Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Themes and Symbols in Young Goodman Brown. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses the themes and symbols in the classic short story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KV32_HVgdmnbr.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
story is easily encapsulated: Young Goodman Brown goes to the forest where he meets a figure that is easily recognized as the Devil; he sees people he knows, including his
wife, the aptly-named Faith, on their way to a Witches Sabbath (Hawthorne). At the last moment he tells her to resist the Evil One; in a moment everything vanishes leaving
him uncertain as to whether or not he actually saw the frightful ceremony. But whether its real or not, his life is ruined because he can never get the idea
out of his mind that the people he sees every day are not who they seem to be; he dies bitter and joyless. The story is set in Salem, Massachusetts,
notorious for its savage witch trials. A sort of mass hysteria overtook the population for reasons that have never been adequately explained, and people began to accuse one another of
witchcraft. Often the accusation itself was enough to send a person to trial, if not to their death; it was a shameful episode in American history. That is the background
of Goodman Browns life. In short, he lives amongst superstitious people to whom devil-worship, witchcraft and the Devil himself are very real. The point of Hawthornes story, however, is the
hypocrisy that riddles society-any society. Its no secret that the author was very fond of Hester Prynne, the heroine of his novel The Scarlet Letter. She held her head high
and faced down the town that condemned her (she had an illegitimate child); she refused to bow to conventional morality. As a result, she is the most memorable character in
the book. She is certainly much more generous than her wretched husband and far stronger than her weak-willed lover. But the point Hawthorne makes is that religious and social "laws,"
...