Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown and History Essays -- Young Goodman Br

Young Goodman Brown and History Q. D. Leavis states that perhaps the persecuting aspect of their way of life was peculiarly present to Hawthorne because of the witch-hanging measure and the Quaker-whipping Major among his ancestors (30). This is a reference to one instance of historic allusion in Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown. This essay will explore a variety of historical incidences referred to in this short story. Clarice Swisher in Nathaniel Hawthorne a Biography states William Hathorne was a colonial magistrate involved in the persecution of Quakers, another Protestant religious group. Hawthorne afterwards described him as grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and steeple-crowned, a hard, dark man. His son John Hathorne was well known as a Puritan judge who condemned women as witches in 1692 during the Salem witchcraft trials, and who later expressed no remorse for his actions. . . . Of his ancestors, especially Judge John, Hawthorne later said, I . . . hereby take s hame upon myself for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by them . . . whitethorn be now and henceforth removed (14). Reference to these forbears of Goodman Brown is made in a notable episode in Young Goodman Brown when the colossus responds to Browns assertion of his familys Christian past We wee been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs. And shall I be the first of the name of Brown, that ever took this path and kept- The devil then responds Such company, thou wouldst say, observed the elder person, interrupting his pause. Well said, Goodman Brown I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans an... ... Derived from New England Living. In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. 1835. http//www.cwrl.utexas.edu/daniel/amlit/goodman/goodmantext.html 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. Swisher, Clarice. Nathaniel Hawthorne a Biography. 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 make Co., 1989. Williams, Stanley T. Hawthornes Puritan Mind. In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996.