Use of darkness and light by Melville, Poe and HawthorneMelville, Poe and Hawthorne all tend to focus on the darker side of humanity in their writings. In order to allow their readers to better understand their opinions, they often resort to symbolism. Often these symbols take the form of darkness and light appearing throughout the story at appropriate times. A reader might wonder how light works in stories and what it prompts the reader to consider. If we look closely at these appearances of light, or more likely the lack of it, we can gain insight into what these “subversive romantics” see as the truth of humanity. Hawthorne uses this technique to the fullest; however, this is also very evident in the stories of Poe and Melville. All of these authors have something to say about what they perceive to be the collapse of man and society - and they often point this out to us using different degrees of light. The presence of darkness and light is probably most apparent in Hawthorne's works, and "Young Goodman Brown" is a prime example. The story begins as young Goodman Brown begins his journey into the forest, away from his wife, Faith. The first presence of light is in the first sentence: "Young Goodman Brown appeared at sunset..." Now, there is light in the sun, but the meaning lies in the fact that the sun is setting. The brightness of life, that is, the goodness of humanity that once existed, is now replaced by darkness. YGB then drives away down a “dreary road, obscured by all the darkest trees of the forest.” There is nothing to confuse it with anything other than a symbol. YGB, representing the whole man, walks a "narrow path" leading to one of the darkest and most frightening...... middle of paper...... king of humanity): " this black vanity permeates it, through and through You may be spellbound by its sunlight, transported by the luminous gildings in the skies it builds over you but there is the darkness of darkness beyond; and even its luminous gilding but with fringes and plays on the edges of storm clouds." Works Cited: Adler, Joyce. “Benito Cereno: Slavery and Violence in the Americas.” Critical essays in Herman Melville's Benito Cereno; Burkholder, Robert E., ed. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, 1992. Gargano, James. “Art and irony in William Wilson”. New approaches to Poe; Benton, Richard P., ed., 1970. Levin, Harry. The power of darkness. New York, 1967. Melville, Herman. “Hawthorne and his mosses.” Extract from The Literary World, August 17 and 24, 1850. Accessed at: http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/hahm.html in May 1, 2000.