Sin in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Sin in Young Goodman Brown

"Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an excellent

short story from the 1800's. In this short story Hawthorne's main

character, Goodman Brown, goes out into the woods with the devil and is

tempted by the devil each step of the way. In "Young Goodman Brown,"

Hawthorne uses characters who are leaders of their community and

symbolistic settings to show that despite how prominent a person is he or

she is capable of evil under the right conditions.

Through the use of community leaders, Hawthorne shows that there is

evil in everyone. As Goodman Brown heads into the woods with the prince of

darkness, he encounters several of his community leaders creating evil.

First, he and Satan encounter Goody Cloyse, Goodman's spiritual adviser and

former catechism teacher. After Goodman goes off among the trees, the

devil and Goody have a conversation. Instantly, Goody recognizes him as

the devil. Then Satan says, '"Then Goody Cloyse knows her old friend?"'1

The conversation later reveals Goody is a witch and is on her way to the

Black Sabbath. Shortly afterwards, as Goodman was resting, Deacon Gookin,

Goodman's other spiritual advisor, walks by with a minister. He and the

minister are talking about missing a church ordination dinner to attend the

satanic gathering. The deacon says,'"Besides several of the Indian powwows,

who, after their fashion know almost as much deviltry as the best of us,'"

(311). The whole time Goodman is on the trail, he is committing sin.

Every step of the way, he is forsaking his god. He slowly succumbs to sin

as the lord of the underworld coaxes him. At the meeting, when a voice

screamed out, '"Bring forth the converts!'"(315), Goodman steps forward,

accepting evil. Under the right settings, anybody is capable of evil.

Using the right settings, Hawthorne creates symbolistic

environments to make so called heavenly characters turn to evil. In the

village of Salem, the villagers look up to Deacon Gookin and Goody Cloyse

as highly spiritual people. The village of Salem is symbolistically any

town or church, and Deacon Gookin and Goody Cloyse are the "sinless"

leaders of the church. Along the path in the woods, Goodman Brown watches

the deacon and Goody committing sins and not grieving over their sins.