Why Did Young Goodman Brown Chose To Travel Through The Dark Woods

When first thinking about the question of whether Young Goodman Brown chose to travel through the dark woods, I believed he did not have a choice. At first, my thought process was that he promised to go to this meeting. The fact that Goodman Brown is willing to visit a forest when he has an idea of what will happen there is an indication of the corruption and evil at the heart of most faithful puritan men. The reasons why Goodman Brown chose to travel are his lack of faith in everything in his life and his easy ability to be corrupted.

The loss of innocence or in this case easily corruptible can occur when someone is exposed to the destructive part of their world. In the story of Young Goodman Brown, this occurs when he sees the minister,

For instance, “Ah, forsooth and is it your worship indeed? Cried the good dame. Yea, so it is, and in the very image of my old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is. But - would your worship believe it? - my broomstick hath strangely disappeared (Gardner, Janet E., and Nathaniel Hawthorne). This is when Brown undoubtedly knows that she is a witch. The others leaders are just as comfortable with the devil as goody is “ Deacon Gookin seized his arm and led him to the blazing rock. Thither came also the slender form of a veiled female, led between Goody Cloyse, that pious teacher of the catechism, and Martha Carrier, who had received the Devil's promise to be the queen of hell ( Gardner, Janet E., and Nathaniel Hawthorne). At the beginning of the story, he explains. “ My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept” (Gardner, Janet E., and Nathaniel Hawthorne).

Goodman Brown loses his faith when he sees that his leaders are devil worshippers which he believes from being shown by a stranger who is believed to be the devil. One example of this is when Goodman Brown leaves his wife, Faith to begin the journey, he was symbolically leaving his faith in God and entering a forsaken place where the devil lurked. In the story, Goodman Brown expresses when entering the woods “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow” ( Gardner, Janet E., and Nathaniel Hawthorne). This statement also signifies he left without regard for his faith in God and his fellow human race. However, it is when he exclaims “My faith is gone!” There is no good on earth, and sin is but a name. Come, Devil! For to thee is this world given” (Gardner, Janet E., and Nathaniel Hawthorne). This is when Goodman’s faith in humanity is completely lost. At the end of the story his love for his wife, Faith, is damaged. The reality that Goodman Brown was easily corrupt and had a lack of faith from the beginning led to his decision of going into the