Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is a rich allegory of sexual repression. The main character can be analyzed to reveal that the story is more than a fight between good and bad.
The story opens with an image that shows Faith Brown, Brown’s wife. “The pink ribbons on her cap” are shown (Hawthorne, 67). The pink ribbons appear in the story many times. They are not just pretty hair ties. The ribbons are more than just a pretty thing to tie your hair with. They are pink to show their femininity. Brown is unable to escape the role of Puritan Husband because they are securing Faith’s locks. The ribbons, whether consciously or unconsciously, remind him that he is a man of faith.
Faith, Goodman Brown’s ‘pretty wife,’ whose hair is bound in pink ribbons, practically begs for him to stay home, saying that if he leaves, she would have “disturbing feelings” (67). Brown tells Faith, “Be a good girl, say your prayers, and go to bed.” (68). This allows him to maintain his ‘appointment,’ and avoid conflict. This is a way to get her back in a place that his masculine ego can accept. He does not have to acknowledge the sexual advances she has made. This could be a sign that he is unwilling to have normal sexual interactions because he believes they are sinful.
Goodman Brown learns about the sexuality of people from his forest experience. Brown’s view of the situation is strangely free of disgust. It would seem that Brown is rationalizing the repression of his sexuality, and thereby pacifying guilt feelings by projecting it onto the most respected townpeople. Brown’s insecurities have led him to think that Goody Cloughs, his catholic teacher, has vanished with Satan’s staff. Goody is also referred to as a “witch” to show the darker side of women which Brown’s superego cannot see.
Brown is likely to meet Satan in the woods, a figure that represents the possibility of fulfilling repressed wishes and unlocking the id. The Satan-like person reveals to Brown that he was friends with Browns’s ancestors. The man tries to assure Goodman Brown’s feelings that they are normal. The figure even recalls some unsavory actions of Brown’s ancestors, like whipping a Quaker women through the streets. Brown is not a role model for morality, as Satan contacts everyone he has ever admired, from the governor on up. This condition makes it impossible for him to continue to suppress his darker side by hero worship.
Another sexual symbol is the staff of Satan, “which was shaped like a large black snake”. (68). Goodman Brown disproves that he couldn’t keep his eyes off the man, who had a “remarkable Staff” by saying that it could be an ocular illusion caused by the uncertain light (69). Brown is encouraged by the mysterious figure to be uncertain by telling him, “You will see better things in time.” . . When Goodman Brown finally uses the staff, it’s “wet with morning dew” (71). Another sexual picture. The staff, which is described as “twisted”, and similar to “a living snake”, is similar to an image of a snake that encourages Adam to Eve to succumb to temptation in Eden’s Garden (68). The devil’s staff is tempting Brown into seeing his sexuality from a different perspective, which he can’t fully comprehend.
Goodman Brown is confronted by an image he interprets as his own mother. She tells him that the temptation will not be worth it (72). His unresolved Oedipus-complex is evident in his externalization of her as his conscience or the voice for good. It is obvious that his desire for his mother is subconscious when he engages in sexual activity with his mother.
The biggest shock was when Faiths revealed that she is part of this dark society. Brown declares “I’ve lost my faith” (73). He lost his faith in God, he lost his wife because of the evil forces, and now he’s forced to reevaluate how he views women. Hawthorne mentions pink ribbons again, which suggests that this third interpretation is most accurate. Now that the ribbons are gone, he is no longer bound to Faith.
The story concludes with an inscription on the tombstone that says “for he died in gloom,” hinting at his unhappy life. The reason for this was that he could never grasp the concept of sexuality. You could make the observation that his unhappiness was due to guilt from having given in to his desire as well as being forced by his Oedipal issues to face them.
