The Symbolism Of Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the symbolic significance of Young Goodman Brown’s wife Faith epitomizes the struggle and complexity that Young Goodman Brown endures with his own religious faith throughout the story. Faith is the idea of unyielding trust or belief in something or someone and in the case of Young Goodman brown, it’s faith in God. Because faith results in facing temptation, it is not uncommon for people to become unfaithful and leave their belief behind or ignore at life’s crossroads. Young Goodman Brown begins the story by journeying away from his wife Faith, “So they parted; and the young man pursued his way,” (para. 6). Not only is Young Goodman Brown leaving behind Faith, the person, but also what she symbolizes—his faith in God. Young Goodman Brown purposefully leaves behind what is pure and

8). Biblically, temptation and sin are viewed as evil; therefore, Young Goodman Brown falls to the temptation of evil to the point where Faith is no longer good enough to satisfy his fleshly desires. He must look elsewhere, away from his wife, to reach a certain level of contentment. Religious people abandon their faith whenever sin engulfs their livelihoods and true faith in God means that nothing of the world is more valuable, sacred, or satisfying than that of a pure relationship with Him. Additionally, blame for life’s unsatisfaction gets cast upon faith because it held an individual back from their evil desires just like with Young Goodman Brown, “‘Faith kept me back awhile,’” (para. 12). Even though Faith is a loving wife and wistfully agrees to let him go, Young Goodman Brown makes excuses for himself for not performing at high enough evil expectations