Young Goodman Brown: Dream vs.

Reality
Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birthmark" both make use of dreams to affect the story and reveal the central characters. ith each story! the dreams "resented are e#tremely beneficial to the develo"ment of the story as they give the reader a new view of the "lot itself! or the characters within. $t the same time! however! it becomes difficult to determine how much of the dream has been affected by the character! and how much is "ure fantasy. This is true with Young Goodman Brown! who cannot determine whether the events in his life actually occurred! or if they sim"ly were created in his troubled mind while he sle"t. %reams thusly "lay an im"ortant develo"mental role in the e#"lication of Hawthorne's characters. Young Goodman Brown's dream near the end of his story has a most "rofound effect on his character. $fter a night of making deals with the %evil! having all of his fellow countrymen show their &atanic sym"athies and himself becoming affiliated with the 'allen $ngel! Brown understandably looks to account these incredible events to a dream state. However! Brown acts coldly towards 'aith after that "articular night! and com"letely changes his demeaner as he begins to (uestion whether the dream was! in fact! a dream! or reality. hat may have been but a dream turns out to haunt Brown for the rest of his life! as he can no longer acce"t the "eo"le in his life for what they a""ear to be! and can not forget that he saw them all at the witch)meeting. *n contrast! is the debatable (uestion of whether or not the dream was only a "wild dream" +Hawthorne! ,-./. *f Young Goodman Brown indeed did dream of the witch)meeting! then he has wasted his life with his unrestrained! unrelenting "aranoia. Because of the ambiguity of the situation! where neither the reader! narrator nor "rotagonist can be sure of the validity of the dream's de"ictions of the residents of &alem! Hawthorne makes it difficult of analy0e Brown's character. *t it therefore im"ossible to come to any absolute conclusions regarding the nature of Young Goodman Brown as one cannot accurately assess what has ha""ened to him! and the conse(uences of those events. Hawthorne is able to change our views on his characters with the sim"le use of dreams. %reams "rove to be an effective "lot device in both "The Birthmark" and "Young Goodman Brown" as they "rovide an air of uncertainty to the character that they are associated with. The troubled Young Goodman Brown can not determine whether or not the incredible visions of the "revious night were real. $s a "recaution! he avoids contact with the dream)related "eo"le and lives the remainder of his life alone! but surrounded by those who were once his friends! associates! and family. $s evidenced by these two short stories! we can see the im"ortant role that dreams can "lay in the effective telling of a tale. Had Goodman Brown fallen aslee" in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch)meeting1 +,.2/" The story "Young Goodman Brown" is "ortrayed as a straight forward tale of a man on a venture. *t is not overly difficult to com"rehend or inter"ret! however it does have several great ambiguities. $s Hawthorne's tale has a great deal of symbolism! it is all in retros"ect to the ambiguous entities within the tale. The formalistic a""roach will be used to analy0e the ambiguities in the story! mainly focusing u"on the use of dark and light contrasts. The (uestions of why did Goodman Brown leave his wife 'aith and venture into the forest and was his 3ourney into the forest a reality or a dream bring a grand weight of ambiguity u"on the shoulders of this tale.

Throughout the story we are left with no answer to whether this was a real e#"erience or 3ust a dream. *t had real elements to assume it was real! the forest! all the "eo"le he had met there! also what ha""ened in the forest seemed real. 4n the other hand the a""earance of the devil is suggesting this is a dream! because there is no real evidence to back this u". 5ven though we cannot inter"ret whether it was a dream or not! Hawthorne uses this to ridicule 6uritan belief! by "ointing out that maybe the conversion e#"erience Brown and the 6uritans had was a sim"le reali0ation of truth! not 7the8 e"i"hany they were searching for. $lso on a "sychological level this would "rove to be a dream because it may had been Brown9s subconscious creating a dream. He was wondering what truth is and "erha"s he got the answer through the dream by figuring out this on his own! because he knew the answer in his heart! and he 3ust needed a sort of 3ustified mean to get this e"i"hany. Hawthorne did not "ut too much im"ortance or gave any hints to "oint either way! because it did not really matter if it was real or not! to Brown it was a real e#"erience nevertheless. This 3ust shows that a decisive battle be it religious nature or something else! can be fought not 3ust "hysically but mentally also! and it shows that it is hard to acce"t something new and something unknown into your heart if it has been closed by some beliefs. *n order for Brown to e#"lore himself! to 3ourney into his own heart this must had been a dream! because 6uritan belief re(uired it9s believers to blindly follow! and seeing as Brown was a believer he had to make real scenario for his adventure without breaking any rules or disobeying religion. $nd because Brown was doubtful he could not share what he has found out nor was he allowed! so he chose the bitter end of gaining knowledge which is to take it to the grave with him. :egardless of this short story being a dream or not! Hawthorne tried to "oint out the wrong sides of 0ealousness and fanatical belief. Brown was only one of the many "eo"le who "aid a hefty "rice for blindly following faith.