Faith Theme Comparison in Hawthorne and Donne
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A Maturity of Faith
Different people's understanding of what faith is can vary greatly. In the two works, "Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God, For You," by John Donne, and "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, both express a level of faith, but the two understandings seem drastically different. The poem by Donne expresses a Christian's desire to approach God and to submit more to his will, whereas the story by Hawthorne seems to portray a Christian who feels trapped and wants to run from his faith. Young Goodman Brown shows a faith in its early stages and how a lack of understanding can lead to its demise, the poem by Donne shows a process of surrendering to God after a faith has been firmly established.
In the story "Young Goodman Brown" Goodman represents faith in its infancy. "What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married!" Hawthorne writes in allegory in this story. His wife, Faith, symbolizes Goodman's faith and how long it has been since he has been a Christian. Since the marriage to Faith is allegorical as well, the union between him and Faith gives a clue that Goodman has only had his faith for three months. Typically when one learns something new in life, the first period is spent absorbing and gaining knowledge...