2霍桑《年輕的布朗大爺》──掙脫人性枷鎖之浪漫主義大師
小說特徵
人本、反清教、善與惡之對立
There is evil in every human heart, which may retain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity.
-Nathaniel Hawthorne
每一個人的內心都有邪惡，也許會潛伏一生，也可能有被喚醒行動的時候。
──納撒尼爾‧霍桑
作者短評
納撒尼爾‧霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne），1804年，出生於美國麻塞諸塞州賽倫（Salem），全鎮充滿濃厚之清教氣息，霍桑全家皆為清教徒（Puritans），教條生活的一成不變，使霍桑作品充滿反抗清教意識。
清教徒重視道德與努力工作，一切以教義為尊，壓制人心，這也是何以清教思想總予美國人一股愛、憎交雜的情緒，愛的是它堅毅執著的宗教情懷，孕育出美國人民傳統的理想性格；憎的也是他一絲不茍，不容挑戰的價值權威，將人性束縛在他如鋼鐵般的宗教紀律之中。清教徒排斥感情，崇尚禁慾簡樸，以教義為生活指導，不但迫害異己，甚至連婦女在街上微笑都要處以監禁，兒童嬉戲也要加以鞭笞，採取的是政教合一的神道政權形式，霍桑家族先後在迫害桂格（Quaker）教派的「獵巫案」（witch hunting）中扮演過不光彩的角色，家族的這一段歷史使長大成人後的霍桑在心理上始終懷有愧罪感，清教主義的幽暗背景，於人性和心靈的壓制和摧殘，對霍桑的思想及創作皆產生了極大的影響，被譽為美國十九世紀最具影響的浪漫主義小說家。
1842年，霍桑移居康考特（Concord），結識了美國本土版的浪漫主義――「超越主義」（Transcendentalism）作家如：愛默生、梅爾維爾、梭羅等人，「超越主義」作家由於對人性有更高信心，加以康考特休正處清教大本營新英格蘭的麻州，這使喀爾文清教思想（Calvinist Puritanism），勢所難免地成了超越文學作家首當其衝的挑戰。文學創作上，超越主義也的確針對清教思想於個人自由的壓抑，莫不口誅筆伐，相信人格一如神格，可止於至善；這使霍桑一度參加烏托邦式布魯克農場（Brook Farm）的生活實驗。
霍桑抨擊清教的食古不化和教會虛偽，慣用象徵手法，揭示人物內心衝突和心理描寫，作品往往帶有濃厚的宗教氣氛和神祕色彩，霍桑和愛倫‧坡一樣喜好運用一些超自然的元素，並且同樣具有美學而不是宗教的基礎，但不同愛倫‧坡小說上強調「恐怖娛樂」的效果，霍桑總是更關注倫理和哲學方面的思考和探索，這就使他的作品總是蘊含着令人回味不盡的深邃哲理，故文學史家常把他列為浪漫主義作家，長篇小說《紅字》公認是霍桑最成功之作，塑造個人內心與外在（清教）價值的反抗與轉變，其探索之深入，文筆之洗鍊，媲美二十世紀初期的意識流小說，霍桑在美國文學史上的地位也更為確定。
南北戰爭爆發後，霍桑的身體每況愈下，1864年5月19日在美國新罕布夏州朴茨茅斯去世。他的墓碑隻簡單地由一塊普通的石頭做成，上面僅刻着他的姓氏：霍桑。
作品分析
美國人民基礎上是以清教價值立國。1620年，這批來自英國的清教徒，因見清除英國國教中天主教殘餘制度無望，乃搭乘「五月花號」（Mayflower），移民北美麻塞諸塞，希望建立一純粹基督徒社會的「新耶路撒冷」，從此被奉為美國最早祖先。
由於霍桑生長於清教徒的家庭，清教主義傳統對他影響很深，這種思想滲透到他的作品中，使他一方面擺脫不掉「原罪」、「贖罪」、「內省」和「命定」之類的清教教義，但又從家族的負罪感出發，反過來對清教的專制統治痛心疾首。因此，一方面他反抗這個傳統，抨擊清教狹隘、虛偽的教條；另一方面他又受這個傳統的束縛，以清教的善惡觀念來認識社會和整個世界，這也是他大部作品中滲透着「人本」和「原罪」的對立觀。霍桑的短篇小說《年輕的布朗大爺》正是揭露清教的虛偽，人人皆有的隱祕的罪惡，表達了人性是善與惡交纏的矛盾觀點，特別是其中有許多象徵的意涵，點出象徵技巧在文學作品的運用及重要性，被視為霍桑最佳典型的短篇小說。
故事敘及青年善士布朗在某日落時分，告別取名「信仰」（Faith）的妻子，離開所住的村莊，步入黑暗的森林中，途中遇見一帶著「蛇杖」（snake staff），象徵撒旦的旅人，不斷誘惑他參與一場魔鬼的聚會，所經歷一夜個人內心善與惡的交戰。文中的布朗基本就是霍桑本人的心境寫照，魔鬼撒旦在誘惑布朗時，其中，談到如何協助他祖父在「獵巫」運動中，虐殺桂格教派女子及燒殺印地安人，反射霍桑最引以為疚的個人家族歷史，布朗起先靠著「上天與妻子信仰」的支持下，抵抗邪惡對善的引誘：
“With heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!” cried Goodman Brown.
但當布朗發現全村的要人，包括他幼時讀經班老師，視同「精神與道德的導師」Goody Closse太太也赴會，最終，連妻子「信仰」竟也參與了魔鬼信徒的聚會，導致他信仰的崩潰，可見「如今世界已無善，只剩邪惡」：
“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.”
布朗走入黑暗又深不可測森林之旅的象徵意義，代表著其內心趨向罪惡的本質，雖然他在緊要關頭抗拒了撒旦的誘惑，但在第二天回到村莊後，這像夢境一般的魔鬼邪教聚會的遭遇，使布朗心靈卻再也沒有恢復平靜，他開始迴避妻子「信仰」，且不時想起那夜在森林中的魔鬼頌歌，最後抑鬱而終。至於小說看完後的兩大疑問：這到底是一場夢境？妻子「信仰」最後是否抵抗了魔鬼的誘惑？反都不具太大意義。
文選閱讀
Young Goodman Brown
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street at Salem village; but put his head back, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown.
“Dearest heart,” whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, “prithee (please) put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she’s afeard of herself sometimes. Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year.”
“My love and my Faith,” replied young Goodman Brown, “of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey must needs be done ‘twixt (between) now and sunrise.
So they parted; and the young man pursued his way until, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons.
With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind. It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude…
“There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree,” said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added, “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!”
His head being turned back, he passed a crook of the road, and, looking forward again, beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree. He arose at Goodman Brown’s approach and walked onward side by side with him.
“You are late, Goodman Brown,” said he.
“Faith kept me back a while,” replied the young man, with a tremor in his voice, caused by the sudden appearance of his companion, though not wholly unexpected.
It was now deep dusk in the forest, and deepest in that part of it where these two were journeying. As nearly as could be discerned, the second traveler was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features. Still they might have been taken for father and son. And yet, though the elder person was as simply clad as the younger, and as simple in manner too. But the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent.
“Come, Goodman Brown,” cried his fellow-traveler, “this is a dull pace for the beginning of a journey. Take my staff, if you are so soon weary.”
“Too far! too far!” exclaimed the goodman, unconsciously resuming his walk. “My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept”
2024專利防護中