Moores writing in the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology explains that Brown goes off into the creepy woods to 'seek himself' and in doing so is seeking to locate 'his lost/unwanted parts, the psychic energies he keeps locked in the dungeon of the unconscious' (Moores, 2005, p. It seems every peer-reviewed article on Young Goodman Brown has a different theory or approach as to why he would do this D.J. He is a Puritan and has only recently married Faith, so why would he leave his beautiful bride and venture into the dark New England woods alone? That fact has intrigued critics and scholars for many years. Hawthorne set this short story in Salem, a place that is notorious for weirdness, darkness, hangings, paranoia about witches, and other unknown evils.

For this paper the focus will indeed be the theme and setting, how those elements contribute to the story, and why critics have explained the theme and setting in so many radically different ways. The ironies are powerful and obvious, and they contribute significantly to the themes. The story stands out as classic example of Hawthorne's talent at his craft, and the characters, the setting and the theme are extraordinarily interesting from many perspectives, and Hawthorne wrote it in such a way that it becomes a ghoulish nightmare, a devilish trek into the past. The short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne has been a saga of great interest to scholars, students, writers and ordinary readers, over the many years since it was published.

Nathaniel hawthorne young