preview

Young Goodman Brown Faith Analysis

Decent Essays

The idea of faith plays a major role in the outcome of the short story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Young Goodman Brown is at first depicted as exceptionally faithful and good. Throughout the story, however, Brown's faith begins to unwind layer by layer as he follows the Devils deeper into the forest. His faith continually wavers as the Devil reveals the people in Young Goodman Brown's life that have been corrupted. Eventually, after several stages and encounters with wickedness, he is no longer as faithful as person he was at first introduced to be.
The Devil tries Brown's faith with tales of his 'friends'. Whether the devil is testing Young Goodman Brown's faith or merely just trying to destroy it is an ambiguous point in the story. As he and the devil start through the forest, the old man begins to tell the stories of Brown's father and grandfather. His father set an Indian village on fire and his grandfather beat a Quaker woman, both with the help of their friend. He passes the news off as merely …show more content…

He runs into Goody Close, a 'good' and 'Christian' old woman from the Salem village who once taught Young Goodman Brown about Christianity. As she hobbles up to them, the devil regards her as his 'old friend', and reveals herself to be a witch. After the devil lends her his staff and disappears, Young Goodman Brown sits down on a stump and refuses to go any further. He begins to hear the sound of horses and the voices of the minister and Deacon Gookin. Sickened with grief from hearing that they have known much 'deviltry', Young Goodman Brown holds on to a tree for support and starts to doubt the heaven's existence. Still, amongst his doubt, he stands strong against the devil and shouts 'With heaven above and faith below, I will stand firm against the devil'

Get Access