Loss Of Faith Exposed In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Truly a Goodman?
"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th century Puritan New England, which is seen in a lot of Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Puritan belief that all of humanity exists in a state of depravity, except for a few select.. Hawthorne frequently attempts to expose the double standards of Puritan culture in his literature.
The story begins at dusk in Salem Village, Massachusetts as young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife of three months, for some unknown errand in the forest. Faith pleads with her husband to stay with her, but he insists that the journey must be completed that night. In the forest he meets an older man, dressed in a similar …show more content…
Whether the events in the forest were a dream or reality, the loss of his innocence was unavoidable. Instead of being corrupted by some outside force, he made a personal choice to go into the forest and meet with the devil. Goodman Brown is never certain whether the evil events of the night are real, but it does not matter in the end. If they were a dream, then they come completely from Goodman Brown’s head, a indication of his dark side. If they are real, then he has seen that everyone around him is corrupt, and he brought this realization upon himself.
Next is the fear of the wildness around him. From the moment he steps into the forest, He voices his fear of the wilderness, seeing the forest as a place where no good is possible. He believes that the devil could easily be present in such a place, and he eventually sees the devil himself, just as he had expected. :’What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!’” (Young Goodman Brown, page 387) He, himself is ashamed to be seen walking in the forest on such an errand. The forest is characterized as devilish, frightening, and dark, and Goodman Brown is comfortable in it only after he has given in to
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Loss Of Faith Exposed In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

The plot of Hawthorne’s short story sees Goodman Brown attending a secret meeting with a stranger who seems to know Brown’s father and grandfather. The stranger, who is apparently the Devil, tries to convince Brown to join the local coven of witches. Brown resists the offer from the stranger because he is a morally upstanding young Puritan. His religious convictions do not waver even after he discovers the witches in the local coven are all respected members of his community. The one time that his…

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