Real or Imagined?

There are many stories that conclude with the protagonist awaking from a dream to find that all that had just happened was simply a dream. Similarly, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” ends by having the audience question whether everything that took place in the story actually happened or whether goodman Brown simply dreamt of his venture into the forest. However, this must be a dream because it is simply too far-fetched to be reality.

Hawthorne’s ending leaves the audience wondering whether all of the town’s people are consciously or unconsciously hiding their true selves from one another. For the protagonist, goodman Brown, the question of whether this is a dream or not is irrelevant because he can never see the town’s people nor his family in the same light he saw them before this incident. However, it is important to the story because it determines whether it is goodman Brown or the people of his town that are insane.

After this night, goodman Brown never acts the same towards others. His life is ruined by what is evidently a dream of some sort. What makes this a dream is the fantastical elements of the tale. Many of his acquaintances make the same venture as he does into a dark forest to witness a wedding-like ceremony to welcome goodman Brown and his wife into a life of sin. Although this may be what he feels it is like to ignore his faith this cannot be a real event. It is also important that none of the people who come to witness recall the event or mention it afterward. Every other event in the story outside of this night could happen in reality but all that occurs on goodman Brown’s venture into the forest is surreal.

After this night goodman Brown is unable to see people as he did before and so this dream has as much effect upon him as any real life event. Therefore, to goodman Brown this is as real as anything in his life. For him this is reality. For the reader this is an impossible event. Therefore, goodman Brown loses his healthy mental state to nothing more than a vision.