The fact that Young Goodman Brown leaves his home and wife, Faith, at sunset could be significant because night is often considered to be the time when evil things happen. It is dark and thus it is harder to see; people can hide what they are doing more easily if they do it at night. Have you ever heard the expression, Idle hands are the devil's playthings? We tend to be more idle at...
The fact that Young Goodman Brown leaves his home and wife, Faith, at sunset could be significant because night is often considered to be the time when evil things happen. It is dark and thus it is harder to see; people can hide what they are doing more easily if they do it at night. Have you ever heard the expression, Idle hands are the devil's playthings? We tend to be more idle at night, we have less to do, and thus we can be more easily tempted. Leaving at night, then, is one more proof that Goodman Brown is aware that he's doing something he shouldn't be doing. He knows his shouldn't be going into the forest to meet the devil; he even says, "'after this one night, [he'll] cling to [his wife's] skirts and follow her to Heaven.'" He wants just one more night of sinfulness, apparently, and then he intends to reform. Night is the appropriate time for such sinfulness.
Darkness helps Goodman Brown to hide more effectively when he hears other people in the forest, and it adds to the mysterious mood of the text as well. Night holds more mystery than day because, again, it is more difficult to see. It's being night also adds to the ambiguity of the ending: Goodman Brown is unsure whether what he experienced in the forest was reality or a dream, and the possibility that it was just a dream is made more plausible since the events take place during the time when he would normally be asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment