Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay

For the American indite Nathaniel Hawthorne the most explored theme of all his writings is the imperfect sacredity of earthly concern and the pervasiveness of sin throughout creation. Both of the stories under analysis here, Young Goodman br avouched and The Ministers Black Veil, feature a young rarefied as the central fount of the work and a Puritanical society in New England as the boundting. Both of the tales are allegories centered on the ambiguity of human spirituality and on the ubiquity of sin in creation.Young Goodman brownness is an allegory about the enigmatical mystery of sin, for which the author makes use of all available suggestive elements, from the setting- a deep and patrician wood in New England, to the characters and their symbolic names- Goodman, an obvious hint at good man, and Faith, an equally transparent hint at unearthly faith, to other symbolic elements such as the staff resembling a purse serpent, obviously the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Hawthorne approaches the idea of sin in his allegorical usual way, with conspicuous Biblical allusions, but also with deep psychological insight into the characters soul and mind.He delves profoundly into human disposition and the life of the mortal soul, highlighting the permanent conflicts surrounded by virtue and sin. In Young Goodman Brown we follow the main(prenominal) character on his intricate course through the dark and gloomy forest, reminding us of the Garden of Eden, and we are confronted with the grim temptations of sin in a vague, mistake setting, where the line dividing-line between dream and reality becomes very thin. It is Hawthornes own choice to leave the question as to whether the nights overturned events and the meeting of the community of witches was a dream or reality.Through this artifice, an inborn problem is set forth- the result is that the reader has to wonder whether the sin and the slide by into temptation belong to Goodman alone or whether the e ntire community is pervaded by sinfulness and immorality. The forest is thus a symbol for the human consciousness and for the spiritual life of man, and what Hawthorne undertakes to find out is whether everybody is actually lost on the paths of the spiritual, and which of the two virtue or sin is the true state of the spiritual life.Another important aspect is that in the midst of the gloominess of the forest meet for initiation into the lore of sinfulness, both the villagers who are commonly considered as virtuous and pious in everyday life, and are often set an example, and those members of the community who are normally viewed as sinners or criminals. Thus, the two main sides of spiritual life- virtue and sin are both mere appearances, whereas in the inner life of man they live together undisturbed. The Ministers Black Veil is similar to Young Goodman Brown in many some other(prenominal) respects.Again, the centre of the paper is the tormented consciousness of a young priest , who chooses to stick out a symbolic black veil over his eyes, that prevents him from enjoying any mannequin of mortal happiness. In the end, the veil is seen as a symbol for the nefariousness and sinfulness that is hidden into the depths of human consciousness and that separates man from his fellows. As Goodman Brown typifies the average man, torn between virtue and sin, the minister in this story symbolizes the imperfect spirituality of man.The black veil that hides the face of the young priest is but the symbol of the outward representation of sin. According to Hawthorne, sin is inbuilt in the soul and is only veiled by the appearance of virtue. iniquity lies therefore deep within and separates all men from one another as the black veil separates the minister both from light and from chew with his fellows. Hawthorne therefore tackles mortal imperfection and the pervasive nature of sin in creation. Both stories emphasize the nature of human spirituality, at the very warmnes s of which sin and unlawfulness thrive.