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How Does Hawthorne Present The Nature Of Evil In Young Goodman Brown

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Hawthorne’s Satanic Characters From the beginning of time, man has turned away from God. This started in the Garden of Eden when Eve was tempted with the forbidden fruit. She fell into temptation, and then encouraged her husband to do the same. The fall of man started with this. Hawthorne makes many references to this in his stories. He uses his evil characters in Young Goodman Brown to symbolize the sinful nature of humans by fantastically making his devils to be seen. In The Scarlet Letter, he portrays sinful nature and foresees the realistic punishment of his witches. Puritans were plain people, who were quick to make accusations against those who were different. Witchcraft was a huge issue during this time. The puritans took their laws from the Bible instead of English …show more content…

Goodman decides to turn around after meeting up with his guide, but he guide convinces him to reason with him as they continue on their journey. The devil tells Goodman that the best men are secretly evil, and that if he joins the devil in the devil’s baptism that he will have knowledge of everyone’s hidden secrets. The devil continues to try to convince him, and Goodman starts to believe his lies. The devil has the power to deceive and he alludes Goodman to believe that he is seeing a woman he knows very well. And again, he is sure that someone he knows is walking by- he hears his pastor’s voice, but is yet again deceived. The devil also leads him to believe that his own wife is guilty, and even goes as far as to make Goodman believe that he sees her pink ribbon. “Then the devil sends his final argument, Faith’s pink ribbon…At the end of the story we learn that this evidence, too, was spectral, for Faith wears her ribbons when her husband returns home in the morning” (Levin 693). Seeing Faith’s ribbon was the point where Goodman rushed to the devil’s service in an evil

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Witchcraft and Satanic activity are prevalent in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works, including “The Scarlet Letter” and “Young Goodman Brown”. From Mistress Hibbins in “The Scarlet Letter” and the walk Goodman Brown takes with the devil through the forest in “Young Goodman Brown”, the satanic influence and witchcraft are shown. Some questions arise when delving deeper into the meaning of these influences. What did the Puritans believe about the evil capabilities of Satan and witchcraft? How willing would they have been to believe Hawthorne’s accounts?

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Goodman Brown says “Faith kept a back a while.” He relies so much in Faith. Faith pretty much controls Goodman most of the time. “The man In The Black Suit” argues that the world is not fair. Just like one example “ my only brother died of being sung by a bee”.

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In Goodman, the antagonist is the Devil and he manipulates Goodman in his discussions about Goodman’s father, and Grandfather, Goody Cloyse, and Deacon Gookin. These people have already become manipulated by evil and are already in a secret society. Perhaps Goodman had already known this which provokes him to meet with the devil in the first place, but it appears that Goodman was prepared to become a member of this society. The symbolism presented in Goodman is ever-present in the Hawthorne’s descriptions of attire, props and even the names of the characters.

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The first example of imagery that Hawthorne uses is when Young Goodman Brown is walking through the woods and he was trying to resist the devil’s temptations. “On he flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an insperation of horrid blasphemy, and now shounting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around

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These efforts are shown when Hawthorne proclaims,” “Faith!” shouted Goodman Brown in a voice of agony and desperation; and the echoes of the forest mocked him crying– “Faith! Faith!”” (Hawthorne). Using Goodman shouting his wifes name in desperation creates this vocal sentiment that he wants to keep true his beliefs in which he contradicted prior in the story. These tone words help build a dark, self-doubting, and self loathing-tone to show Goodman going against his religious

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“There is no good on earth… Come, devil! For to thee is this world given.” (Hawthorne). Goodman's wife is his actual faith which is where the symbolism happened and with his faith gone there is no hope for the world. The symbolism that is used through is the wife who is named faith, as she is the most pure hearted person, and without her he feels as if there is no hope.

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During his journey of sin, Young Goodman Brown and the devil come upon Goody Cloyse, Young Goodman Brown's catechism teacher, and, still believing that she is a “pious and exemplary dame” Goodman Brown tries to stay away from the woman by pleading with the devil “I shall take a cut through the woods… being a stranger to you, she might ask whom I was consorting with” (3). Because of Young Goodman Brown’s beliefs of her innocence, it is even more jolting to him when she “knows her old friend,” the devil, and speaks about stolen broomsticks, recipes including “the juice of smallage and cinquefoil and wolf’s-bane,” and even the same devilish meeting that Young Goodman Brown and his accomplice are to attend (3). With signs that all point to sin and witchcraft, Young Goodman Brown’s shock in saying “That old woman taught me my catechism” had “a world of meaning” as he cannot possibly believe that a woman known to be so holy and righteous in the community could be so evil within. As Goodman Brown moves past the shock of Goody Cloyse’s actions, he is exposed to the sins of the holiest members of their Puritan community, the minister and Deacon Gookin. While Goodman Brown shamefully “[conceals] himself within the verge of the forest… he recognized the voices of the minister and Deacon Gookin” who speak of the same evil “meeting” as Goody Cloyse and even remark that “several of the Indian powwows” will even be present (4,5).

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My broomstick hath strangely disappeared, stolen, as I suspect, by that unhanged witch, Goody Cory, and that, too, when I was all anointed with the juice of smallage and cinque-foil and wolf's bane–”” (3) She started speaking of a recipe as if the man had been her friend for years. Goodman Brown could not believe that a woman of the church would follow the devil. This was the same woman who taught him his catechism. This point was when Brown did not want to continue, wishing to go back to his

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Goodman Brown loses his faith in his humanity when evil prevails itself in many forms, leaving him to speculate the behavior and beliefs of everyone encircles around him. This story also contains similar Biblical characteristics of the sinful nature in man. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to define that wickedness exist in all humanity and nothing is the way it seems. The story begins with Goodman Brown and his wife named Faith bartering a goodbye kiss.

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That is why Faith's pink ribbon are such an important symbol in “Young Goodman Brown”. In the beginning of the story Faith is seen “letting the wind play with the pink ribbons”(331). Faith starts with a form of youthful innocence. Later in the story pink ribbon falls from the sky making Goodman says “My faith is gone!”(336) and “There is no good on earth, and sin is but a name”(336). The falling of the pink ribbon symbolizes that Faith has fallen into evil and leads Goodman to believe she is no longer innocent.

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As a Puritan man married to “Faith”, his choice to continue into the unknown leads him to contemplate and create new opinions of his religion. This scene also shows many instances of symbolism that refer to the devil and sinning. Goodman Brown encountering the old man is significant in his transformation because it displays his crucial decision that leads

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