Vivid Imagery Within "Young Goodman Brown"

Nathaniel Hawthorne's skillful portrayal of the 17th century New England countryside in "Young Goodman Brown" is the perfect backdrop for this devilish tale. Hawthorne is able to create a seamless environment in which the characters move about freely and purposely, while maintaining the historical integrity of the time period. The setting is able to come alive and become it's own unique character and play an important part in the story. Hawthorne masterfully uses adjectives such as: dreary, darkened, and gloomiest help provoke mental pictures of 17th century Puritan life. The setting throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" not only provides the reader with vivid visuals, but is able to tell a story of it's own.

The journey of Goodman Brown begins in Salem Village. Salem Village itself embodies an eerie since in regards to the witch trials and executions that were held there during this time period.

The Bulls Head and Hawthornes - Stratford Road, Wo...

Nathaniel Hawthorne

English: Title page for Mosses from an Old Manse b...

Goodman Brown says goodbye to his wife of only three months and begins a journey that not only questions his faith in God, but his mental rigidity as well. However, Faith, Goodman Browns wife, calls him back and insists that he stay home tonight since she has had a bad dream about this journey. Faith whispers softly "prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night" (Hawthorne 268). With this passage Hawthorne begins to lay the groundwork for the eerie setting to come and foreshadows the evil that awaits Young Goodman Brown. Faith's words fall onto deaf ears and Young Goodman Brown heads off on his journey into the darkened woods of New England. Hawthorne describes the path taken by Goodman Brown as a "...dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest..." (268). Hawthorne uses words masterfully to paint the reader...