Analysis of "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

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Comparing and Contrasting Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sick Rose by William Blake
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne presented a tragedy of a man`s fate in the hands of religious catechism and vulnerable public morality. The short story, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835, is a representation of human situation in a world where social programs and dogmas determine individuals` reality and beliefs. In the same vein Sick Rose by William Blake resonates irony of the blooming Industrialization in England where there is an incipient corruption amidst all the progress. Blake represents England as a "sick rose" threatened by worm.
Hawthorne put emphasis on the foundation of Puritanism as an extremist religion which as he suggested in his fiction, doomed to deceitfulness and hypocrisy while Blake emphasizes on the irony of progress which is beautiful on the outside while there is a creeping worm on the inside. In Hawthorne`s short story, there is an ancestral guilt hidden in the cultural setting of Puritanism just like the worm hiding in the beauty of the sick rose in Blake`s poem.
Hawthorne`s protagonist is characterized by innocence and kindness just like Blake`s Red Rose. The word "brown" as the author`s chosen surname for his protagonist, means something else. The word would suggest a weak spot in the protagonist`s character as brown would mean dullness or in some sense, greyish or colorless oddity. This can be compared to the worm that wreaks disease inside the rose.
The major difference is that unlike the rose which is originally beautiful but troubled by the external force of the worm, Puritanism has the very seeds of corruption coming from inside. While the worm is not originally integral to the rose and causes sickness, Hawthorne`s story suggest a dark side to religion leading social discrimination The setting of the story happens mostly in a "gloomy forest" where the protagonist feared that "there may be a devilish Indian behind every tree" (Hawthorne 1). For most of us, the forest would mean "wilderness" and a scary place to go to. But in deeper analysis, we can say that the forest is a metaphor for the protagonist`s dark understanding of the world. This could also suggest a metaphor for the age`s long-practiced tradition, or a past continued history—growing in complexity and utter darkness. The "gloomiest trees" (Hawthorne 1) in the forest resembles the people who were doomed to practice a repressing tradition—in the story, religion. The words "gloom", "evil", and "dark" throughout the narrative pose an unpleasant and frightful scenario creating a feeling of disgust and seclusion. Interestingly, the insertion of the word "Indian" steers a stereo...