Women in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown and Women What are the attitudes of the young Puritan husband Goodman Brown toward women, of the author toward women, of other characters in the story toward women? This essay intends to answer that question. Randall Stewart in Hawthornes Female Characters states that there are three types of female characters in Hawthornes writings (1) the wholesome New England girl, bright, sensible and self-reliant (2) the frail, sylph-like creature, easily swayed by a stronger personality and (3) the woman with an exotic richness in her nature (98), and that Young Goodman Brown has in Faith cheerfulness, prettiness, and a simple-minded domesticity (99). So this categorizes her under type (1). In Salem village that fateful night when the young Puritan husband was departing home for the night, he exchanged a parting fondle with his young wife. From this we can conclude that he had a basic respect for her feelings(?) The wind was playing with the pink ribbons of her cap. Literary critic Wagenknecht surveys some of the critical recital relative to these ribbons Mathews finds the pastel of infancy in pink, but since pink is a color intermediate between red and white, William V. Davis prefers to take it as suggesting neither count depravity nor innocence but the tainted innocence, the spiritual imperfection of mankind, a view shared, up to a point, by Robinson. . . . (62). So the critics would have us believe that the author is making a statement here that seemingly good Faith is not all that good, based on the authors positioning of pink ribbons on her cap. She whispered, Dearest heart, prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep... ...tially. BIBLIOGRAPHY Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York Doubleday and Co., Inc.,1959. Lang, H.J.. How Ambiguous is Hawthorne? In Hawthorne A Collection of hypercritical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Leavis , Q.D. Hawthorne as Poet. In Hawthorne A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Martin, Terence Six Tales. In Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York Twayne Publishers Inc., 1965. Stewart, Randall. Hawthornes Female Characters. In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996. Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.