The Devil In Stephen King's 'The Man In The Black Suit'

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.

The man that Goodman Brown encountered on his journey symbolized the devil in the text which strongly influenced him to just about give up his faith in God. The Devil disguised as a “fellow traveler” (266) tried to influence Goodman Brown by

The devil at the dawn of Christianity bore little resemblance to the ruler of hell, the antichrist and agent of evil that he is known as in present day. Satan makes few overt or implied appearances in the Old Testament. For the important role of God’s greatest adversary, early Christians had to flesh out great parts of Satan’s story in order to develop him into his present, fearsome persona. The Christian story of the Devil is heavily influenced by earlier Greek mythology, and early Christian writings about the Devil co-opted local mythology in order to gain new converts and discredit popular pagan beliefs.

Conflict and symbolism in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne in this story portrays these two elements that enhance the way the story is written. The story “Young Goodman Brown” first takes place in a small town with brown and his wife faith. Then in the story brown leaves faith to go in an adventure that he would later wish he hadn’t gone in. Brown takes a journey through part of the woods that are really scary and comes across the devil himself to later find out that faith was evil and that many from his town were also evil and had a secret evil organization or cult. Through the use of conflict and symbolism, Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” portrays what Brown’s journey represents.

Both authors describe the devil similarly. When first encountered, they portray him described as a mostly normal person, with only a subtle clue to his

’“ You shall open a brokers shop in Boston next month” said the black man.”’ Tom agrees to do what the black man said, but instead of opening the next month, he tells the devil that he is willing to open it the next day. This is just like in todays society where people bargain themselves down to a point with devil which makes them feel trapped in a corner and they feel like they cannot get out of the hands of the devil. Tom let the devil get a hold on him and then Tom said, “ The Devil take me,” ….. “ if I have made a fathering.”’ Just as soon as Tom said that, the Devil took him and rode him off to never be seen again. The people in the world today think that it is okay to let the Devil show up here and there. In the long run, he is going to have a hold on people and before they realize it they are his people and he will have them doing works for him instead of the

     The main focus of the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the triumph of evil over good. A supposedly good man is tempted by evil and allows himself to be converted into a man of evil. This is much like the situation that arises in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, where two people are tempted to sin and give in thus submitting themselves to the power of the devil. In this novel, the area where the devil resides is strictly parallel to that in “Young Goodman Brown”.

The devil does this in order to obtain Tom Walkers soul. As a moneylender, Tom Walker has very bad morals. When he is a moneylender he puts people out of bussiness and tries to make profit off the peoples losses. Washingtong Irving descrbies Tom Walker as, “Thus Tom was universal friend of the needy, and acted like a ‘friend in need’; that is to say, he always exacted good pay and good security. In proportion to the distress of the applicant was the hardness of the terms. He accumulated bonds and mortgages gradually squeezing his customers closer and closer, and sent them at length, dry as a sponge, from his door” (33). Tom Walker doesn’t seem to care about what his afterlife has in store for him. Everything he is doing is just making him worse as a person. This shows how Tom Walker was greedy and how some people will do anything to make money.

In the two stories Goodman Brown and The Man in the Black Suit, the writer's Nathaniel Hawthorne and Stephen King portray the features of appearance, language, and behavior about the devils that occur. These features occur throughout the stories to give evidence and detail about characterization and how he tries and pursues the people to be a servant of him. The writers also evoke the effect of evil on innocence. The two stories show the two different outcomes of what path Brown and Gary choose to go down upon. The presence of evil on the innocent can be an experience of being a servant for him or not believing him and still find the good in everyday.

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 both stories the similarity made between the two works was in the beginning, Tom Walker and Goodman Brown both doubted the Devil’s intuition. In the work of Young Goodman Brown, states, “Having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return whence I came. I have scruples touching the matter thou wot’st of”(Hawthorne). Goodman Brown happens to be doubting the Devil and is contemplating on whether he should turn around and go home. In The Devil and Tom Walker, Irving states that “Tom never disclosed them publicly. They must have been very hard, for the required time to think of them, and he was not a man to stick at trifles when money was in view” (Irving 115). Corresponding with Young Goodman Brown, Tom Walker had to think about the negotiation, and what was being offered. However, even though both works portray similarities within their works, they ended up with different results. Tom Walker shows the difference by expressing his thoughts on the offer, “What proof have I that all you have been telling me is true?” said Tom. “There’s my signature.” said the black man, pressing his fingers to Tom’s forehead” (Irving 115) Tom Walker is considering on taking the deal

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the author Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the fragility of humans when it comes to their morality. Goodman Brown goes on a journey through the forest with the devil to watch the witches’ ritual and observes the evil in the Puritan society. He loses his faith as he sees the people he respects the most participating in the sinful ritual. Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes setting, and symbolism in his short story “Young Goodman Brown,” to show how a person’s perspective can change by showing the hypocritical nature of the Puritan society

Intent and Motive in The Devil and Tom Walker and The Devil and Daniel Webster

“Young Goodman Brown” tells the story of Goodman Brown. Goodman Brown begins the story about to leave home and his Puritan Wife Faith to go on a journey that he felt guilty with to begin with. Despite his initial guilt, he leaves home a devout Puritan and sound in his beliefs. Throughout the story, Goodman Brown digresses as a man and loses his faith over the course of events of the story. On his journey, Brown meets a man who first tries to tempt him to go with him to a meeting in the forest. The man turns out to be the devil. Before parting ways, the devil gives Brown a staff

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne introduces Goodman Brown, who doubts himself and reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. His struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can handle. This story is about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before the sunrise.