Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown and History Essay

â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† and History Q. D. Leavis states that â€Å"perhaps the persecuting aspect of their way of life was peculiarly present to Hawthorne because of the witch-hanging judge and the Quaker-whipping Major among his ancestors† (30). This is a reference to one instance of historical allusion in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† This essay will explore a variety of historical incidences referred to in this short story. Clarice Swisher in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography† states: William Hathorne was a colonial magistrate involved in the persecution of Quakers, another Protestant religious group. Hawthorne later described him as â€Å"grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and†¦show more content†¦And it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philips War. They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight. Notice the allusion to the historical episode from Hawthorne’s life mentioned by Leavis and Swisher above. In addition to the Quaker incident from the author’s past, there is also the tragedy of the witch-hanging judge in his past, also mentioned by Leavis and Swisher above. Wagenknecht states in Nathaniel Hawthorne that, of the three Salem women mentioned in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† two of these were hanged; all three were accused in 1692 (60). Wagenknecht continues: â€Å"When the devil speaks of his intimacy with Brown’s ancestors and of their cruelty toward Quakers and Indians, Hawthorne is clearly thinking of his own forbears† (60). Thus it is seen that the historicity of these short story episodes is well established. A proper, accurate interpretation of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† depends on the reader’s knowledge of an historical occurrence from June of 1692, when a group of important Boston clergymen issued a statement which declared that it was â€Å"an undoubted and notorious thing, that a demon may, by God’s permission, appear, even to ill purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, and a virtuous man† (60). The parallel to this historic declaration is found inShow MoreRelated Morality and Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay1146 Words   |  5 PagesYoung Goodman Brown was published in 1835, when Nathaniel Hawthorne was 31 years old. Hawthorne was born and reared in Salem, Massachusetts, a village still permeated by its 17th century Puritanism. When he was four, Hawthornes father   died, and from that point on he was surrounded mostly by females: two sisters, a maiden aunt, and a retiring mother who was not close to her children. 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