Internal Conflict In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” edited by Beverly Lawn, demonstrates a distressed man and his experience as he battles with his internal conflict between the attraction to evilness and goodness. Young Goodman Brown is an ordinary Puritan man who lives with his newlywed wife, Faith. He was on his way out of town for his “journey” despite his wife’s attempts in making him stay (1). Goodman Brown’s journey represented his potential for growth and maturity. However, his journey also represented his arrested growth. In every story, there is an expressed struggle or conflict. The conflict typically centers the story. There are two types of conflicts, external and internal. Internal conflict is the protagonist’s struggle with oneself.

Goodman Brown realizes that his actions and motives are wicked and ungodly. Nevertheless, his internal conflict of his attraction to evilness wins, making him lose this battle. At this moment, Hawthorne shows how Goodman Brown begins to destroy his bond with things that mean the most to him, including his wife. No longer is he this ordinary and polite Puritan husband. He has now become this man who is lost, hiding a secret from everyone he knows in his village. This destroys his credibly as a “Young Goodman.” Hawthorne also implied how this could be a learning experience. Had Goodman Brown stayed and listened to Faith as she pleaded him to stay, he would not have a conflict with his internal

His “blind faith” starts to come out of hiding. Following his departure from his wife and village, Goodman Brown was to meet a man in the forest and together they were to journey to the witch meeting. Goodman Brown was questioned for his tardiness and responded: “Faith kept me back a while” (2). This example of dramatic irony displays his uncertainty in proceeding with his attraction to evil. “Faith” is represented as an emotion here and not his wife. When Goodman Brown states that “Faith [held him] back,” he was talking about his blind faith towards goodness and God. Furthermore, another example in which Goodman Brown was attracted to towards goodness was when he found out he was not the only person from his village attending the witch meeting. Goodman Brown states to himself, moments after finding out this surprising news, the following:

“…they have their own ways, and are no rule for a simple husband like me. But, were I to go with thee how should I meet the eye of that good old man, our minister, at Salem village? Oh, his voice would make me tremble both Sabbath day and lecture