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In Nathaniel Hawthorne s Young Goodman Brown, the characters in the story bear much symbolic significance. The main character, Goodman Brown, is an immature man who feels the need to test his faith by taking a journey through the forest. His going into the woods, however, is a misguided test of his faith because his entire faith is founded too much in human frailty. He puts all of his beliefs in the way his Puritan community behaves, thinking that their actions should reflect his faith.
Hawthorne is perhaps suggesting that faith, which is anything other than deeply personal, is not faith at all. Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin are representatives of Brown s faith because supposedly they are people of God. Goodman Brown thinks that everyone in his village was free from sin, especially those who dedicated their lives to the teachings of God. Goody Cloyse was the lady who taught Goodman Brown his catechism; she was for him the reflection of his faith when he was a child. When Goodman Brown sees her in the forest, he becomes blind to reality and does not want to believe that she may have some connections with the devil; in fact he reinforces his mind that she is godly by telling the old man, That old woman taught me my catechism.
Goodman Brown becomes doubtful of himself and decides not to go on any further on his journey because he fears he could lose his faith. When Brown says, What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil, when I thought she was going to Heaven! He is referring to the disappointment he may encounter if Goody Cloyse turned out to be a witch. Also, Goodman Brown sees Deacon Going in the forest. At this point, Brown is beginning to suspect that there is something wrong, but he becomes astounded when he hears Deacon Goookin say, They tell me that some of our community are to be here from Falmouth and beyond, and others form Connecticut and Rhode Island; besides several of the Indian powwows (Indian priests), who, after their fashion, know as much deviltry as the best of us. Goodman Brown becomes disappointed and starts to doubt whether there really was a Heaven above him.
Brown also puts stock in the actions of his ancestors. He believes that his grandfather and father never had to prove that they could resist the devil because they were honest and religious men who never committed any harmful sin. Brown puts his ancestors on a pedestal, glorifying them for being excellent Christians. However, the old man crashes Goodman Brown s idealistic views of his ancestors when the old man confesses, I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans. The old man describes to Brown every evil action that each one of his ancestors committed, thus leaving Brown in a state of shock, but still not wanting to believe the old man for the sake of his faith.
When Goodman Brown is convinced that in fact all the people he admires are devil worshippers, he goes back to the one person who would never deceive him, his beautiful wife, Faith. His wife Faith is the only element that could keep him from losing his faith because he views her as a blessed angel. Even though he becomes doubtful of his beliefs, he knows he could still fight the devil because he says, With heaven above, and Faith below, I will stand firm against the devil! His wife carries all of Brown s faith because she is the only person that in his mind is incapable of sinning. All of Brown s faith disappears when he sees Faith with Satanists at the meeting. At that instant when Faith is taking in for communion, Goodman Brown cries, My Faith is gone!
Goodman Brown did not just mean that his wife was gone, but his faith as well. Brown fails to pass the test because no matter what happened, he should have stood firm on his faith not based on that of others, but based on deeply held personal belief. He loses his faith because his beliefs rely on the actions of others. He thought that people were exempt from sin, and that they represented faith in all aspects. Brown represents how a person might not be aware that sin is present in everyone, and that good people also contain evil aspects. Being aware of sin can help a person better deal with life because isolating oneself from society and rejecting all the people who are sinners only leads to a lonely, miserable end.
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