Watermarks A Fork in the Road by Beth Heath

"Young Goodman Brown," a story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, should be interpreted on a psychoanalytical level rather than a religious one. It is my observation that "Young Goodman Brown" may very well be the first published work alluding to divisions of the mind and personality theory. Although religion is a direct theme throughout the story, "Young Goodman Brown" appears to be an allegory with deeper meanings.

To explore properly my position concerning the dynamics of "Young Goodman Brown," it is necessary to understand Freud's structural model. The development of Freud's structural model presents an understanding of the struggles between the conscious and unconscious forces of the mind. The structural model indicates three powerful forces that dictate conscious behavior, or binders of reality. These three forces consist of the id, superego, and ego.

When Young Goodman Brown begins his journey down the path of the haunted forest, he quickly meets a fellow-traveler that I interpret as the irrational guide lurking inside himself. The guide repeatedly urges Goodman Brown to continue the errand despite Brown's overwhelming reluctance; he assures him that "[W]e are but a little way in the forest yet" (Hawthorne 274). The traveler demonstrates a subconscious part of the psyche called the id. The id is that part of the psyche that is driven by pleasure and irrational wishing. The guide's insistence never seems to be in Brown's best interest.

The traveler's motive was to do what feels good at the time, not putting into account any potential ramification that could result, which in this story turns out to be the loss of Goodman Brown's wife, Faith. His reckless behavior is apparent when we learn, "[T]he elder traveler had listened with due gravity, but now burst into a fit of irrepressible mirth, shaking himself so violently..." (Hawthorne 274). The pleasure-seeking id is clearly dominating its control over the superego.

Another part of the psyche that is critical in controlling the impulses of the id is called the superego. With the superego our innate tendencies of the id are properly restrained. When Goodman Brown questions the traveler's advice to continue the journey, he is allowing his superego to take charge. This is shown when he confidently declares, "I have scruples, touching the matter thou wot'st of" (Hawthorne 274). Goodman Brown also shows signs of his fighting superego when he firmly asserts, "My mind is made up. Not another step will I budge on this errand..." (Hawthorne 276). In the story, Brown is frequently stopping and reconsidering his commitment to the traveler, which is comparable to what an id and superego would do. The superego focuses on moral standards to justify decisions. An example of this is when "Goodman Brown sat himself down at the stump of a tree and refused to go any farther" (Hawthorne 276). For Goodman Brown to stop this way, his superego must have had just enough doubt to cause him to want to stop in his tracks.

The staff, which is fashioned from a maple branch by the guide, can be interpreted as a symbolic link. This link connects the dark, inner forces (the id) with the higher, rational forces that govern our benevolence (the superego). When Goodman Brown states that he will go no further, the guide offers this staff to give Brown the strength to continue his mischievous quest through the forest.

Another part of the psyche rationalizes thought between the id and the superego; this mediator is called the ego. The ego's purpose is to suppress the impulses of the pleasure-seeking id and the high standards of the superego. It balances the two powerful forces that drive our unconscious thoughts every day. Faith, Goodman Brown's wife, besides an obvious allegory, has a more substantial meaning in the story. I interpret Faith as that mediator between the id (the traveler) and the superego (Goodman Brown). She transmits her position subtly with "Then God bless you!... and may you find all well, when you come back" (Hawthorne 273). I interpret the pink ribbons to be a symbol of the id (red) and the superego (white), and Faith holding the ribbons presents her authority to balance the two (the ego's function), which mixed together produce pink.

After Goodman Brown overhears the reverend and Deacon Gookin, also traveling through the forest to attend the mischievous event about to take place, he looks up at the starry nighttime sky and begins to wonder if Heaven really does exist above him. Once again, Goodman Brown stands up to evil: "[W]ith Heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!" (Hawthorne 277). Again, Faith intervenes and convinces his higher conscious (the superego) to override his dark, primitive subconscious (the id).

Gazing up at the sky and beginning to pray, Goodman Brown notices that an ominous black cloud looms across the sky in a quick fashion. He hears familiar voices emanating from the cloud, including his Faith. She appears to be expressing grief by mourning and weeping before the unseen multitude. In an instant, the cloud disappears, taking with it the voices that fade into the distance. And down from the sky falls a pink ribbon, which Goodman Brown seizes as it catches on a tree branch. "'My Faith is gone!' cried he, after one stupefied moment. 'There is no good on earth, and sin is but a name. Come, devil! for to thee is this world given'" (Hawthorne 277). It appears that the id has finally won over the superego, and the ego is gone, leaving only a pink ribbon for him to grasp.

Again, using the staff he received from the guide, his dark, sinister subconscious comes into full being as he blazes through the forest to his final destination. Goodman Brown is far more hideous than all of the other frightening horrors lurking in the dark forest. Finally, Goodman Brown's quest ends and he finds himself at a witches' Sabbath. All of the townspeople and church congregation are present. It seems that Goodman Brown and Faith are to be converted into this communion of evil. The rituals proceed: "Herein did the Shape of Evil dip his hand, and prepare to lay the mark of baptism upon their foreheads, that they might be partakers of the mystery of sin, more conscious of the secret guilt of others, both in deed and thought, than they could now be of their own" (Hawthorne 280). This could very well be the ultimate desire of the primitive id.

In desperation, Goodman Brown finds inner strength and good appears to triumph over evil as he shouts "Faith! Faith! Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!" (Hawthorne 280). In an instant, he finds himself alone in the forest, a roaring wind giving way to calm and solitude.

To the reader, Goodman Brown appears to be dreaming throughout his adventure. But the reader must also understand that his moral subconscious is very alert and active. As Richard C. Carpenter, professor of English at Bowling Green State University, writes, "Essentially, Brown is living in solipsism, the projection of his own tortured doubt and loss of faith. His quest is into the depths of his soul, given the symbolic realization in the figures he sees and hears in the wilderness..." (Carpenter 51).

At the end of the story, Goodman Brown looks at the townspeople with contempt and disgust. He does not treat Faith with the same closeness and affection that we see in the beginning of the story. Perhaps Faith, as well as himself, lost her innocence at the witches' Sabbath:

Goodman Brown decided to explore the depths of human darkness, and in doing so, becomes fallen with knowledge of good and evil, "[f]or his dying hour was gloom" (Hawthorne 280).

An article, which I found in an American Literature reference book, reinforces my interpretation regarding Hawthorne's literary work. This article entertains the notion that there is a psychological aspect to Hawthorne's short story. Paul Hurley, from Southern Illinois University, writes, "The suggestions that we are primarily concerned with the character of Goodman Brown, with some secret concerning his mind and heart, become stronger as he journeys into the forest, which functions as a symbol of withdrawal into oneself" (Hurley 412-3). This article strengthens my claim that Hawthorne's work contains more psychoanalytical meanings than it ever received credit for.

In Salem, Mass. 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown" was published in New England Magazine. Ironically, Hawthorne's story was published almost a century prior to Freud's theory of personality. In 1914 Freud first mentioned the ego ideal. This means, "[I]f one uses conventional standards, [Freud] wrote, one will have to say that the 'higher' one rises in the scale of mental activity, the closer one should approach consciousness" (Gay 414). Then in 1923, he published the "The Ego and the Id; a final structural theory."

Although there had been previous attempts to explain the divisions of the mind, Freud's newly published work changed the scientific community forever:

This idea suggests that perhaps Hawthorne's literary intentions are too vague. One aspect that makes Hawthorne's fiction so outstanding is the fact that he leaves the meaning open to interpretation for future generations. "Young Goodman Brown" is a dynamic piece that takes readers down different paths each time they experience it. Hawthorne chooses to imply his ideas rather than produce an academic text in psychology.

Goodman Brown teaches us that the decisions we make have a basic framework that can be followed. This means that each divisional part of the mind has a necessary function. For example, the function of the id is to pleasure-seek, the function of the superego is to control those innate tendencies of the id, and the ego functions as a rational balancing of the two. Walter J. Paulits, from La Salle College, explains, "Ambivalence is concerned with opposed feelings within the same person when confronted with a value or values. 'Young Goodman Brown' does employ ambiguity but, I think, in the service of a more pervasive theme of ambivalence" (Paulits 578).

Although "Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published some one hundred and sixty six years ago, it yields a wealth of insights into the psychoanalytical aspects of the mind. All of the elements of Freud's structural theory of the divisions of the mind may be found within Hawthorne's story. If the reader will only look past its literal interpretation and explore the rich symbols and hidden meanings laden throughout the text, she or he will be rewarded with a work of fiction that was way before its time.

Carpenter, Richard. "Hawthorne's Polar Explorations: Young Goodman Brown and My Kinsman, Major Molineux." Nineteenth Century Fiction 24 (1969): 45-56.

Gay, Peter. Freud: A Life for Our Time. New York: Doubleday, 1989.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw & Hill, 1998. 272-280.

Hurley, Paul. "Young Goodman Brown's 'Heart of Darkness.'" American Literature 37 (1966): 410-419.

Paulits, Walter. "Ambivalence in 'Young Goodman Brown.'" American Literature 41 (1970): 577-584.

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