ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Goodman Brown grows old, dies, and is buried with “no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne 549). Hawthorne shows how the sin Goodman Brown followed for just one night followed him to his grave.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Fear of the Wilderness Goodman Brown, like other Puritans, associates the forest with the wild “Indians” and sees one hiding behind every tree. He believes that the devil could easily be present in such a place-and he eventually sees the devil himself, just as he had expected.

Detailed explanation-3: -As Goodman Brown approaches, he thinks he sees the shape of his dead father encouraging him forward and his dead mother warning him back. However, the minister and Deacon Gookin take his arms and lead him to the rock. Goodman Brown notices a veiled woman is also led there by Goody Cloyse. The figure welcomes them.

Detailed explanation-4: -Goodman Brown’s loss of innocence happens during a vivid nightmare in which he ventures into a dark forest and sees all of the people he had considered faithful in his life gathered around a fire at a witches’ conversion ceremony with the devil presiding from on high.