“Young Goodman Brown” by Hawthorne and “Rip Van Winkle” by Irving
Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of the novel known as Young Goodman Brown, while Washington Irving is the writer of Rip Van Winkle. For both books, the authors are attempting to incentivize readers with something like a tale of identity in the wilds. Nathaniel Hawthorne sends his protagonist into the forest, abandoning his loyal wife. Rip, played by Irving, is trying to flee his gloomy world inside the forest in hopes of finding a better place. The scenario is exceptionally distinct for Hawthorne’s Goodman Brown than it is for Rip Van Winkle. Most of his town’s residents summon Goodman Brown to a nefarious ritual when he walks forward into the woods (Anggraeni 50). He is seduced and tricked into attending the wicked ceremony to which he had objected. He saw his spouse and discovered her pink ribbon drop around on a limb next to him after hearing a female scream somewhere within the forest. He sees his loyal wife becoming a fresh believer during the event. Goodman brown had a supernatural encounter that was more spiritual.
Out of nowhere, Young Goodman Brown awakens amid the woods, as if it had all been a hallucination. He walked into the jungle, looking for anything besides his existence. Several people appeared to him, although they were some imagined personalities inside his thoughts rather than actual humans. He had slept for two decades, and then he woke up to find himself in an entirely different place. Even after that dream, Goodman Brown vows to never look at anybody else the same way he used to do before; thus, he remained paranoid throughout his lifetime.
Rip Van Winkle, on the one hand, awoke after his rest and returned to his hometown. But it seemed more like the village that the mind had always wished he would find. He joined his thought of existence, escaping the anxieties and tension of the past. Rip Van Winkle and Goodman Brown are interesting in their different aspects and demonstrates individuality at the most basic level. They are constantly concerned about how their environment changes them, and everything that irritates people gets discarded.
On the other hand, Goodman Brown comes back to his realities while drawing on his thought of actuality. This has an impact on his outlook on the world. His present state in society is so corrupted that he will be in excruciating pain for as long as he exists. Consequently, Rip Van Winkle sets off searching for a better world that he had wished to find (Arnott et al. 5). He had been so dissatisfied with the demands made and preferred to lose his spouse instead of conforming with her one more day. These individuals, Goodman brown and Rip Van Winkle, go through entirely different transformations in their lives. Still, they are both centered in their feelings, sentiments, and behaviors, and therefore, represent sentimentality at its most basic level.
Young Goodman brown culminates in the transformation, not only less attractive but also less Rip Van Winkle-like. Young Goodman Brown lacks trust in himself and humanity, making the remaining time of his existence unpleasant and, one might argue, unworthy of living. Rip remains essentially the same slacker he was before the revolt, and a few people have praised him for his actions. He seems not to have any regrets for cutting ties with his family’s upbringing and other things. However, these tales take a unique and different approach to transformation, as demonstrated by Young Goodman Brown whose author is Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Works Cited
Anggraeni, Niken. “Hawthorne’s attitudes toward his ancestors’ religious belief as reflected in “Young Goodman Brown””. Journal of English and Education, vol 2, no. 1, 2016, pp. 45-53. Universitas Islam Indonesia (Islamic University of Indonesia), Web.
Arnott, Robert D et al. “Practical applications of Rip Van Winkle indexing”. Practical Applications, vol 3, no. 3, 2016, pp. 1.5-5. Pageant Media US, Web.