Young Goodman Brown could have been dreaming or awake. The answer doesn't affect the outcome of the story or anything that happened. Goodman Brown's new point of view and decisions are still the same either way. Hawthorne left this question open to the readers because it didn't make a difference to what happened to Goodman Brown. He would still think and act the same way he would if he was dreaming or awake.
You can read this story on the Web Link to the left.
The story starts and ends in the colonial village of Salem, Massachusetts. But Goodman Brown ventures out into the forest for the middle section of the story.
The Devil himself.
It ruins his hope for salvation and his good attitude about everyone in general.
It is left ambiguous in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" whether Brown's experience with evil in the forest is real or a dream. The story purposefully blurs the line between reality and imagination, leaving interpretation open to readers.
Young Goodman Brown was the eponymous character in a much-anthologized short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Presumably, he was called "Young Goodman Brown" in the story (rather than "Old Goodman Brown") because, as he was portrayed in the story, he was simply young rather than old. It is interesting to note that "young" is merely an adjective here, so one would expect that in the natural course of events "Young Goodman Brown" would eventually become "Old Goodman Brown."On the other hand, "Goodman" is his Christian name (or as it is now called, his first name, or forename). Goodman is the sort of name sometimes called an aptronym, that is, a name suited to its bearer---or perhaps a name which Goodman Brown's parents hoped would eventually describe him. Hawthorne set his story in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s, and as we know, the Puritans were much given to aptronyms for their children, sometime (for example) naming their children after virtues, such as Chastity, Charity Prudence and Patience.Of course, there is the possibility that "Young" is used here in the same way we would use "Junior" today. In that case, Young Goodman Brown's father would have been (presumably) Old Goodman Brown.
The resolution to Young Goodman Brown doesn't really fit the definition of the word as the crisis hasn't been resolved, rather it is worsened. Young Goodman Brown has been scared with the impression that all humans are inherently evil, to a great degree, and he can no longer deal with people on a 'friendly' basis. The last line of the story is '...and his dying hour was horror'.
Is a short story that delves into the relative nature of of right and wrong.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown,' the narrative begins in third person limited. As the story progresses the third person shifts to omniscient. The story then continues under this very limited narration until the end of the story, when the perspective once more broadens.
At the beginning of the story he has copious faith in the goodness of the townspeople and especially in Faith his fiancee. Thinking to ride the wings of her goodness to heaven. At the end of the story however he has lost all that faith and believe everybody to be be evil within.
The devil takes the form of a older man with a walking stick shaped like a snake. This is from the story Young Goodman Brown written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The narrator never seems to enter at a certain point; rather, he is omniscient throughout the entire story.