"would the next glance shew them to each other"

[szaroczek]

Still "Young Goodman Brown"... There is the last (I hope ;-)) scene in this story where a hero and his wife are standing just before ceremony of them being "baptized" by devil is to be held; they are looking at each other, hesitating, and... such a sentence then comes by:

"What polluted wretches would the next glance shew them to each other, shuddering alike at what they disclosed and what they saw!"...

I find this sentence presenting some sort of universal truth, yet the phrase in bold is kinda not clear to me. Any clearing up suggestions, please...

P.S.
"What polluted wretches", "what they disclosed and what they saw" - maybe it's they experience of being present at the devilish ceremony where they were not expected to be...? :-?

 

[susiedq]

shew = show or reveal (to each other)

 

[szaroczek]

Yeah, I knew it but, ok. I think, firstly I got it wrong. Namely, I took pronoun "what" as a subject: "What did pollute them it would shew them to each other, ...". So now I deem it not to be the case. The subject of the sentence is supposedly I think, "polluted wretches"... So then: "... polluted wretches would shew them to each other, ..." But still I get lost about this phrase "the next glance". Should I understand it in the sense "at the next glance", or " with the next glance", or... just something else? :-?

 

[susiedq]

Well I will try . . .

next glance/ would show / polluted wretches
(to) them

 

[5jj]

"What polluted wretches would the next glance shew them to each other, shuddering alike at what they disclosed and what they saw!.

It seems to mean something like: The next glance (at each other) would reveal themselves to be, in each others' eyes, polluted wretches.

That's my best guess.

 

[szaroczek]

Yeeeeah! This is a revelation, man! So, the subject then would actually be... the "NEXT GLANCE"!!! :shock: What a "wretched" guy I am! I've used all possible subject candidates except the right one... :lol:

You know, there is such a saying well known in my country: "If you need to make up your mind about some important issue in your life and you really don't know what to do, go and ask your wife and then... do exactly opposite - that would be the best choice." ;-) (writer's translation). I think I sometime got to use a slightly modified version of this lore in my English studies... :-D

 

[5jj]

What a "wretched" guy I am! I've used all possible subject candidates except the right one... :lol:

That was a difficult sentence!

I had to read through it several times before I was (fairly) sure about its meaning.

 

[szaroczek]

Thank's man, that was really awesome! :up:

 

[5jj]

Thank's man, that was really awesome! :up:

OK - I boosted you up; now I'll slap you down ;-). There is no apostrophe in "thanks".

 

[szaroczek]

But honestly, I didn't mean it; it was a typo. ;-)

 

[5jj]

I believe you.

I have to - I am the typo-champion of the forum.