Viewpoint of "Young Goodman Brown" Viewpoint is "one of the most important and enduring concerns in modern treatments of art of prose fiction” (Abrams 231). This essay will discuss how the story is told in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," the type of narrator who tells it, and through what perception the reader receives the story - in other words, the point of view of this short story (Axelrod 336).In this story, the mode or point of view by which the author presents the characters, dialogues, actions, etc. is that of a narrator in the third person, who uses proper nouns and pronouns in the third person to designate the different characters in the tale: YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN went out at sunset, into the street of the village of Salem , but lowered his head, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a goodbye kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as his wife was aptly named, threw her pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap, while she called to Goodman Brown. The narrator possesses the ability to read the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, the young Puritan husband, Goodman Brown, unique among all characters. As Brown rounds the corner of the meeting room, he thinks, “Poor little Faith! he thought, as his heart ached. "What a wretch am I to let her go on such an errand! She also speaks of dreams. As she spoke, it seemed to me that there was worry on her face, as if a dream had warned her work to do tonight But no, no! it would kill her to think so. Well, she's a blessed angel on earth; and after this night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven. ... middle of paper ......ren, a beautiful procession, apart from the neighbors, not a few, they did not engrave any hopeful verses on his tombstone because his hour of death was; dark It would seem that the narrator becomes omniscient rather than limited in his point of view towards the end of the tale. The vital role that this point of view plays in "Young Goodman Brown" makes it clear why Abrams says that point of view is ". one of the most important and enduring concerns in modern treatments of the art of prose fiction” (231 WORKS CITED Abrams, MH A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Axelrod, Rise B. The St. Martin's Guide to Writing, 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” 1835. http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/goodman/goodmantext.html