Comparison Between ' A Good Man ' And ' Young Goodman Brown '

In “Young Goodman Brown”, after his journey into the forest, Brown changes his entire outlook on life. He has lost his faith and has taken on a life of darkness and unrest because he is never sure whether the events of what happened in the forest were reality or imagined. From that point on he is never at peace because he is always expecting evil. And he is then depicted as a man who never has happiness with his beloved “Faith”, that is his wife and his actual faith in God, or in any other thing in his life. Brown becomes a victim to the nature of evil and the effects that it can play on the

The story reveals that there is some degree of evil in everyone because humans are born with the freewill to do right or wrong. As humans, we are born into an imperfect world and we have many flaws. We can choose to be good honest people or evil doers. The older man in Young Goodman Brown said that Goodman Brown had more evil power then he did. This older man could represent an evil spirit or even the devil himself. This line in the story could

Cheating, lying, stealing, murder, and adultery. In today's world, these are all things that are very common occurrences in society. These are all sins. Sins that almost everyone commits, but is willing to try and "cover them up" in some shape or form. For most human beings committing a sin brings guilt along with it. In Nathaniel Hawthorn's short stories "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Minister's Black Veil", both the main characters Mr. Hooper and Goodman Brown carry guilt because of a sin that they have committed.

Many events led up to him losing his faith and being consumed with self-doubt, but the one that finally pushed Goodman Brown over the edge to call onto the devil was when he could not find his wife Faith. The line “‘But where is Faith?’ thought Goodman Brown; and, as hope came into his heart, he trembled.” shows

“Religion in ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’.” Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, 3-Volume Set, Facts On File, 2010.

He was able to at least blindly acknowledge the new side to Goody Close, and the minister and the Deacon, but with the sight of her pink ribbon "after one stupefied moment" Young Goodman Brown cried "my Faith is gone" (190). On the outside he believes his wife too has fallen into the trap of the devil yet on the inside he has lost his own faith. "There is no good on earth…come, devil; for to thee is this world given" (190). To Goodman Brown his world is now over and with his faith in the world, in his society gone he succumbs to the evilness of the forest.

However the devil overpowers his sense to go back and he continues on into the forest. The devil gives Brown a lot of information about his family and ancestors, and how they did terrible things such as worship the devil and practice black art. In the forest Brown also witnesses many people from his town; people that he thought were good and would never do evil things. He sees his childhood Sunday school teacher, the minister, and the deacon all on their way to worship the devil.

Young Goodman Brown became hysterical after his visit into his “forest” or id. He cannot accept that even with his pure good heart, there was such evil in his unconscious. So with every thought that he was taught wrong by his religion, he simply just repressed it into his id or unconscious minds. And after he explored his id, Brown realize he wasn’t as pure as he hoped he

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” tells the tale of a man whose Puritan beliefs were shaken to the core because reality turned out to be much different than he was taught in catechism. Goodman Brown showed readers how much he believed in his family’s goodness when he claimed “We have been a race of honest men and good Christians… We are a people of prayer, and good works, to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (Hawthorne 247). Because of this, Brown is surprised when he comes to know that people he thought were holy were in fact advocates for the devil and sinners- especially his wife Faith. People that he held in the highest regard were nothing but the lowest of the low to him now. He becomes surly, loses all faith in humanity, and develops a bitter worldview after this revelation.

“Young Goodman Brown” and “Good Country People” are short stories written a little more than 100 years apart by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Flannery O’Connor respectively, and they both follow similar themes about religion and faith in a parallel sense. “Young Goodman Brown” follows the story of a devout Puritan losing his faith in God and humanity through a journey in the woods. While “Good Country People” follows the story of an amputee woman who is “tricked” by a fake Bible salesman into going out with him as she is seduced by his Christian principles. Both “Young Goodman Brown” and “Good Country People” depict a story of faith but in reciprocal directions. “Young Goodman Brown” and “Good Country People” argue how one’s faith and identity can so easily be weakened and undermined by outside influences and temptations using techniques and views typical of Romanticism and Southern Gothic respectively.

"As he was walking into the forest I think it symbolic of how his soul is getting darker as the light of goodness fade away from his soul and the Indian behind the trees are the temptations in his life that are out to get him." says Owatas (website 1) Young Good Man Brown even doubts his next course f action but as soon as he meets up with the devil his fate is sealed.

Brandon Bonds, English 200, Winter Term, 2016 Commentary: Theme and Purpose Young Goodman Brown is a short story with a hidden meaning. The story shows a strong theme of how the public views a person’s faith. In this story, the characters, actions, and setting all represent public morality and evil. ​Goodman Brown is a Puritan who believes in God, but Brown’s faith is tested.

“Young Goodman Brown” is full of allegorical content relating to the Puritan religion. The names of the characters in “Young Goodman Brown” are the most profound examples of allegory influenced by Puritanism. The protagonist, Goodman Brown, has a name that suggests far more than just a name. “Goodman Brown” for example, is a name that presents the character as a good moralistic man that at all costs resists temptation. Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, has a name that assists in illustrating the downfall of Goodman Brown. After seeing Faith in the forest, Goodman Brown cries, “My Faith is gone!”(323). His wife, Faith was gone along with his spiritual faith. We first see Goodman Brown as a moral Puritan man, and after loosing his faith he becomes the opposite.

Thus when Goodman Brown leaves his "faith", it is not a departure from virtue, but a departure from deception.  To continue the allegorical analysis, Goodman Brown represents any naturally good human being caught in puritanism's web.  His journey through the evil forest is a journey into truth - into Hawthorne's reality of evil puritanism. He discovers that all the "pious" members of the community are actually evil, which, when interpreted directly, tends to suggest the true nature of puritanism.  And when these same upstanding puritans mingle with those of  "dissolute lives" and "spotted fame(384)," Hawthorne is suggesting that Puritans are on the same level as these individuals in that there actions are no less morally repugnant.  Brown's conversation with Satan suggests that Puritans have always unconsciously committed sin in their

Brown’s journey into the woods is his journey of individuation, as he must come to terms with the dark desires of his id. For the Puritans, the dark woods are a symbol "of mistrust of their own corrupt hearts and faculties" (this is also an archetypal symbol), which directly