Essay on Symbolism and Double Meaning in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brow

Young Goodman Brown: Symbolism and Double Meaning Young Goodman Brown is definitely a story with several meanings and images. As I was reading this story I was overwhelmed with the visual and technical images that Hawthorne projected. There was so much symbolism and double meanings in the story that I believe everyone in the class was confused at one point or another. Seemingly to the degree that they re-read the story a second time just to try and "fill" themselves with the actual vision of the reading. One question that always seems to plague classes about this story (both eng372 and other classes that I have attended in which YGB was read) is the actual meaning of Goodman Brown’s wife’s name: Faith. The double meaning really sends the reader into a whirlwind of symbolism in which if analyzed enough could probably fill an entire classroom hour. Most of the class seemed to believe that her name suggests a faith in religion or a faith in one’s self and not a name that is given. My interpretation is that "faith’, in relation to the wife’s name, represents YGB’s ...