Goodman Brown Good Vs Evil
At the time Nathaniel Hawthorne penned Young Goodman Brown, puritanical Christianity had a firm grapple on the spirituality of New Englanders. Their belief in a sly and deceiving Satan was just as central to their ideology as any God or Heaven. Hawthorne, himself, descends from parties known to have been active participants in the infamous Salem Witch Trials. While these early Americans sought to achieve a path of righteousness which would earn them God’s grace, and thusly, eternal paradise, it seems they also had a curiosity for more ominous even grim entertainment. Ultimately, it was good and evil, or God and The Devil which interested them, and imaginably these puritans wanted to explore the difference in the two and examine how one could
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His wife, quite suitably named Faith, pleads with him not to journey from her -- from their puritanical home and domestic bliss, but he implores it. As he ventures from her he considers if she was made privy to his ghoulish expedition through a dream and resigns that at its completion to, “cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (262). He knows he is to commune with evil this night, however, and to do so, he must endeavor beyond not only the goodness and grace of his wife Faith, but beyond the safety of Salem Village and into the deep, dark …show more content…
Truthfully, Goodman Brown need not worry about the next bend, because his fate is sealed the moment he leaves his young wife to be in assemblage with Satan in the forest. The character of Faith, his wife, is a nearly absolute epitome of righteousness in the story, and it is only Goodman who leads her to condemnation. The Devil uses her to ultimately lead Goodman up to his unholy pulpit, sealing their eternities. With Faith as our marker for good, it is clear whom personifies evil, this stranger in the woods – The Devil.
There are other characters who are important to the story as well, some a bit more interesting than others. In fact, Goodman sees seemingly nearly everyone he knows in some shape, contributing to his despair. Goody Cloyse especially rattles Goodman into imbalance. She is a woman he respects greatly. Hawthorne writes, she is his “moral and spiritual advisor, jointly with the minister and Deacon Gookin” (264). The minister and Deacon Gookin are not far behind her on this night, Goodman will see them, as well. In fact, during Goody and The Devil’s communion Satan appears to Goody as her “old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly man that now is.” Goodman sees everyone with the devil; Goodman sees enough to have his allegiance to his god
His wife, quite suitably named Faith, pleads with him not to journey from her -- from their puritanical home and domestic bliss, but he implores it. As he ventures from her he considers if she was made privy to his ghoulish expedition through a dream and resigns that at its completion to, “cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (262). He knows he is to commune with evil this night, however, and to do so, he must endeavor beyond not only the goodness and grace of his wife Faith, but beyond the safety of Salem Village and into the deep, dark …show more content…
Truthfully, Goodman Brown need not worry about the next bend, because his fate is sealed the moment he leaves his young wife to be in assemblage with Satan in the forest. The character of Faith, his wife, is a nearly absolute epitome of righteousness in the story, and it is only Goodman who leads her to condemnation. The Devil uses her to ultimately lead Goodman up to his unholy pulpit, sealing their eternities. With Faith as our marker for good, it is clear whom personifies evil, this stranger in the woods – The Devil.
There are other characters who are important to the story as well, some a bit more interesting than others. In fact, Goodman sees seemingly nearly everyone he knows in some shape, contributing to his despair. Goody Cloyse especially rattles Goodman into imbalance. She is a woman he respects greatly. Hawthorne writes, she is his “moral and spiritual advisor, jointly with the minister and Deacon Gookin” (264). The minister and Deacon Gookin are not far behind her on this night, Goodman will see them, as well. In fact, during Goody and The Devil’s communion Satan appears to Goody as her “old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly man that now is.” Goodman sees everyone with the devil; Goodman sees enough to have his allegiance to his god