Loss Of Innocence In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

“The knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable” (Howe). Everyone has innocence, however, the paths taken and decisions made throughout life are what destroy it. In relation to innocence, the short story, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, displays the situational archetype, the inevitable loss of innocence. Many situations show the character, Young Goodman Brown’s, loss of innocence; such as the decision he makes to meet the devil, as well as the experience he takes part in with the holy people of Salem to worship the devil, and finally, the idea that if this is all a dream, the inner evil inside of Young Goodman Brown.

Young Goodman Brown’s journey begins as he decides to make arrangements to meet

His life changes forever from the shock he experiences when he discovers that Goody Cloyse “a very pious and exemplary dame, who [teaches] him his catechism in youth, and [is] still his moral and spiritual adviser...” (Hawthorne 3), takes part in the demonic ceremony. This shows him that there is evil in even the most holy people, which damages the faith he has. Additionally, when he encounters his very own wife at the ceremony, all of his hope that some good remains in the world disappears. From there, the situation worsens as the leader of the ceremony tells him of all the sins done by the holy people of Salem such as, “ ‘...how many woman, eager for widows' weeds, [give their husbands] a drink at bedtime and let him sleep his last sleep in her bosom; how beardless youths have made haste to inherit their fathers' wealth; and how fair damsels--blush not, sweet ones--have dug little graves in the garden, and bidden me, the sole guest to an infant's funeral’ ” (Hawthorne 7-8). This information corrupts Young Goodman Brown’s views of the public, which takes away the innocence he has when he does not know about the evil

His whole life changes from this dreadful “...dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man [does] he become from the night of that fearful dream” (Hawthorne 9). These evil thoughts come from his own mind, whether he acknowledges them in everyday life or not. Moreover, the people and things that surround him no longer make him happy, due to the darkness in human nature which he becomes aware of. The misery from such a nightmare not only destroys the rest of his life, but when his time of death arrives, few people, “[carve] no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his hour [of death is] gloom” (Hawthorne 9). A bitter death and no hope for a peaceful rest are the results of one evil dream that reveals life’s horrid truth to Young Goodman Brown.

Overall, Young Goodman Brown’s loss of purity throughout the short story demonstrates the situational archetype, the inevitable loss of innocence. His journey with the devil, the experience of the witch ceremony, and the potential that these events are apart of a nightmare, all deprive him of his innocence. In conclusion, this story tells the readers a lot about how life takes away purity and how it has the ability to change someone’s entire life. This situational archetype pushes people to embrace innocence, not to destroy