Religion in Hawthornes Stories

Religion like in much of history plays a major role in Nathanial Hawthorne’s stories. Hawthorne in many cases in his past was involved with religion including his ancestors being Puritans which is what caused Hawthorne to write about religion in the manner he did. He used religion as a tool to write his stories such as Young Goodman Brown and The Birthmark.

In The Birthmark Hawthorne uses Dr. Aylmer to represent a God figure in the story. Dr. Aylmer is married to a beautiful woman who is perfect except for a birthmark on her cheek which Dr. Aylmer describes as an “earthly imperfection.”(204).So Dr. Aylmer decided to change his wife and make her perfect. “As the last crimson tint of the birthmark-the sole token of human imperfection-faded from her cheek, the parting breath of now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere.”(219-220). Unlike God himself Dr. Aylmer isn’t perfect in the way he executes his experiments and ends up killing his wife. Using Dr. Aylmer as a Godlike figure Hawthorne introduced religion into a main part of the story. He pretty much stated that only God should have the power to make someone perfect.

Hawthorne also wrote about the Puritan religion in Young Goodman Brown. In Hawthorne’s family there were several Puritans who were part of the Salem witch trials. Because Hawthorne felt ashamed of his ancestors he depicts Puritans as fake in the story. In Young Goodman Brown, Brown goes for a walk in the woods with the devil. While walking through the woods Brown talks about how he shouldn’t be with the devil because he lived a Puritan life in a society filled with Puritans. Little did he know that many of the people from his Puritan society were also traveling through the woods to a sadistic ritual. “Among them quivering to and fro between gloom and splendor appeared faces that would be seen the next day at the council board of the province and others which Sabbath after Sabbath looked devoutly heavenwards.”(96). After seeing how fake the Puritans truly were Brown lost faith in his religion and lived a lonely and unhappy life until he died. Because of his ancestors Hawthorne used Puritans as fakes to set up his story.

In Young Goodman Brown Hawthorne also used the Christian religion as a basis for his story. Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown can also be seen as the story of Adam and Eve because Brown lived in a peaceful