The Dual Nature of Man in Young Goodman Brown Essay

The Dual Nature of Man in Young Goodman Brown In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne tells the story of one man’s loss of faith in the human race. As Goodman Brown travels into the woods one night, he is sees the innermost secrets and desires of the people he once placed upon a pedestal. He sees that humans are evil by nature, and this causes him to lose faith in his fellow man. By viewing the story as an allegory, the journey into the woods is associated with the Puritan concept of justification. The Puritans viewed justification, or the means by which one receives the salvation of Christ, as a psychological journey into the hell (or evil) of the self (Soler). Goodman Brown fails to complete his process of individuation because†¦show more content†¦The Apollonian nature of the human seeks to express itself through representations and illusions (such as art), which was regarded as vulgar to the Puritans. The Dionysian seeks to express itself through the performing arts (such as song or dance) (Foster 63-64). Th is was seen as sinful (one may recall the Salem witch-hunt was started when children were caught dancing in the woods). Brown, growing up Puritan, would have had both of these basic human instincts suppressed. This suggests that something must have brought forth the need for these instincts to express themselves. The marriage of Brown and Faith may have brought these issues forward in his unconscious - or maybe even conscious - mind. Marriage would have â€Å"qualified† Brown to enter the communion of sinners through the sexual nature of the marriage bed. Sexual desires for his wife would have challenged Brown, because of the belief that sex was necessary only for reproduction – not pleasure (Male 78). Sexual desires are associated to the Dionysian (Foster 64). To handle the conflict between faith and desire, Brown would have to come to terms with them, thus introducing the Apollonian instinct of individuation. Brown’s journey into the woods is his journey of individuation, as he must come to terms with the dark desires of his id. For the Puritans, the dark woods are a symbol of mistrust of their own corrupt hearts and faculties (this is also an archetypal symbol), which directlyShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Novel Young Goodman Brown By Nathaniel Hawthorne879 Words   |  4 PagesIn the story † Young Goodman Brown† by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author demonstrates the ideas of the dual nature of man, which represented by the character Goodman Brown. He is a religious man who left his wife; Faith, behind to travel into the wood where a devil ceremony is takes place. The allegory of the story is that the innocence of a man can easily be corrupted if that person is not truly believes in his religion. 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