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Incisive and filled with profound commentaries about the human nature, Hawthorne’s works often skewer some of the most rigid and inflexible beliefs and standards of the time. The writer dissects the concept of Puritanism unbiasedly, allowing the reader to see the ridiculous nature of it. Making his characters question the very core of their beliefs in “The Birth Mark” and “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne outlines the absurd premise of Puritanism in his short stories.
The dire outcomes of the uncompromising stance that Puritanism takes on a number of issues, particularly, the issue of morality, is rendered perfectly in both Hawthorne’s stories. Specifically, in “The Birth Mark,” the young scientist’s Puritan condemnation of anything that represents nonconformity is represented not only as a flaw that prevents him from viewing his wife as a human being, unique and having agency of her own. The described contempt for anything that represents individuality and uniqueness can be seen in the lead character’s remark: “I am convinced of the perfect practicability of its removal” (Hawthorne “The Birth Mark” 697). Thus, disdain and even fear that the protagonist experiences toward his wife’s uniqueness and, perhaps, the wife herself as a unique person becomes evident.
A similar sentiment can be seen in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.’ Although the specified short story is based on an entirely different premise, the same level of hostility to anything that reaches beyond the ordinary is evident in the story. For instance, Brown’s loathing of the witches not as people that represent an evident threat but as those that embody the supernatural and the unknown, is portrayed with a sufficient amount of acrimony: “He shrank from the venerable saint, as if to avoid an anathema” (Hawthorne “The Young Goodman Brown” 677). Thus, Brown’s disgust at the events that transpire during the ostensible witches’ Sabbath is framed as questionable.
As a result, the scenario that would have been represented as an atrocious instance of breaking the Christian tradition in a typically Puritan narrative transforms into an almost mocking lens through which Brown’s misfortune is viewed: “Maddened with despair, so that he laughed loud and long” (Hawthorne “The Young Goodman Brown” 674). Thus, the tone that Hawthorne adopts is anything but sympathetic, which allows the author to ridicule the laughably ossified Puritan standards.
Thus, despite telling quite different stories, both “The Birth Mark” and “Young Goodman Brown” point at the same flaws of the Puritan faith. Outlining the problematic aspects of puritan values, the short stories sallow the reader to view the restrictions that Puritan thinking imposes on an individual. Therefore, both stories represent puritanism as a concept detached from reality completely and removing any agency or a chance for progress in its proponents.
By introducing his characters in “The Birth Mark” and “Young Goodman Brown” to the events that challenge their entire perception of reality and crush them emotionally, Hawthorne creates a metaphor for the dangerously naive premise of Puritanism as the set of values that cannot be upheld in a society without a massively negative outcome. Namely, Hawthorne demonstrates the harmful effects of the idea of future being predestined and people’s nature being inherently sinful and depraved.
Hawthorne’s stories warn about the dire outcomes of the specified mind frame, pointing to the likelihood of gradual descent into madness that the specified rigidity of thinking premises. Thus, both short stories serve not only as brilliant studies of the human nature but also as cautionary tales about the danger of unwavering capitulation to the Puritanism thought.
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birth Mark.” The Norton Anthology American Literature. Shorter 9th ed., Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 2017, pp. 694-702.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Young Goodman Brown.” The Norton Anthology American Literature. Shorter 9th ed., Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 2017, pp. 668-677.
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