"Young Goodman Brown" Book Review by academic

This paper examines how Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" details the temptation and eventual disillusionment of a young Puritan man, who, when confronted with the massive possible hypocrisy of the community in which he lives, is unable to adapt successfully to a portrait of the world that does not live up to his romantic ideals. It looks at how Hawthorne weaves enough structural ambiguity into the story to make it unclear for both the reader and for Brown just what the actual reality is and how, at its conclusion, we are left to a realm of unknowns and suspicion as much as he is. It shows how, ultimately, the story of "Young Goodman Brown" is the story of a young man who, once his romantic ideals about the world are tested, lapses instead into a cynicism and frustration that represents the completely opposite end of the spectrum.