Exploring Evil and Faith in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown'

In Nathaniel Hawthorne short story “Young Goodman Brown,” he takes us on a journey of the human heart, in which he would later coin the phrase that “there is a fund of evil in every human heart”. Though the story is filled with dark gloomy imagery, Hawthorne was able to keep us wanting to know more base on the fact its Salem village. With the uses of symbolism, the author incorporate nature such as the “deep forest”, and “Faith” the newly wife of young Goodman brown working hand in hand to illustrate the purpose of the story. Hawthorne shows us that our faith should not dictate base on the perception of others, as a result, would be compromised and weaken.

Hawthorne portray of Faith is symbolic throughout the story, faith “the wife was aptly

In the same way, Hawthorne uses faith symbolically again to represent Goodman Brown own faith in God. As the story begins we see Faith pleading with Goodman brown not to go on the journey but to stay home with her. Hawthorne shows that Goodman has strong faith before he departs for his journey and sometimes in the deep forests, by the way in which he replies to faith as to reassure that his faith will not be weakened by anything he comes across in his journey the author states " 'Amen! ' Cried Goodman Brown 'Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee '" (Hawthorne). So we see that Goodman brown not only knows the consequences he will encounter, but he welcomes it because of the curiosity and will that inflame his heart. He acknowledges his motives and he "felt justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose" (Hawthorne). Even though he knows what he’s about to do is evil and sinful, Goodman

The first time that Goodman Brown was approached by the Dark figure who is the devil himself in the forest and he told him why he is late, Goodman Brown replies, “Faith kept be me back a while”(Hawthorne). Hawthorne once again uses the wife to symbolize young Goodman Brown own faith, he shows us that Goodman Brown had to compromise it to even start into the forest. Goodman brown sees many of the characters making their way toward the meeting place and is surprised to see that many of them are people of great stature, both in the religious and governmental society. Here, Hawthorne shows that all people are sinners no matter how they may appear outwardly or what position they hold in society. When Goodman Brown sees Goody Cloyse he was also shocked to see her he states “should be so far in the wilderness at nightfall” (Hawthorne) in contrast to the fact Close is his spiritual adviser who had taught him his catechism, and cannot believe she would be out this late. Hawthorne describes her to be a “very pious and exemplary dame” (Hawthorne). The catechism is the teaching of the bible in the Christian religion, but it varies through different denominations for the puritans they had their doctrine. Hawthorne would suggest that Goodman Brown faith is beginning to weaken after seeing Goody Cloyse shows that