对《年轻的古德曼 布朗》中的意象解后

对《年轻的古德曼布朗》中的意象解后专业定制英文报告，淘宝ID:华中秘书网
摘要
美国19世纪著名作家纳撒尼尔•霍桑是美国文学史上一位传奇式的人物。

除了为人们所熟知的经典著作外，他还创作了成百篇短篇小说和故事。

20世纪50年代以来，人们发现这些为麦尔维尔和坡所肯定的“黑色故事”史具有思想价值和艺术价值。

霍桑摘取地道的美国本土材料，以神秘的象征主义手法反映美国早期清教徒的道德历史，在殖民者心中留下的深刻印象。

其中的《年轻的古德曼•布朗》尤以神秘、隐涩而著称，故事自始至终充满着晦暗、隐秘的意象。

本文将从霍桑的创作倾向和作品主题两方面，以《年轻的古德曼•布朗》中主
人公的一段奇异、鬼魅、虚幻梦之旅程为研究对象进行解析，结合相关文献资料，考察《年轻的古德曼•布朗》里体现出的原罪说，探究作者的真实心理及文中各种人物事物所具体代表的意象，目的是为正确解读文本添砖加瓦，拓展《年轻的古德曼•布朗》的研究领域。

关键词:年轻的古德曼?布朗;纳撒尼尔?霍桑;意象解读;原罪;
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1. Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an influential romantic novelist in the
United States of America in the nineteenth Century. His major work, whether early short stories or later long novels, embodies an eternal "original sin" theme. All people have genetic or inborn evil. Evil comes from people's life, everyone is by nature of sin. In his work, Hawthorne
shouted many times in the form of the characters in his books: "Evil is the nature of mankind." And the dedicate skills of its psychological description and profound symbolism which depicted, explored and revealed the privacy "evil" in the heart of all kind of characters in his books. So that the idea of "original sin" that evil is the nature of mankind has also became a recurring theme in the works of his. The "original sin" themes of creation which portrayed incisively and in the most detail. In the famous short story Young Goodman Brown. From that the reader can be filled with
clear rich connotation, profound social and historical background in the theme of "original sin".
This thesis is going to study from two aspects of the Hawthorne's creation tendency and the themes of works. To take the hero’s strange, illusory and dream
journey in Young Goodman Brown as the study object, we combined the relevant
literature and investigated the reflected original sin in Young Goodman Brown. And
we delved into the true psychology of the author and the
specifically represented images of the various characters, in order to correctly interpret the novel and expand the research field of Young Goodman Brown.
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2. The Overview of Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Works
2.1 Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 and died in 1864. "Compared
with Maupassant in France, Russia's Chekhov and his compatriots Henry in Europe, he masters the secret of writing short stories the earliest."(McMichael, etc. 1980) In his life, Hawthorne has created many extraordinary masterpiece. He published four novels: The Scarlet Letter, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun, The House of
the Seven Gables; three short stories collections: Mosses From an
Old Manse, Twice
Told Tales, The Snow Image, and Other Twice Told Tales; two fairy tales collections: A
Wonder Book for Girls and Boys and Tanglewood Tales, as well as a number of
non-fiction prose, travels, biographies and other works. With Moby Dick written by
Herman Melville, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Hawthorne's masterpiece The
Scarlet Letter has already become the important sign of the American romantic literature.
The material of Hawthorne works mostly come from the background of New England. He slowly told readers stories that set them thinking after collecting the quintessence from European literature. Hawthorne's
writing style is exquisite and the idea is unique, reflecting the
colonial American people's life style and spirit in the moral fable form. In addition, Hawthorne is also known for its deep thoughts on human nature and society to evoke thinking, which makes his works unique and rise above the common herd. Hawthorne not only knows how to describe the analysis of the psychology of the characters, but also widely use the method of symbolism. So his works often richly exudes lyrical breath and also filled with mysterious and romantic atmosphere, forming a
mysterious romantic narrative style. This not only greatlyincreased
their works with romantic color, but also deepens the works in symbolic
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meaning. And it further strengthens its artistic appeal. Through the characterization of nuance of the inside conflicts of characters which are repeated and struggled, Hawthorne reveals the heart journey and
soul-searching of the characters in trenchant ways fully and
delightfully .
To make a long story short, Hawthorne's short works come with fresh and elegant style. The pure and simple image and memorable plots reflect his major themes and profound thought. In fact, Hawthorne has enjoyed a high reputation at that time and embraced by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville et al. Edgar Allan Poe thinks Hawthorne had "the spirit of invention, creation, imagination and innovation" and his novel "belongs to the art of the highest level, a genius art subject to a very high level". Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Melville have endorsed Poe’s view and una nimously praised Hawthorne
that goes beyond the
general literature.
Indeed, beyond all dispute, he is "United Nation's first great novelist". The works of Hawthorne marked the maturity of the United States literary. The classical evaluation did in Hawthorne's time is
still agreed by critics nowadays. The famous British literary critic Ian Ousby clearly wrote in a book Fifty Speeches of American Fiction: "Simply, Hawthorne's importance lies in it. Beyond all dispute, he is the first great writer generated by the United States." As his biographer Randall Stewart argued: "his works, in general, are in the highest sense of life evaluation. Character creation, background description is all from his own experience and observation. Layout of suspense and conflict are the synergistic effect of his feeling and understanding. Hawthorne’s inquiry of the real situation in the depths of human mind and spirit expressed thoughts with future time prediction. It has certain permanence." Hawthorne's works have enduring fragrance like old wine. It is enduring and still leads a person to endless aftertastes even in more than one hundred years later today.
2.2 Young Goodman Brown
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Young Goodman Brown tells a story of a pure and kind young man named Brown
who goes to an appointment with the devil in the wild forest due to the temptation. He had not revealed the secret in his heart with anyone, including his wife Faith. Brown began his appointment with the devil in a psychology of a negative crime . All his behave is hesitant, because
he knows that it is against the "Virtue". But he is powerless to resist some indistinct sin seducing in his heart. He finally completed the
whole course with the devil. However, to his surprise and disappointment, he finds out and see many people that his usual most respect and admired secretly meet the devil like he does when he came to the dark woods. Among these people are imposing governors, noble characters of high prestige, devout old men, sacred virgins, brownstone madams, sluts, dicks, witches, wizards and so on. In the dark and eerie forest which is symbolic of hell, there was a block of stone on the edge of the circle, surrounded by four burning pine trees which form a court. There, people he usually familiar or unfamiliar is having friendly get-together. He found that there is no good or bad in there. The sluts and sacred
virgins are talking happily, sinners and saints are side by side, good men and bad men are sharing news. The more that Brown hard to accept and be distressed is he saw his parents, his dear wife Faith as well as the ancestors him miss and respect all his life was in the crowd dating with the devil!
Awoke from consternation, Brown found himself in the quiet night, lonely and helpless. He heard the wind whistling and stumbled on a large rock. He felt cold and wet, and be around with quiet. That dreaming or
real night has aroused privacy sin consciousness in the hearts of Brown.
A forever lingering ghostly shadow rooted in his heart.
The very next day morning, Brown went to the street of Salem Village, watching everything around in confusion, as if everything is still there. The priest is having a walk before breakfast and Deacon Gookin is doing the ritual. However, Brown changes to another person in and out to this time. He cursed the priest which he respected the most every day for the gods he is praying. He is also not paying attention to his dear wife Faith who yearns to kiss and hug him for his return. Brown's temperament changes and he avoids all people around. He no longer believes in the
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so-called upright gentlemen, even sniff at people who knelt down to pray reverently. Finally, he dies without joy.
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3 .The Interpretation of the Novel's Imagines
3.1 The Imagines of the Plots
This short novel is actually about people who mature from naive
slowly to sophisticate. The story is full of mystery and dark images
from beginning to the end.
First of all, this kind of images emerges in the opening portion of the novels. The story takes place in the evening in the forest, and
evening is the starting point of mystery and darkness. The authors described it this way:
"He is walking on a silent road. All the darkest trees in the forest make the road dark. The narrow road winds its way through trees which
are on both sides of the road. One submerged in the trees as soon as he walks past. All around is bleak. In this weird place which cut off from the world. The passerby knows nothing if there are something hiding in the numerous implicit and sometimes emerged trunks and thick branches above the lonely head. So he walked alone pace while may walk past a large hidden people!"
A few lines of slightly scenery description is full of dark words such as "silent", "the darkest", "bleak", "weird", "cut off from the world", "lonely", "implicit and sometimes emerged" with mysterious atmosphere. Reading theses can shock readers’
heart: What was mysterious terrible thing hidden in the black forest in the end? This is the unique place of the work. The mystery of story
is created through the atmosphere, but not simply described in words. At the same time, the vague hints which appear to be wrong also give the works multiple means.
Secondly, the whole plot of novels also gives a mysterious, dark, hidden astringent feeling: Why Brown wants to leave his new married wife? Where did he go? Why must be in "that night of that year", instead of
any other time, go to the dark forest? These are questions the reader generated in the process of reading. Thus it
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adds mystery feeling to the story. When Brown went to the forest, a mysterious old man appeared. But his identity is vague and may have
faint relationship to Brown. Some of his appearance is similar to Brown and "Brown's shadow" is twice used to refer to the mysterious old man. However, the author always put his identity hidden. And that left the reader with sufficient space to imagine and guess. With the story's development, the reader can see some of the mysterious old man is incarnate evil. And the people understood and respected by Brown -- the governor, the deacons, from ordinary granny to seemingly sacred virgin covered their evil beneath the originally surface of glossy. While readers read like there are on the scene of the book, the author seems to add a casual sentence -- "Brown is asleep in the forest, just have a nightmare of voodoo party?" -- And that makes the reader into the maze of cloud again. The story of Brown is in the shining from beginning to the end, which just meets the psychology of Brown after the event: dark, uncertain and confused.
Finally, the ending of the novel describes the Brown’s death. But that is also
fuzzy and obscure:
"He lived long, after his body was carried to the grave with silver beard and hair. Faith -- his old wife -- her children and grandchildren, as well as a small number of relatives which ranged very long, followed.
But there are no hopeful verses engraved on his tombstone. Because he is in gloom the time he died. "
"Long" is a very vague concept. The specific death time of Brown is not clear, just in "gloom" moment. The word "gloom" is a pun. Besides
our understanding of the "desperate", it is has the meaning of "dull". People’s thought of Brown is also
unknown, because "there are no hopeful verses engraved on his tombstone".
This fable put forward a fundamental question about the human nature. Are human born evil? Or does it like the meaning in doctrine of
"original sin"? Or maybe human nature is good? These questions have been raised but did not answer by the author. In fact, there are no absolute good and evil and human nature is complicated. As an idealistic person
in the novel, Brown explored the truth of human nature naively. It is doomed that he will be lead a life in accordance with the inevitable model of life to, so even if he knew that the forest ahead is "evil", he still walked in.
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3.2 The Imagines of the Characters
In this novel, the protagonist -- Goodman Brown himself contains a
rich implication. "Young" indicates that the protagonist is a young, innocent character full of fresh ideas. if literal translated "Goodman Brown" is the good man Brown. Also, the name "Brown" is very common and
popular, representing all ordinary people. We can see that the hero is a common kind of naive young man and is full of hope in the world. In the novel, Hawthorne is told the story in the first person, wrote by the protagonist 's personal experience, which adds the sense of reality to
the story. At first, Goodman Brown thought his living place is a place
full of sunshine and without sin. The Faith of his are noble and eternal. And he really thinks that he can withstand the temptations of the devil when going to the devil's party. But in the way he went to the devil's covenant, he met the teacher who taught him when he was a little boy. He also saw the town priest and Deacon Gookin. His confidence shaken and begins to question his faith. Until the last, he arrived at the meeting place and saw the whole town is there. They are servants of the demon. The crowd are imposing governor, the priest, Deacon Gookin, even his
pure wife. his hopes and dreams are completely broken after seeing it
all and his faith has collapsed. Thus, the author introduces the theme
of the story, "what kind of the good left in the world; sin is nothing
but empty names." "Evil is the human nature, evil is your only pleasure." Young Goodman Brown is one of the most typical symbolic role
in the novel and his name is irony and provide much material for thought.
Another typical character in novel is Goodman Brown's wife Faith. If literal translated, the name "Faith" means "loyalty", "faith" or "religious belief". Obviously, Hawthorne gave the hero’s wife such a name is in purpose. On one hand, the name
"Faith" reflected the particular impression of Goodman Brown's wife and her personal virtue -- pure and loyal and can assure confidence. As the novel mentioned "Faith, as this name for her is proper ...... , is a blessed angel". On the other hand this name also represents the hero of Goodman Brown's religious beliefs. The story begins that
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Goodman Brown had to leave his wife Faith to go to the forest. This actually means he must temporarily abandon his Puritan religion to go to the devil's covenant. When Goodman Brown entered the forest to the
devil's covenant, he explained "Faith delay me for a while" when he met the first companions. This sentence has two layers of meaning: one is that his newlywed wife Faith was not comfortable for Goodman Brown's traveling and he was delayed by some time. Another layer is Goodman Brown's good faith in religion accounted for his shilly-shally late. As the story deeply develops, Goodman Brown found his wife was also on the scene in the devil's party. He tried to shout, but Faith ignored him. So Goodman Brown exclaimed that "my Faith has gone too!" which was the turning point of the story. As a stark contrast to the beginning of the novel, Goodman Brown temporarily left his wife and at the same time temporarily abandoned his religious beliefs to the devil's covenant at the start of the story. He is confident. "The kingdom of heaven about, Faith on the ground, I will not move or retreat to fight the devil." He believes that the world is full of beauty and loyalty. Finally in the
devil's party, Goodman Brown lost not only his wife, but also his faith which was all a lie and cannot withstand a single blow. It deepens the themes of the story: "evil is the human nature, evil is your only pleasure." So far, Goodman Brown saw the dark side of the world. Everyone has two sides, purity is on the surface of each person, but the devout heart is full of evil. This is also why Hawthorne designs the character Faith.
In addition to the two typical characters, the other characters also appeared in the story. One is the fellow traveler that companies Goodman Brown. The traveler has the same identity as Goodman Brown's and their appearances are similar. They share the same wearing and similar characteristic. The character Hawthorne created in the story is clearly a devil’s messenger. Because the traveler has an attractive thing – a
cane that is like a black snake. In Bible, the snake is seen as a symbol of the devil that tempted Eve eating the forbidden fruit. In the novel the man not only revealed all sorts of evil acts of his ancestors to Goodman Brown, but also lured shilly-shally Goodman Brown himself going to the devil's party. Another notable figure that needs to be mentioned is Goodman Brown’s teacher. It should be known that the teacher is
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represented the best of everything in the doctrine of Christian and the world. But as the story developed, the old lady full of doctrine in
the usual days is also going to the devil's party, which can further deepen the theme of the novels -- "the evil of human nature". Of course, it also reflects the writer Hawthorne’s ideal of original sin.
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4. The Original Sin Theme in the Novel
In Young Goodman Brown, the hero's heart filled with a guilt feeling and a sharp pain when Brown went on a journey to have a date with the devil. He thought of his pure and lovely wife Faith and even thought of two character – the imposing governor
and Deacon Gookin who his deeply respect admire. He realized that
his crime action of dating the devil will make him unable to face the governor and Deacon Gookin. He does not dare to imagine how he would face the pure governor in the Sabbath day and in the Lecture day. So, in the way there, Brown decided not to go to the guilty party again. At
this time, his companion had the presence of mind to say to him: "sit down and rest for a while! If you want to keep ahead, my cane can lend you a hand." After saying these words, he immediately disappeared in the deep darkness. Brown sat by the roadside for minutes, feeling this decision was remarkable. He will not feel any shame to face the governor when having a walk in the morning. He should not examine oneself to face Deacon Gookin, and also he does not have to escape from my own teaching teacher in the daylight. He can now go back in her wife's arms and have a sweet sleep right ahead. When embraced in the pleasure and the
commendable imagination, Brown suddenly heard the road resound the sound of hoofs, and hide in the forest and to watch what was going on. Later he found it is not others people but the governor and Deacon Gookin and he overheard a conversation of them clearly. He heard Deacon Gookin said to the governor that he would rather give up to the governor ordination dinner than miss tonight’s party with the devil. And the governor thinks the same as Deacon Gookin that he is willingly go faster. The most important thing is to get to the meeting place as soon as possible. This scene in front caused Brown extreme shock and depressed. He watches the sky and prays with hands raised. At that time, a big cloud passed over the top of the mountain. And he indistinctly heard the voice of someone urged his wife Faith to be rush from the noisy of a group of invisible saint and sinners. When he came back from the shock, the cloud has
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gradually faded away and the noisy disappears too. A pink belt fell down the serene sky. And it was his wife Faith’s ribbons. Brown catches and hold it in hands. He was
sure of his pure honey wife also took part in the evil party. He was in despair and shouts with all thoughts are blasted: "There is no good on earth. Sin is but a name. Come, devi1; for to thee is this world given." At that point, writers in the his works reflected the world with "consciousness of original sin" that everyone’s guilty based
on the description of words and deeds of the hero in his works, which makes all of author's theme prominent.
Hawthorne boils down many real-life problems to "sinful human nature". In his view, all the bad behavior of the social life, the contradiction between person and person, the phenomen of crime do not have their roots in social reality life, but in the inherent "evil".
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5. Conclusion
As all outstanding novelist and short story writer, Hawthorne is always a man of Paradoxes: "Our Hawthome is a figure not so much of ambiguity as of paradox and profound contradiction: a public recluse, openly and even sociably proclaiming his
own isolation and alienation--a mild rebel, at once a conformist to the literary and
social pieties of his day and an ironic undermine of these pieties."(Elliot 413)(
Young Goodman Brown tell us the growth experience of a simple-hearted person end up a person who understands the hidden evil of human nature. The mystery and dark images are in the whole story. This not only embodies that Hawthorne was deeply influenced by thoughts of Puritanism and contradictory thoughts of transcendentalist philosophy, but also reflects the tendency of creation and writing style of Hawthorne. It is because these obscure mystical tendencies can it
attracts readers to explore the deep psychological characters and the deep philosophy behind the theme.
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Acknowledgements
This thesis would not have been completed without the help of my teacher,QinDandan, who has devoted her precious time to making enlightening comments on my each writing stage, and who has provided me with valuable guidance and assistance in completing this thesis.
I am also very grateful to all the teachers who have given in-depth academic courses to me this year, without which my undergraduate study could not have been achieved. And, finally, I would like to thank my parents for their unconditional love, for being my most ardent supporters, and for their belief in my ability to accomplish whatever I dedicate.
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