The short story “Young Goodman Brown” functions as an allegory of the Biblical fall of man, from which Nathaniel Hawthorne draws to illustrate what he sees as the inherent fallibility and hypocrisy in American religion. Hawthorne sets up a story of a man who is tempted by the devil and succumbs because of his curiosity and the weakness of his faith. Throughout the story Goodman struggles, not only with his Faith in Religion but also, his faith in people.
The characters (Goodman Brown and Faith) draw a connection to the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 3.Like Adam and Eve, Goodman and Faith fall prey to the temptations presented by the Devil. However, where we know that Adam and Eve both succumbed to temptation; we are left to believe that at least one, if not both Goodman and Faith, chose to “resist the Wicked One. ” This however, doesn’t mean that the devil didn’t win, in the end Goodman Brown returns to his village believing he has rejected the devil, but he has in fact embraced him. His relationships with both the good people of his town and with God have been spoiled forever.
Goodman Brown represents human beings confronted with temptation; he wishes to enter the dark forest of sin, so to speak, to satisfy his curiosity about the happenings there and perhaps even to take part in them. He is a “Good” man following in the footsteps of his forefathers, who he sees as symbols of honest and good Christian men, but as the devil tells Brown that he has been well acquainted with his family, his forefathers become symbols of people that embody the evil that surrounds Brown.Brown’s wife, Faith, symbolizes true Christian faith and virtue, more directly she represents Brown’s religious faith and his faith in others. Brown’s marriage to Faith symbolizes that he clings to a faith in good in the world. The pink ribbon worn in Faith’s hair serves as an emblem of heavenly faith as well as her innocence.
Later in the story, when Brown meets his companion in the woods, he declares, “Faith kept me back awhile”.Here, Hawthorne uses the name of Brown’s wife as a symbol for Brown’s personal faith in goodness and as a way to show that he is struggling with he idea of straying away from his faith. In old times, the forest was considered a place of evil so Brown’s errand in a dense forest suggests that he is up to something bad. Brown’s journey through the forest is on a narrow, dark, and dull path. The darkness and dreariness symbolize the evil that hides in the forest. The narrowness of the path symbolizes that Brown is surrounded by evil.
In the forest, Young Goodman Brown meets a companion, an older man who symbolizes the devil.Hawthorne indicates the man bears a striking resemblance to Brown, so much that he is called the “Elder Goodman Brown. ” The staff the man carries is a serpent recalling the snake in Eden. Allegorically the devil stands for Goodman Brown’s hereditary predilection to evil. This idea of evil past, present and future is an example of the allegorical nature the story has in relation to the Fall of Man.
It is Hawthorne's intention to display the sin that we have all inherited through Adam and Eve. Brown is enticed not only by the forest but also by the people in it.The Devil begins reeling off a list of allegedly righteous men and women, both personal acquaintances and public figures, who are actually in his power, carrying sin in their hearts. The devil also claims that Brown's own father and grandfather fell under his spell, saying “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that's no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem.And it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip's War.
They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight. I would fain be friends with you, for their sake. " Brown argues this fact saying, “If it be as thou sayest," replied Goodman Brown, "I marvel they never spoke of these matters. Or, verily, I marvel not, seeing that the least rumor of the sort would have driven them from New England.We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness.
” To this the old man replies, "Wickedness or not, I have a very general acquaintance here in New England. The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen, of divers towns, make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest. The governor and I, too--but these are state-secrets. " When Brown sees Goody Cloyse, who taught him catechisms, she is an embodiment of evil, a witch.With this Brown feels a conflict within his mind and refuses to follow the elder and go back to his wife Faith. This indicates his endeavor to stay away from evil and keep faith in good.
His confusion is compounded when he sees all the so-called good men like – the minister and deacon Gookin being evil. In his mind, this confirms what the old man said. Another symbol of Brown’s new commitment to evil is the pink ribbon that he catches falling from the sky. The ribbon symbolizes Faith’s conversion into the evil and Brown’s loss of faith in the goodness of humanity.
Faith’s conversion to evil shattered his faith in the goodness of things and became an evil himself. In this respect Faith can be compared to Eve, for whom Adam lost his innocence. Like Adam and Eve, Brown suffers a great fall from innocence. Whereas Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and forced to face the harsh realities of life outside the Garden, and the evils that exist; Brown is left to face the reality that evil comes in many forms, it is easy to be deceived and tempted and no one is exempt from the temptations of evil.
This reality ends up being more than he can deal with and he is left unable to trust anyone or anything. He spends the remainder of his life critical of and depressed by life in general. The difference in the two stories endings may have to do with the fact that Adam and Eve had each other to lean on and struggle with. Goodman Brown had no one to rely on; he trusted no one and pushed everyone away. At the last moment before his and his wife's baptism into the evil society gathered in the forest, Brown urges his wife: "Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One.
He then finds himself alone in the forest, wondering whether he has awakened from a dream or really did attend the witches' Sabbath. Goodman Brown’s experience in the forest, whether dream or reality, causes him to lose his faith in others he now sees the devil behind every bush and in the hearts of all those around him, what he didn’t recognize is that his own soul is now hopelessly corrupt and blind to the light and goodness of God which leaves him to die an unhappy man.Note the last words of the story: “They carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom. ” He discovers that even highly respected people in Salem fall victim to the forces of darkness.
Today, when corporate executives cheat stockholders, politicians lie to win elections, and members of the clergy defraud their congregations, this theme still resonates. Hawthorne leaves open to question whether Goodman Brown’s experience is real or imagined, as in a dream.Normal, mentally stable people like you or I sometimes accept delusions, fantasies, or fabrications as real events, and sometimes see evil in a person who has done no evil. It is human nature to be skeptical and question what we may or may not know.
Our minds like to play tricks on us. The event may not have happened but, the damage is done and he becomes "a stern, sad, darkly meditative, distrustful, if not desperate man. "
