Below are three short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne that will be read in class in addition to The Scarlet Letter. If you click on the title, the story's text will come up in an additional window. Below the title are short summaries of each.
Young Goodman Brown
The story begins at dusk in Salem, Massachusetts, as young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife of three months, for an unknown errand in the forest. Faith pleads with her husband to stay with her, but he insists that the journey must be completed that night. In the forest he meets an older man, dressed in a similar manner and bearing a physical resemblance to himself. The man carries a black serpent-shaped staff. The two encounter Goody Cloyse in the woods, who complains about the need to walk and, evidently friendly with the stranger, accepts his snake staff and flies away to her destination.
Other townspeople inhabit the woods that night, traveling in the same direction as Goodman Brown. When he hears his wife's voice in the trees, he calls out but is not answered. He then seems to fly through the forest, using a maple staff the stranger fashioned for him, arriving at a clearing at midnight to find all the townspeople assembled. At the ceremony (which may be a witches' sabbath) carried out at a flame-lit rocky altar, the newest converts are brought forth—Goodman Brown and Faith. They are the only two of the townspeople not yet initiated to the forest rite. Goodman Brown calls to heaven to resist and instantly the scene vanishes.
Arriving back at his home in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain whether the previous night's events were real or a dream, but he is deeply shaken, and his belief he lives in a Christian community is distorted. He loses his faith in his wife, along with all of humanity. He lives his life an embittered and suspicious cynic, wary of everyone around him. The story concludes: "And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave...they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom."
Other townspeople inhabit the woods that night, traveling in the same direction as Goodman Brown. When he hears his wife's voice in the trees, he calls out but is not answered. He then seems to fly through the forest, using a maple staff the stranger fashioned for him, arriving at a clearing at midnight to find all the townspeople assembled. At the ceremony (which may be a witches' sabbath) carried out at a flame-lit rocky altar, the newest converts are brought forth—Goodman Brown and Faith. They are the only two of the townspeople not yet initiated to the forest rite. Goodman Brown calls to heaven to resist and instantly the scene vanishes.
Arriving back at his home in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain whether the previous night's events were real or a dream, but he is deeply shaken, and his belief he lives in a Christian community is distorted. He loses his faith in his wife, along with all of humanity. He lives his life an embittered and suspicious cynic, wary of everyone around him. The story concludes: "And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave...they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom."
The Birthmark
Aylmer is a brilliant scientist and philosopher who has abandoned his career and experiments to marry the beautiful Georgiana, who is physically perfect except for a small red birthmark in the shape of a hand on her cheek.
As the story continues, Aylmer becomes obsessed with the birth mark on Georgiana's cheek. One night, he dreams of cutting the birth mark out of his wife's cheek and then continuing all the way to her heart. He does not remember this dream until Georgiana inquires about what his sleep-talking meant. When Aylmer remembers the details of his dream, Georgiana declares that she would risk her life having the birth mark removed from her cheek rather than continue to endure Aylmer's horror.
As the story continues, Aylmer becomes obsessed with the birth mark on Georgiana's cheek. One night, he dreams of cutting the birth mark out of his wife's cheek and then continuing all the way to her heart. He does not remember this dream until Georgiana inquires about what his sleep-talking meant. When Aylmer remembers the details of his dream, Georgiana declares that she would risk her life having the birth mark removed from her cheek rather than continue to endure Aylmer's horror.
The Minister's Black Veil
The opening of “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents a setting that seems, from first perception, to be an idealized portrait of how one might imagine life in early America. There is a crowd gathered on the porch of the Milford meeting house comprised of all of the society’s elements from children in their Sunday best and “spruce bachelors” admiring maidens in the sunshine. This picturesque scene is interrupted, however, when the sexton sees Parson Hooper emerge as the bell ceases its tolling. He has something covering his face and the sexton’s exclamation causes the citizens to turn around to discover what the hubbub is about.
At this point the narrator describes the man, Mr. Hooper, as a clerically-dressed (in proper religious attire suiting his position) man around the age of 30. There is, in fact, nothing different about this man except for the object which prompts a number of uncomfortable responses from his parishioners, which is the black veil that obscures most of his face. This veil, which appears to be rather thick, “probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things” and interestingly, despite the presence of the veil that so confuses and frightens those in his community, he seems to be behaving in his normal reserved and austere manner.
The mysterious appearance of the veil on the face of this highly respected preacher obviously causes a great stir and some women of “delicate nerves” are so disturbed by it that they get up and leave the meeting house during his sermon. Interestingly, the new presence of the veil also marks a new topic for the preacher, Mr. Hooper, to address. The subject of the sermon is secret sin and “those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them.”
At this point the narrator describes the man, Mr. Hooper, as a clerically-dressed (in proper religious attire suiting his position) man around the age of 30. There is, in fact, nothing different about this man except for the object which prompts a number of uncomfortable responses from his parishioners, which is the black veil that obscures most of his face. This veil, which appears to be rather thick, “probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things” and interestingly, despite the presence of the veil that so confuses and frightens those in his community, he seems to be behaving in his normal reserved and austere manner.
The mysterious appearance of the veil on the face of this highly respected preacher obviously causes a great stir and some women of “delicate nerves” are so disturbed by it that they get up and leave the meeting house during his sermon. Interestingly, the new presence of the veil also marks a new topic for the preacher, Mr. Hooper, to address. The subject of the sermon is secret sin and “those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them.”
Considerations For Critical Thinking and Writing:
1. FIRST RESPONSE. Why do you think Hooper wears the veil? Explain whether you think Hooper is right or wrong to wear it.
2. Describe the veil Hooper wears. How does it affect his vision?
3. Characterize the townspeople. How does the community react to the veil?
4.What is Hooper's explanation for why he wears the veil? Is he more or less effective as a minister because he wears it?
5. What is the one feature of Hooper's face we see? What does that feature reveal about him?
6. Describe what happens at the funeral and wedding ceremonies at which Hooper officiates. How are the incidents of these events organized around the veil?
7. Why does Elizabeth think "it should be her privilege to know what the black veil concealed" (para 25)? Why doesn't Hooper remove it at her request?
8. How does Elizabeth react to Hooper's refusal to take of the veil? Why is her response especially significant?
9. Ho do others in town explain why Hooper wears the veil? Do these explanations seem adequate to you? Why or why not?
10. Why is Hooper buried with the veil? Of what significance is it that grass "withered" on his grave (para 59)?
11. Describe the story's point of view. How would a first-person narrative change the story dramatically?