Question

At the beginning of "Young Goodman Brown," Brown's wife says, "Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year" (1). This statement is an example of

Answer 1

I'd say the answer is B) foreshadowing. She is indicating that that particular night is somehow special, and that he should stay with her. It foreshadows that something is going to happen in the future.

Answer 2

This question is missing the options. I've found the complete question online. It is as follows:

At the beginning of "Young Goodman Brown," Brown's wife says, "Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year." This statement is an example of

A. ambiguity.

B. satire.

C. irony.

D. foreshadowing.

Answer:

This statement is an example of D. foreshadowing.

Explanation:

"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story by author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Published in 1835, the story takes place in Salem during the witch hunt. Goodman Brown is a young man who believes in God and Heaven. On a certain day, Brown kisses his wife Faith goodbye and leaves home to an unknown errand. Faith says, "Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year." This line is example of foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing is a technique in which a piece of information is given to the audience that will later unfold into something more important, even though it seemed trivial in the beginning. From Faith's line, the author hints that something might happen later that night. It might even be something bad, sinister, from the way she said "this night [...] of all nights" as if there was something either special or ominous that night. We soon learn Brown is supposed to spend the night in the forest accompanied by the devil, revealing that Faith's line indeed predicted something terrible.