Young Goodman Brown Deception

Deception: An Analysis of Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown, the story of a man who thought evil only exists in those who seem unfriendly, unyielding, and ugly. Although this story has endless themes and symbols, the main facts that are being argued, is the identity of the guide, and the significance of the people in the woods. Despite what some may think, Young Goodman Brown’s guide is the Devil himself, and the people he sees are simply those who have chosen the path of evil and disguise it with faith.

Time and time again evil plays a role in almost every story. For some odd reason, humans always seem to seek help from those who depict malevolence. Sometimes the protagonists may overcome this viciousness, other times they are devoured

The only creatures Young Goodman Brown should come across are some animals and insects, however, that is not the case. Brown sees many religious people, and people of power from his town. He even sees his own wife. Why is this? Brown is experiencing a situation in which an eye has been open. A third eye to be exact. In this explanation we see this expanded upon, “The woods are the physical location in which Brown explores his doubts and opposing desires, and as such represent his personal hell. Although Brown eventually leaves the physical location of the woods, mentally he stays there for the rest of his life…” (Enotes, 2007). Brown sees these people who he thought were saints and could do no harm, in their true form. By entering the forest he has pulled back of layer of life he had yet to encounter, and that is

Some people are better than others, and others appear to be better than others, but are not. A direct parallel of this would be churches in today’s world. Churches are often known as peaceful, honest, accepting, and nonjudgmental. However, many churches of today contain many hypocrisies. The list is long and extensive and varies from racism, rape, and prejudice people. People believe in what is convenient for them, and pick and choose which sins are worse than others. Many people in churches are the complete opposite of everything that the Bible stands for, and accept it. This same hypocrisy is exemplified in this story. Young Goodman Brown was under the impression that these people were holy, when in fact they were corrupt. A thorough explanation of this is seen here, “When the devil points out Goody Cloyse on the path, Young Goodman Brown notes that she… taught him his catechism when he was young; along with the minister and Deacon Gookin...They are all thought to be beyond moral reproach, and they are responsible for helping to lead the community down a righteous path.” (Enotes, 2016). These are people of high social class engaging in very low, devilish activities. When Brown realizes that his wife is also apart of these satanic rituals, he finally comes to terms with reality. Instead of accepting that there is evil in the world and that he can add good into it, he completely shuts down. He seeks no interest in discovering anything else. He simply