Good Vs. Evil In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

The singer, Eric Burdon, once said that “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It's a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” Good and evil must coexist in the world; in order for us to know what goodness is, we must know about evil. If we have no sense of what goodness is, then evil is nonexistent. One writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, presents this relation between good and evil in his novel, The Scarlet Letter, and in his short story, “Young Goodman Brown.” Hawthorne’s development of Roger Chillingworth and Goodman Brown introduces the theme of good vs. evil. In Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, the protagonist, Goodman Brown, struggles in a battle between good and evil. Goodman Brown shows both innocence and corruptibility when

After Dimmesdale confesses to his sin, Chillingworth has fulfilled his duty as a symbol. “All his strength and energy—all his vital and intellectual force—seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun” (254). After a leech loses its source for food, it will die. In this case, Chillingworth loses Dimmesdale and he dies soon after. Despite the evil nature Chillingworth has portrayed, he has some good in him. “At old Roger Chillingworth’s decease (which took place within the year), and by his last will and testament, of which Governor Bellingham and the Reverend Mr. Wilson were executors, he bequeathed a very considerable amount of property, both here and in England, to little Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne” (255). Chillingworth was evil due to Hester’s infidelity, but harbored goodness in him which continues to support the idea that everyone has both good and