Young Goodman Brown

Habibat Oguntade
Ap English III
10-19-09

Young Goodman Brown

In the story, Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne construes his opinion of side of the human spirit. The story takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. This story enables readers to get a better understanding of the spiritual battle being fought for the hearts of mankind The story is about a man who was walking in the forest, and, and came across a witch meeting. Hawthorne uses this illustration as a symbol to describe how individuals are easily carried away by the negative sides of life, in this case can be understood as evil forces , which is a characteristic of Gothicism.
In the beginning. Goodman Brown is seen as a young and happily married man, who with the context of the story can also be seen as pious, and a religious individual. Faith his wife, is a symbol of faith, as she tried as much as possible to prevent him from going to the witch meeting, but all her effort was in vain. “ Prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed tonight Alone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she is afeared of herself sometimes. Pray tarry with me this night dear husband of all night in the year”. Despite the fact that Faith warned him enough, he didn’t listen to her, but let the evil forces decide for him . He didn’t completely cling to faith, which can be seen from his thoughts about leaving on this journey, away from his wife Faith for the evening. After embarking on his journey, Goodman met a companion and told him “ Faith kept me back a while”. This quote is significant, because it shows how Goodman left his guard behind, both physically and emotionally. The confusion and doubt in Goodman’s mind continues as he goes deeper into the forest , straying away from God, and rather letting evil set lead him astray.
In conclusion, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, Young Goodman Brown, is the struggle between Goodman Brown’s faith, power to resist his own evil impulses and his own doubts within him. It is a story of Young Goodman Brown’s personal conflict over his inner feeling and its greater meaning conflict between good and evil in the world to describe how individuals are easily carried away by the negative sides of life. We can never be sure if good or evil won the fight within Young Goodman Brown, but Hawthorne construes that Brown was scared for his life due to his experience. This journey that Young Goodman Brown encounters might have been a dream or even a true event that is shown by his own feelings . Unable to accept that life is a mixture of both good and evil, Goodman Brown chooses his own instincts, and by doing this, he ended up losing his chance at redemption when he makes the decision to completely isolate himself from society and even from his own wife.