Comparing The Devil And Tom Walker And Young Goodman Brown

During the early 1700s, a traveler met a man in the Massachusetts forest. However, this was no mortal man, but the devil. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” two short stories, both start out in this way. Washington Irving wrote the latter in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker profited through working for the devil. In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” which describes Goodman Brown’s woodland encounter with the Devil. The two stories share specific ideas regarding the devil, overpowering minor deviations between each other.

In “The Devil and Tom Walker” they use literary archetypes that represents universal patterns of human behavior or commonly-held beliefs. This story takes place in 1727 in Boston Massachusetts. There are three main characters who are very similar but a little different. Tom Walker is small, greedy, overly confident, and miserly. Tom Walker’s wife Mrs. Walker is selfish, verbally abusive towards Tom, and she is known as a termagant because she nags and complains all of the time. Last but not least old scratch has many other names that have been given to him by his personality, but he is the devil.

Hawthorne in essence, portrayed Goodman as proof of the nature of evil in man by showing how easily even a young dedicated Puritan can easily be influenced by a complete stranger. This stranger was symbolically the Devil among men in this text. Hawthorne begins introducing the Devil immediately as trying to sway Goodman to follow him on a long journey. By leaving his wife, Faith to begin the journey, Goodman Brown was symbolically leaving his faith in God and entering a forsaken ground by following the Devil. The fact that Goodman Brown left with no regard for his wife Faith’s warning, symbolized the lack of regard for his own faith in God and his fellow human race. This simple disregard that Goodman Brown showed was evidence of the easily persuaded ability of man to choose sin over good.

Both authors describe the devil similarly. In the two stories, the devil craftily disguises himself as a nondescript individual, increasing the likeliness of a passerby plunging into treacherous conversation with him. Despite his efforts, the devil fails to hide some subtle clues to his identity. In “Young Goodman Brown,” “the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wiggle itself like a living serpent,” (Hawthorne 8-9). Likewise, in “The Devil and Tom Walker,” the man’s appearance indicates the devil since “his face was neither black nor copper-color, but swarthy, and dingy and begrimed with soot, as if he had been accustomed to toil among fires and forges,” (Irving 4). Continually, the two stories refer to the devil as a certain color: grey in “Young Goodman Brown,” and black in “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Often, people associate these mournful colors with sin and corruption, which aptly describe the devil and his work.

A main theme in the short story is greed and its consequences. Tom, a miserable man, is approached by the Devil, also called “Old Scratch”, and he is offered wealth and riches beyond his wildest dreams. In return for this he sells his soul to the Devil. All characters in the story have flaws and none of them are necessarily “good” as each of them are greedy and will go to great lengths to benefit themselves. Tom's desire for wealth is his ultimate catalyst throughout the story and it is what eventually draws the Devil to him. The Devil called to Tom promising “great sums of money buried by Kidd the pirate... All these were under his command, and protected by his power."(pg 9) knowing this would interest him. Through this you can see the Devil tempting Tom with the wealth he craves so much. His own greed being his damnation when he tells a customer "The devil take me...if i have made a farthing!"(p22). Because as soon as he says this the devil comes to collect his dues.Tom's desire for wealth led to the murder of his wife, the selling of his soul, and ultimately his own death. The Devil and Tom Walker is a textbook example of why the temptation of greed should be avoided. Showing how though it may benefit you in the present eventually its consequences will catch up to

“The Devil and Tom Walker” describes the devil in the following way: “he was dressed in a rude half-indian garb, and had a red belt...yet He had a shock of coarse black hair...and bore an ax on his shoulder.” Washington Irving wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker” in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker became rich by working for the devil. Another short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in1835, describes Goodman Brown’s woodland tramp with the Devil. The two stories share specific ideas regarding the devil, overpowering minor deviations between each other.

Both the short stories “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, also “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe, were written in the romantic time period. Romanticism typically contains the ideals of nature worship, nature imagery, as well as nature having an healing effect. Gothic Literature stemmed off of romantic literature which leads to many of the contradictory ideas in both. An example could be that romantics saw imagination while gothic writers saw darkness in the supernatural. Both the authors used very similar elements to make each literary work different but strong in their own way.

What is the Tower of Babel? Besides being a big, old building, it is a symbol of the consequence of pride. The plan was to build a tower that could reach the heavens in order to “make a name for ourselves”, but God had different plans. He “scattered them” and “confused the language of the whole world” (Genesis 11). This story is just one of many in the Bible discussing the why the vice pride is regarded as the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins. Both Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (“The Chase”) contain this theme, and thus provide insight on the disastrous results of pride.

As people grow up, it is made apparent to them that the Devil is an evil and rather a clever person. The greatest example of the devil in action is when the devil tempts Jesus. As most know, the devil fails to get Jesus to do evil. Jesus is both human and divine while the main character of The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom Walker, is a “meager, miserly fellow”. Unfortunately, Tom Walker is not Jesus so the reader must focus in on Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker to see just exactly how and when the Devil won his game. Irving portrays to the reader that the devil cannot be beaten at his own game through setting, characters, and plot. As people have seen in sports, the setting of a game (where, when, weather, etc.) can have a big impact on the game. The same goes for The Devil and Tom Walker.

In the story, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” there is a humorous way of looking at serious topics. Washington Irving shows his thoughts on these topics through the characters in this story. He attacks ways of living and social ideas that he thinks people should live without. In this story, Irving criticizes violence, greed, and false piety.

Throughout “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, the topics of sin and religion are addressed. Both stories share the similar idea of how sin and religion are present in their Puritan societies. Throughout The Scarlet Letter we interpret the ideas of sin and how it relates to to the concept of religion surrounding the community. In The Devil and Tom Walker we are left to analyze the actions and beliefs of a complex character, and how it relates to sin and religion. Overall, both stories are comprable because of their topics of sin and religion and how they relate to specific characters beliefs, actions, and behavior.

American politician William Hall once stated: “We go on and on about our differences. But, you know, our differences are less important than our similarities. People have a lot in common with one another, whether they see that or not.” No matter where we go we can always see similarities in everything. We see similarities in how a musician writes his music, and what he writes about. Just as a musician, we see many similarities in how a writer writes his stories, and what he writes about. Washington Irving uses several similarities in his stories “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “Rip Van Winkle.”

In the stories “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” the devil was depicted very differently. In Tom Walker, the devil was perceived as a man that tested Walker in his faith and tricked him into acting like a “christian man” on the outside and made him make deals with him as payment for helping him. “...dressed in a rude, half Indian garb, and had a red belt or sash swathed round his body, but his face was neither black nor copper colored.” (Irving, 1824, pg.4). In Daniel Webster, the devil was perceived as a man “Old Scratch” that Jabez Stone sold his soul to. “The stranger came up through the lower field, switching his boots with a cane- they were handsome black boots…” (Benét, 1937, pg.12). Each author had their own interpretation of the devil for each story.

A Faustian legend is a story in which a character trades something of great personal value to the devil in order to receive personal gain. Since this type of literature originated in the Fourth Century it has spread throughout the world. Two relatively recent versions of this legend are “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Vincent Benét. These stories show many similarities as well as a few differences. While both Benét and Irving present similar themes in setting of the tales and motivation in the Faustian character, they do differ in the nature of that character and their visual presentation of the Devil.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving are two of the most prolific and successful writers of their era. Hawthorne’s, “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man, Goodman Brown who happens to set out on a trip for an evil purpose. On the way he meets a man who offers him his staff, saying that it might help him walk faster, but Goodman Brown refuses and wishes to return back to his village for the sake of his wife, Faith. On the other hand, Irving’s, “The Devil and Tom Walker” is about an individual who lets his greed and selfishness take charge of him. Tom Walker, a greedy man, attempts to make a deal with a devil. Tom seeks wealth and in return the devil asks for his soul. In both stories, the authors express their feelings and views about staying away from indulgence and sin. In spite of all the difference among Hawthorne’s, “Young Goodman Brown” and Irving’s, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” they share salient similarities such as setting, symbolism, and author’s purpose.