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Ambiguity in Young Goodman Brown

In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses ambiguity intentionally to make

certain parts in the story unclear to the readers so that they do not know what is going on.

Ambiguity can be defined as something that has a double meaning and something that is unclear.

Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown is ambiguous in many ways, including his uses of the

word "faith," the uncertainty of why Young Goodman entered the forest and the fact that the

night's events seem like a dream.

The first way Hawthorne shows ambiguity is the uses of the word "faith." The word faith

has a double meaning in Young Goodman Brown. It used to as his wife's name and to describe

Young Goodman Brown's faith in God. When Young Goodman Brown meets the old man who

is believed to be the devil in the forest, the old man asks Young Goodman Brown why he is late

and he responded by saying "Faith kept back awhile." This quote is ambiguous because it has

two meanings. At the beginning of the story, Young Goodman Brown's wife, whose name is

Faith, tries to stop Young Goodman Brown from going on his journey. Second, it means that

Young Goodman Brown faith in God kept him from evil and going on his journey with the old

man .

Later in the story, after seeing his wife "Faith" as a devil worshipper Young Goodman

Brown says "My faith is gone." This quote is another example of ambiguity because it also is has

a double meaning. Young Goodman Brown is saying that he has lost his wife to the devil. It also

means that he no longer believes in God. In Young Goodman Brown, Faith represents his

Brown's religious faith and when he sees her in the forest as a Satan worshipper, Young

Goodman Brown figures out that he is in danger of losing his wife and his faith in God.

The second way Hawthorne uses ambiguity is the uncertainty of why Young Goodman

Brown goes into the forest. In the story, Young Goodman Brown says "having kept covenant by

meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return whence I came." This is an example of

ambiguity because we are not are not told the exact reason why he went into the forest. There

are many questions and different interpretations because of the uncertainty of why Young

Goodman Brown goes into the forest: Does he go into the forest to meet the devil for some type

of satanic ritual or does he go into the forest to finish the journey that members of his family

went on? Hawthorne purposely does this to create the setting and to leave certain parts of the

story a mystery.

The third way Hawthorne uses ambiguity is the fact that the night's events seem like a

dream. The story ends with Young Goodman Brown in the woods asleep. The story suddenly

turns into present tense and says "Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only

dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting? Be it so if you will; but, alas! it was a dream of evil

omen for Young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a

desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream." Hawthorne leaves the

readers uncertain if he was dreaming or not." This quote is ambiguous because it does not say if

Young Goodman Brown is dreaming or not. Also, it leaves the readers' confused and uncertain

of what happen.

In conclusion, I believed that Nathaniel Hawthorne uses ambiguity to allow readers to

think for themselves and to be able to use text from the story to find out what is going on in the

story.