Sin And Guilt In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

His journey into the woods signifies a journey into the forces of evil which can be described as the woods themselves. Since the story begins and ends in Salem it is a symbol of the starting point as well as and the endpoint of his life as he visits the woods. Salem is as said in the story a safe haven and the woods are filled with sin. Puritans believed the woods to be the habitat of the devil. The woods in "Young Goodman Brown" are the symbol of the devil's habitat and are filled with evil and

In this time period they wanted everyone to have a pure belief in God. If this time people would have not occurred when this writing was written, Edwards probably would have gone a different way with it. “Young Goodman Brown” was written during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. This time period affected the story. We know that this time period affected the writing because along the path the “devil” is talking to a witch and Young Goodman Brown was shocked to see what he did not know.

The author begins to build religious doubt in Goodman Browns as he uses specific diction to make the tone darker. Such diction is seen when he states,” Faint and overburthened with the heavy sickness of the heart. He looked up into the sky, doubting whether there was really a heaven above him”(Hawthorne). Tone words are being used such as overburthened and sickness to build a darker tone in instances when Goodman is doubting puritanism. This is also conveyed when Goodman is crying aloud his wife's name in desperation to try to remain faithful to puritanism.

Abruptly the scene comes to an end, leaving Goodman Brown as a lonely and cruel man. I believe that from the moment Goodman Brown decided to go on his task, a night away from home, that he was already falling under the works of the devil. Goodman Brown even begins to think that what he is doing is in the works of evil, but soon justifies himself with his thoughts, “. . . after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (Hawthorne 2). As Goodman Brown continues his journey there is dramatic irony and foreshadowing of what was soon to come.

Young Goodman Brown has lost all hope and is now an empty vessel waiting to be filled with sin. This shows how Young Goodman Brown’s lost of faith has allowed him to be less than human. He becomes a shadow of himself looking for trouble and specifically the devil. In an essence, Young Goodman Brown’s internal conflict vanishes and the story continues to resolve the external conflict.

When he discovers from the traveler that his father, grandfather, Goody Cloyse, the minister, Deacon Cookin, and Faith are all acquaintances with the devil; he decides he might as well do the same. The Bible stated, “do not be deceived bad company ruins good morals”. Simply because Goodman church members know the devil he thinks it is acceptable to give the devil his innocence as well. Goodman Brown is a religious man he recognizes what is good and what is evil, and going into the forest was not a wise approach, and when the man tries to continue to persuade him to go farther into the dark forest; he knew he should have turned around and go back home to

In Young Goodman Brown, a young man falls to sin. Due to the Calvinist beliefs Goodman Brown held, he presumed that his justification would exempt him from the evils of sin. His conviction reflected the sin of presumption, and his presumption caused him to lose his conviction. As a result, he enacted in the unpardonable sin.

In the two short stories, “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Prodigal Son,” by St. Luke there is a parallel struggle of faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown” is a very dark tale of mystery and deceit that surrounds a young man’s test of true faith in his battle against the evil one. In the parable of “The Prodigal Son,” Christ gives the reader a picture of God’s unfailing love toward His children and His ever constant surrounding presence. Faith is tested in each of these stories and the choice becomes to either succumb to this evil world, turn to God, or perhaps something else altogether. Although each story differs in climactic endings, both protagonists in each story reflect the struggle of one’s very soul by their reluctance to fully submit to God.

Witchcraft and Satanic activity are prevalent in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works, including “The Scarlet Letter” and “Young Goodman Brown”. From Mistress Hibbins in “The Scarlet Letter” and the walk Goodman Brown takes with the devil through the forest in “Young Goodman Brown”, the satanic influence and witchcraft are shown. Some questions arise when delving deeper into the meaning of these influences. What did the Puritans believe about the evil capabilities of Satan and witchcraft? How willing would they have been to believe Hawthorne’s accounts?

1 In Hawthorne 's essay “Young Goodman Brown”, does it matter whether or not the protagonist, Goodman Brown, dreamt the events in the story? The idea and drive behind religious faith and belief is a concept consistently explored in Young Goodman Brown (YGB). The story explores Brown 's journey in a single night which inexplicably ends with a tarnished perspective on religious faith as portrayed by his fellow villagers. Brown himself grows to be disillusioned on faith but the events leading up to this shift however, is ambiguous at best, with the debate mostly centred towards the notion that Brown merely dreamt the events, resulting in an unfair and biased outcome in terms of his sentiment towards the villagers and his own belief.

The conversation with the devil in the woods caused his spiritual belief to be questioned, as Goodman was a faith believing man until he entered the forest. While in the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the family is planning to go on vacation to Florida but the grandmother conveniences them to go Tennessee. This is so she can show them a plantation she had visited as a child. But while seeking the planation the family has a wreck and runs into the path of the Misfit.

Once Young Goodman Brown is in the woods, he comes across his innocent Faith’s symbolic ribbon of innocence, it “fluttered down, through the air and caught on a branch of a tree. A young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon. ‘My Faith is gone! There is no good on Earth!’” is Goodman’s last call out to his dear Faith as he realizes that there truly cannot be a person that is so pure on this cruel earth, As for Connie, she yells out at Arnold “Shut up!

Goodman Brown enters the forest knowing of such evil, he states in the story “what if the devil himself should be at my very elbow” (Hawthorne 322). Goodman Brown sees the minister and Deacon Gookin as well as many other townspeople making their way into the dark forest towards the ceremony. At this time, Nathaniel Hawthorne is displaying that many people of all ranks in religious and governmental society are sinners despite their external appearance. He holds on to the thoughts that as long as Faith remains holy, he shall find it in himself to resist the temptations of evil, but when he sees the pink ribbons from Faith’s cap his Christian faith is weakened. Hawthorne is using Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, as a symbol of his own when he yells out “my faith is gone!”

My broomstick hath strangely disappeared, stolen, as I suspect, by that unhanged witch, Goody Cory, and that, too, when I was all anointed with the juice of smallage and cinque-foil and wolf's bane–”” (3) She started speaking of a recipe as if the man had been her friend for years. Goodman Brown could not believe that a woman of the church would follow the devil. This was the same woman who taught him his catechism. This point was when Brown did not want to continue, wishing to go back to his

The supernatural journey of Young Goodman Brown was purposely constructed to be a questionable event. Hawthorne cleverly breathes elements of uncertainty, to emphasize the importance of the effect and the insignificance of the sole event. Real or not, the Devil managed to sprout gloom inside Goodman’s heart. His loss of innocence was inevitable, this figment shattered his beliefs and turned him cold.