Bernal 1 Stephanie Bernal Professor Rose English 1302 14 November

Bernal 1 Stephanie Bernal Professor Rose English 1302 14 November 2009 Formal Outline I.

Introductory Paragraph: a. Summary i. “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about a man whose spiritual faith is lost after having an awful dream and being deceived by the Devil. ii. Young Goodman Brown leaves his wife, Faith, on journey to meet with the Devil in human form. iii. Young Goodman Brown had originally agreed to be “taken into communion” with the Devil, but decides against. iv. Brown stays in the forest after the Devil leaves him, and he sees several members of his church and village on their way to this secular meeting in the forest. v. He then hears Faith in the distance and is drawn by anger and doubt to the meeting place, where he is summoned by spirits and images to e baptized by the evil character. vi. He suddenly wakes up in the quiet, lonely forest and cannot distinguish whether the events that had just taken place were reality or a dream.

Bernal 2 vii. Which finally leads to Young Goodman Brown losing his faith and allows skepticism to overcome him until his death. b. Thesis/ Central Idea: As a person’s faith and beliefs grows, obstacles will become stronger, but they shouldn’t allow their faith to be stolen. i. Theme: Doubt opposing faith. ii. Young Goodman Brown has a dream that deceives him into losing faith in his religion. iii. Anyone with strong beliefs or morals will be tested, but they shouldn’t allow those tests to compromise their faith in life and humanity. iv. Hawthorne suggests that people with strong beliefs or morals will be tested, but they shouldn’t allow those tests to compromise their faith in life and humanity. II.

Young Goodman Brown changes significantly in this story, from a loyal and committed man to an angry and doubtful man. a. He is a round character, because many sides of his personality are shown throughout the story. i. Through indirect characterization, he is portrayed as a good man that truly cares for his family and his reputation. He speaks of his wife and his elders with respect and honor. ii. “My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians” (327).

Bernal 3 b. He is the major and dynamic character because he undergoes a fundamental and psychological change. i. His character is the one that I became most familiar with, and I was worried for him from the moment the conflict began. His personality is significantly transformed as he struggles to differentiate the communion from a nightmare. ii. “A stern, a sad, darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream” (334).

III.

Young Goodman Brown’s conflict seems to be Person vs. Society throughout most of the story, but there is a surprise ending that exposes the real conflict: Person vs. Self. a. During the exposition, Brown is struggling internally about the agreement he made with the devil. Using his better judgment, he decides to go no further on his journey with the evil character. i. He realizes that his wife and his covenant with God are too important to turn his back on them. ii. “With heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil” (330). b. After his internal conflict is resolved, an external conflict begins when he begins to see several members of his church heading to the meeting. i. He first sees the devil speaking to his former catechism teacher about witchcraft, and then he hears the minister and deacon of his

Bernal 4 congregation discussing how important the meeting will be. He then hears Faith scream and is overcome with anger, as if he is possessed. He is driven by doubt and suspicion to the meeting place. He sees images of his ancestors, who beckon him to drawn nearer to the devil. As Young Goodman and Faith are marked with blood, he urges Faith not to follow through with communion. ii. “And there they stood… hesitating on the verge of wickedness in this dark world.” (333). c.The conflict reverts back to Person vs. Self as Young Goodman Brown awakes from his dream. i. He does not know whether the dream was just that or reality. Regardless, he allowed the thoughts that plagued him that night to become reality in his mind and he turns a cynical man for the rest of his life. He is overwhelmed with contempt for his peers and his religion. ii. “Goodman Brown stepped forth…and approached the congregation, with whom he felt a loathful brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart”(332).

IV. Conclusion a. Nathaniel Hawthorne used a collaboration of characterization and plot to create a suspenseful, surprising and dark story. Young Goodman Brown began as a moral young man who dreamt that he and his wife made a life-

Bernal 5 altering decision to participate in a secular communion with the devil. Although it was a dream, he takes it as an evil omen and cannot seem to shake himself from the cynical haze that had become his life. b.

After the different examples I have taken from the story, it is clear that the theme is the opposition of doubt and faith. Hawthorne shows how good and evil will always exist, but no one should allow faith in themselves and society to be stripped away.