Character's Archetype Analysis in 'Young Goodman Brown'
For “Young Goodman Brown” character analysis essay we will make a short analysis of an archetype of the main character named Brown. The definition of an archetype was talen from Carl G. Jung. In this book “Young Goodman Brown”, the hero's initiation involves a 'night journey' that is comparable considerably to the hero's quest. This terrifying experience, according to Carl G. Jung, signifies the hero's descent into the unconscious, which, he portrays as “a situation of the primitive hero being devoured by something greater than them'.
Jung explains that those who make this descent, momentarily are 'overpowered by this unconscious and helplessly abandoned”. By descending into the unconscious, the conscious mind put itself in a perilous position, hence Goodman Brown’s constant agitation over the theory of evil. Brown is a character introduced as a pious Christian, frightened of being thought a sinner. When the story begins, Goodman has been married to Faith, whom he believes to be a paragon of goodness and purity. However, as he leaves this forest, Goodman Brown concludes that “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name'. Hawthorne juxtaposes the goodness of the wife with the now revealed “present evil purpose” of the husband, a strong indictment of the latter who goes into the forest fully conscious and aware of the intention. The concept of intention is necessary in this case, since Brown does not accidentally stumble across the Devil. His resolve operates within the context of moral assumptions specific to the cultural setting of seventeenth-century New England. In order to drift off from the evil he discovers, and the normal Puritan pursuit of salvation as unpardonable, Brown rather accuses everyone around him than fall victim to admit his covenant with evil. As it turns out, for Brown, the productivity of life is nothing less than maintaining an appointment with the Devil, which seems to have been arranged some time previously, by past members of Brown’s covenant. He realizes that everyone is evil at heart and that the word “sin” means nothing because all humans are purely sinful in their own way. As he returns to the town, he is no longer the joyful, faithful young newlywed he was when he departed. Instead, he is bitter and mistrusts the “good” appearances of everyone around him.
Overall Brown, however, actually understands wrongdoing after this occurrence. One cannot escape the failure to be righteous in one’s own strength. This experience allows Brown to leave behind his old character and beget a new life in that region of the psyche which is found inactive in the unconscious.
