Criticism of Young Goodman Brown

Review of Selected Criticism of "Young Goodman Brown" Kavis Fleming (VCU, 1995) Baym, Nina. "Thwarted Nature: Hawthorne as Feminist." Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Study of the Short Fiction. Edited by Nancy Bunge. New York: Twayne, 1993. This chapter looks at "Young Goodman Brown" from the perspective of the female characters. Baym notes that the protagonists, usually male, reject any sexual relationship with a woman, ordinarily the wife or fiancee (136). Usually, the rejection has a fatal effect on the …

…his journey by choice as opposed to Sylvy who feels compelled to find the home of the heron. Zanger refers to Brown as one of the "straw men" who never questions the devils provocations. He also notes that Brown finally resists the devil based on fear, not faith (354). Zanger accepts the existing conclusion that, in light of the numerous similarities and differences, Jewett wrote "A White Heron" as a response to Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown".