Realism vs. Romanticism in Hawthornes Young Goodman...

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic tale â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† is a good example of a short story embodying both characteristics of realism and characteristics of romanticism. M. H. Abrams defines romantic themes in prominent writers of this school in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as being five in number: (1) innovations in the materials, forms and style; (2) that the work involve a â€Å"spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings†; (3) that external nature be a persistent subject with a â€Å"sensuous nuance† and accuracy in its description; (4) that the reader be invited to identify the protagonist with the author himself; and (5) that this be an age of â€Å"new beginnings and high possibilities† for the person (177-79).†¦show more content†¦Well; shes a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night, Ill cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven. With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. After Deacon Gookin and the minister had passed by, the reader feels the very feelings of Brown: Whither, then, could these holy men be journeying, so deep into the heathen wilderness? Young Goodman Brown caught hold of a tree, for support, being ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburthened with the heavy sickness of his heart. He looked up to the sky, doubting whether there really was a Heaven above him. Secondly, â€Å"a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings† is Abrams’ next criterion for romantic writing. And for a certainty there is considerably much of this in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† especially as the climax approaches. Faith! shouted Goodman Brown, in a voice of agony and desperation; and the echoes of the forest mocked him, crying- Faith! Faith! as if bewildered wretches were seeking her, all through the wilderness. The cry of grief, rage, and terror, was yet piercing the night, when the unhappy husband held his breath for a response. . . .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. And