Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
Bad Faith; Waking Dream; Living Nightmare: Narratological Ambiguity and the Puritan Imagination in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"1552 views
Author
Winzeler, Peter, English - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia
Advisors
Greeson, Jennifer, English, University of Virginia
Abstract
By studying the pattern and manipulation of narratological ambiguity in “Young Goodman Brown,” we learn about the sources and effects of that ambiguity. Hawthorne’s fascinating exploration of a “both/and” mode of thinking enables him to dramatize moral history by using ingenious aesthetic devices; the tale is both historical and aesthetic, exemplary of the twice-told and dialogical quality of his best writing. An unsuspecting man who strays into the forest, territory that the Puritans believed was haunted by the Devil, Brown experiences a waking dream, a living nightmare that impacts a whole lifetime.
Degree
MA (Master of Arts)
Rights
All rights reserved (no additional license for public reuse)
Winzeler, Peter. Bad Faith; Waking Dream; Living Nightmare: Narratological Ambiguity and the Puritan Imagination in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown". University of Virginia, English - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, MA (Master of Arts), 2015-04-30, https://doi.org/10.18130/V3937S.
