifestations
of Satan's power were according to the best authorities quite rare, however. See in this connection Cotton Mather, Wondersof the InvisibleWorld (I693 ed.), p. i9: "But that which
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260
Nineteenth-Century
Fiction
notbe bothat thesametime.The samesortofproblemfacedHamlet
when confronted
by his father'sghost,but Brown,unlikeHamlet,
simplyignorestheproblem,leavingit to haunthis interpreters.
In theabsenceof anyfinalanswerto thisproblem,I concludethat
the witchesGoodmanBrownsaw were genuine.Even Faith was a
witch,in termsof myfootnotedefinition
of theword.She had been
temptedby Satan; then,yieldinginitiallyto temptationmuch as
Brown himselfhad done, sufferedherselfto be conveyedto the
Witches'Sabbathto concludeher pact. Faith's pink ribbonwhich
GoodmanBrownseesfluttering
down in theforestis theconfession
ofherinitialyielding.ButFaith'sconfession
also servesas a meansof
grace.Openlysignifying
thatshestilldelightsin thebeautifulthings
of thisworld,thatsheis stillvain of herappearance,thatthewhiteness of her angelismis stillmixedwiththe crimsonof her passion
forYoung Goodman Brown,the pink ribbonskeep Faith humble
and honest,and thuscontribute
to her ultimatepreservation
from
theEvil One. Even so,forthedurationofherstayin theforest,
Faith
remainsa "witch."
Why do I concludethatthe otherfiguresGoodman Brownsaw
in the forestwere also "real" witches?Principallybecausenone of
themhad evermade anypublicconfession
of sin,failureto do which
is a dangeroussign in any human being.The proofthattheyhad
neveradmittedto humanfrailty
was Brown'straumaon discovering
theirguilt.In publictheminister"mediate[d]his sermon,"Deacon
Gookin prayed"holy words,"and Goody Cloyse "catechiz[ed]."
None of themshowedanysignsof frailty
corresponding
to thepink
ribbonsof Faith,thoseefficacious
talismansthatconfessone is still
earthboundeven thoughone's aspirationis heavenward.12
Nor did
makes this Descent [of the Devil] the more formidable,is the multitudeand qualityof
Personsaccusedof an Interestin thisWitchcraft,
by Efficacy
of the Spectreswhichtake their
Name and Shape upon them.... That the Devils have obtain'dthe power,to take on them
the likenessof harmlesspeople." See also David Levin, What Happened at Salem? (n.p.,
1952), p. i6. That Hawthornewas well aware of thisconventional
attribution
of powerto
withNew Englandwitchcraft,
theDevil is attestednot onlyby his generalfamiliarity
but by
the followingsentencein his "Alice Doane's Appeal" (Tales, Sketchesand OtherPapers
[Boston, 1883], XII, 291): "The whole miserablemultitude,both sinfulsouls and false
spectresof good men,groanedhorriblyand gnashedtheirteeth,as theylooked upwardto
the calm lovelinessof the midnightsky,and beheldthosehomesof bliss wheretheymust
neverdwell."
of
12 Connollyrightly
observesthatthe pink ribbonsare out of keepingwiththe severity
Puritandress,but then concludesnot that Faith is atypicalof the Puritans,but that the
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"Young Goodman Brown"
261
anyofthemconfess,
as Faithconfessed,
to "beingtroubledwithsuch
dreamsand such thoughtsthatshe's afeardof herselfsometimes."
The minister,
Deacon Gookin,and Goody Cloysewere the "unco'
guid, or the rigidlyrighteous"of Salem village,and as such were
likelycandidatesforSatan'sparty.
In otherterms,theywerepharisees,
and theirpharisaismled them
to hypocrisy.
Obeyingthe letterof the law, theykeptfromothers,
and perhapsthemselves
as well,thesoberingfactthat,beinghuman,
theywereunableto followperfectly
thespiritof thelaw. They fell
farshortof the ideal expressedelsewhereby Hawthorne:"Be true!
Be true! Be true! Show freelyto the world,if not yourworst,yet
some traitwherebytheworstmaybe inferred.""3
To summarize,then,althoughone mightrejectsome of the evidenceon whichMcKeithan'sconclusions
arebased,one mightaccept
at leastpartofhisevidenceand conclusion:namelythatFaithretains
her virtuefinally,and thatBrown is consequentlywrongin continuingto view thatpartof humanitywhichFaith represents
with
suspicion.In thisview,Brown,as McKeithanasserts,is not representativeof all mankind,and consequently
the storyis not totally
pessimistic.
In apologizingfor Brown'smisanthropic
view of mankind,one
thatall
mightargue thatit was an easy stepfromthe observation
butone at theWitches'Sabbathwerecorrupt,
to theconclusionthat
all at theWitches'Sabbath,indeedall mankind,werecorrupt.And
it would be especiallyeasyforBrown,afterdiscovering
thatsomehe
had regardedas at leastas virtuousas Faith had made a pact with
theDevil, to cometo theconclusionthatFaith also had fallen.
At thesametimeone understands
whyBrowncame to theseconclusions,one mustrecognizethattherewas no valid reasonforhis
comingto them.As long as his wifeFaith gave signsof beingfaithful, Brown should not have despaired.Even if Faith herselfhad
yieldedto the Devil (I speak of Faith now as his wiferatherthan
as a personified
abstraction),Brownshouldhave casthis net more
pink ribbons representYoung Goodman Brown's "initial illusion about the true significance
of his faith" (p. 374). However Connolly fails to explain why if this is true, near the end
of the story when Goodman Brown's illusion is presumably shattered, Faith still sports the
pink ribbons. Regarded in their proper light, the ribbons are not a reflectionof Brown's
misguided view of Faith, but an adjunct of Faith herself.
13 Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (London, I906),
p. 313.
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262
Nineteenth-Century
Fiction
widelyin Salemvillageand beyondit in his searchforvirtue.
He
in Salem
shouldhavereckoned
withthepossibility
thatsomewhere
village,or at leastbeyonditsnarrowconfines,
theremightbe men
neither
"famous
fortheir
especial
sanctity"
nor"givenovertoallmean
andfilthy
vice,andsuspected
evenofhorrid
crimes."
Foritis worth
notingthatall ofthoseBrownobserves
at theWitches'Sabbathfall
intoone or theotherof thesecategories.
Brownshouldhaveconsidered
thepossibility
thatthemanwhoconfesses
hisvirtue
is mixed
withvicemaypossess
buttruevirtue
as well,insonotonlyhumility,
faras virtue
is a plantthatgrowson mortalground.
Havingconcluded
thatBrown's
misanthropic
viewofall mankind
is unjustified,
and consequently
thatBrown,in hisowndevotion
to
evil,is notrepresentative
ofall mankind,
onemayaskwhatportion
of mankindhe doesrepresent.
The answer,
I think,
is thathe represents
thoseweakermembers
ofa puritanical
intheirspiritual
whoaretraumatized,
arrested
society
development,
andfinally
destroyed
bythediscovery
thattheirsociety
is fullof "whitedsepulchres."
Othersin sucha society,
withmore
strength
butlessmoralsensitivity
thanBrown,recognize
thepower
of hypocrisy
to givetheappearance
of virtue(thesinequa nonof
success),and capitalize
on thisdiscovery
to riseto thehighest
positionsof secularand religious
authority.
Then thereare thosefew
hardysouls,who,likeFaith,withdifficulty
preserve
theirvirtue
by
lettinga tincture
of theirvicebe displayed
on theirbreastplate
of
righteousness.
Hawthorne
standsin thisstory,
then,as an analystand criticof
thesociety
thatdemands
so muchofa manthathecanachievewhat
is demanded
onlythrough
and thatblindsitselfso thorhypocrisy,
oughlyto thepowerof sinin thelivesof evenitsbestmenthatit
deniesthemtheritualand balmofpublicconfession.14
" Connolly regards "Young Goodman Brown" not as an attack on the rigorism and
hypocrisyof Puritan society,but on Puritanic-Calvinistictheology, specificallyon the doctrine
of election, faith in which Connolly-and presumably Hawthorne-somewhat oversimply
regards as the Puritan way of salvation. But there is surely nothing peculiarly PuritanicCalvinistic in Goodman Brown's resolve to "cling to her [Faith's] skirts and follow her to
heaven"; any orthodox Christian who believed in salvation by faith might make the same
resolve. Moreover, I see nothing in Hawthorne's presentation of Faith to justify identifying
her with faith in election rather than with the more orthodox faith in Christ's sacrifice.
One other Hawthorne critic besides Connolly, Frank Preston Stearns, in The Life and
Geniusof NathanielHawtho-ne(Boston, I906), p. I8I, has suggested that Hawthorne may
be chieflyconcerned with Puritanism in "Young Goodman Brown." He writes: "He [Haw-
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"Young Goodman Brown"
263
concernwiththe moral
Othercriticshave notedHawthorne's
forexample,comparing
VladimirAstrov,
of Puritanism.
rigorism
writes:
withDostoevski
Hawthorne
... Hawthorneand Dostoevski... stressedthe power of the irrationaland the
abysmalin soul and life....15
Puritan rigoristshad always to protecttheirintegrityand theirpeace with
blinds of inflexibledogmas from the impact of reality.This was the ostrich
way to remain "pure" and "consistent."The securitythus achieved was, of
course,an illusoryone...."
remorse,feelingsof sin
The resultwas, inevitably,perpetualmoral conflicts,
and guilt."7
Hawthorne's
concern
emphasizing
similarly
HerbertSchneider,
whichno display
sideofhumannature,
withtheblind,malevolent
of virtuecan eradicate,writes:
For him [Hawthorne] sin is an obvious and conspicuousfact,to denywhich is
foolish.Its consequencesare inevitableand to seek escape fromthemis childish.
The only relieffrom sin comes from public confession.Anythingprivateor
concealedworks internallyuntil it destroysthe sinner'ssoul."8
of Salem,
Thesewordsshedlighton thesoulstateof theminister
Deacon Gookin,GoodyCloyse,and GoodmanBrown,as well as on
thatof HesterPrynne,in connectionwithwhomtheywerewritten.
in his prefaceto The Crucibleto
And ArthurMiller,attempting
between
longsincedeniedbyG. L. Kittredge,"9
establisha connection,
at
and
this
to say:
has
Puritanism,
the outburstof witchcraft Salem
The witch hunt was not, however,a mere repression.It was also, and as imforeveryoneso inclinedto expresspubicly
a long overdueopportunity
portantly,
his guilt and sins,under the coverof accusationsagainst the victims.... These
people had no ritualforthewashingaway of sins.It is anothertraitwe inherited
from them,and it has helped to disciplineus as well as to breed hypocrisy
amongus.
and consequenthythorne]may have intendedthis for an exposureof the inconsistency,
pocrisy,of Puritanism;but the name of GoodmanBrown'swife is Faith,and thissuggests
of doubt,or disbeliefcarried
thatBrownmayhave been himselfintendedforan incarnation
to a logical extreme.Whatevermay have been Hawthorne'sdesign,the effectis decidedly
unpleasant."But Stearnsfailsto clarifyor followup thissuggestion.
15 Astrov,
"Hawthorneand Dostoevskias Explorersof the Human Conscience,"NEQ, XV
(June,I 942), 296.
6 Astrov,
P. 304.
17 Astrov,
p. 302.
18
Schneider,
The PuritanMind (New York,I930), p. 260.
9 Kittredge,
in Old and New England (Cambridge,Mass., 1929), pp. 372-373.
Witchcraft
at Salem was a
But Schneider,quoted above,differs,
arguingthatthe epidemicof witchcraft
productofPuritanism
(p. 42).
' Miller,The Crucible(New York,I953), pp. 7, 20.
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Nineteenth-Century Fiction
264
Finally,Hawthornehimselfhasin anotherworkmadehiscriticism
of Puritanismexplicit:
In truth,when the firstnoveltyand stirof spirithad subsided,-when the new
settlement[Salem] ... had actually become a littletown.. . its rigiditycould
not fail to cause distortionsof the moral nature.Such a life was sinisterto the
intellectand sinisterto the heart; especially when one generationhad bequeathed its religiousgloom and the counterfeitof its religiousardor,to the
as was inevitable,assumed the form both of
next; for these characteristics,
hypocrisyand exaggeration,by being inheritedfromthe example and precept
of otherhuman beings,and not froman originaland spiritualsource.2"
What betteranatomythanthiscouldbe foundofthekindofsociety
thatproducedYoung GoodmanBrown?
In "Young Goodman Brown,"then,Hawthorne,as well as "explaining"the Salem witchtrials,is pleadingthatwhat survivesof
Puritanrigorism
in societybe sloughedoff,and replacedbya striving
of commonhumanweakness.
forvirtuestarting
fromtheconfession
ofhumility
Such a societywould be basedupon thefirmfoundation
and honestyratherthan upon the sinkingsands of human pride
and the hypocrisy
thataccompaniesit. In such a society,the soul
of even a Goodman Brown might prosper."Young Goodman
Brown"is not so much the storyof Brown'sview of societyas it is
the storyof the impactof a certaintypeof societyon a man such
as Brown.
21Hawthorne,
"Main Street" in The Snow Image, III (Boston, I900),
89-go. Quotations
from "Young Goodman Brown" are also from this edition, in Mosses From An Old Manse, I,
I 02-I
24.
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