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Good vs. Evil in Nathaniel Hawthorne? s Young Goodman Brown Hawthorne? s Young Goodman Brown gives a fine look at the internal struggle between good and evil. On one hand you have Brown? s wife Faith the symbolic quintessence of faith itself.
He entrusts his faith with her when he decides to tarry away into the woods on his errand He knows the errand is bad but feels it necessary to ensure his faith. He claims when he makes it back he will? cling to her skirt and follow her to Heaven. ? But why must he test his faith?
Is it not good enough to just posses faith? Brown thinks he can overcome any tests of his faith on his journey. When he gets more than he bargained for Brown is forever changed. His faith wasn?
t as solid as he had thought. As Brown decides to make the trip from his home he must leave his? Faith? behind, even though she pleads with him to stay. He feels bad for leaving her to go on such an evil mission. But he reassures him self with the fact that he will prevail in his journey and be back to Faith soon enough.
It is obvious there is a great deal of symbolism in the idea of Faith. She is more than his wife; she is symbolic of his faith in God as well. In the Puritan society his journey alone would mean damnation. He was going to consort with the Devil. His purpose possibly virtuous, but blasphemous just the same. When Brown met with the Devil it was easy at first, for him to resist his offering.
When he was offered the staff of the Devil, which was symbolic of him taking the guidance of evil, it was easy for him to refuse, making it clear that he had no intention of taking the guidance he had been offered. Even when he was made aware his own family was formally in cahoots with the Devil he held steadfast to his convictions of faith. He explained he would not be able to look the minister in the eye if he were to continue. The sly devil relentless, makes light of the claims of Brown by laughing at them. Brown then finds him self making excuses.
He couldn? t do it to Faith. Then a great surprise came. There appeared an old woman on the path it was Goody Clouse, Brown? s catechism teacher. Brown witnesses her allegiance to the Devil first-hand.
If some one of this stature can claim allegiance how can Brown resist? He draws his faith from Goody Clouse and the others from the church and if she truly has none how can he? So with this Brown refuses to go any further. He can write off Goody Clouse, but refuses to quit on Faith.
So the Devil concedes and leaves his staff for Goodman Brown in case he wishes to continue. Goodman Brown? s faith is being tested here in the ultimate way. He now rests all his faith, in Faith.
He still has her and it seems now that that is what he must depend on. So he sat and was relieved in knowing he had succeeded in staring down the Devils devious temptations. He had no intention of continuing with the Devils staff. Then he witnessed the impossible the minister and Deacon Gookin where on there way to the Devils meeting. How could this not be the end for Goodman Brown? His own divine leaders also claimed allegiance to the Devil.
These where the men he was worried about facing. Now what shall he do? Good and evil are now one in the same. But still Brown denounces evil and stays true to Faith. It? s now that he seems to truly be prevailing.
If he can see all his mentors? allegiances and keep his own faith he surely must truly be faithful. So the Devil now desperate and close to defeat resorts to the ultimate ploy. As Brown looked up he saw a pink ribbon float down, the one his Faith had been wearing earlier. ? My Faith is gone! ? cried he, after one stupefied moment. ?
There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come Devil! For to thee is this world given. ? (Hawthorne 202). This was the final blow his last hope was now vanished.
So like a mad man now with no regard, he took up the staff and went on in a rage to confront these evil people. When he neared them he found their worship ground blazing in fire and the sounds of a familiar hymn. As he came nearer to the fire he could see their altar, a burning rock, obviously the evil doings of the Devil. As he looked around he saw all the well-respected people of his community.
However he didn? t see Faith so he began to feel hope again. The congregation called for the new converts and Brown stepped forward. He had made up his mind he was going to give in to the Devil? He had no reason to remain faithful.
All that he had based his faith was shown to be false before his own eyes. He was lead by Deacon Gookin before the blazing rock when a slim veiled figure was lead to stand beside him. He now stood in front of the hellish communion alter with his Faith at his side. ? Faith! Faith! ? cried the husband. ?
Look up to heaven, and resist the wicked ones! ? Whether Faith obeyed, he knew not. Hardly had he spoken, when he found himself calm night and solitude, listening to the roar of the wind, which died heavily away through the forest. He struggled against the rock and found it chill and damp, while a hanging twig, that had been all on fire, besprinkled his the cheek with the coldest dew. (Hawthorne 205). Literary critics have interpreted the significance of Goodman Browns experience in many fashions allegorical, moral, philosophical, and psychological. However, there is an intriguing absence of any reference to the last line of the Sabbath scene to explain Hawthorne's characterization of the young Puritan, despite the fact that Hawthorne signals the importance of the cold drops of dew in a periodic sentence.
In essence, Hawthorne here carefully delineates the image of a young man who has faced and failed a critical test of moral and spiritual maturity. (Easterley 339) This is one critic? s interpretation of the event, that Brown failed his test. He claimed allegiance to Heaven until the very end though. So there for didn?
t he pass the test of his faith? If he let the ceremony go on then I could see it as a failure. His journey into the forest is a plunge into the depths of horror and despair, a walk on the dark side of the human heart. Evil is the nature of mankind, one of the devils disciples declares to the New England Puritan. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome again, my children, to the communion of your race.
Pushed to the limit of comprehension, Goodman Brown stumbles onto the polluted core of his true self and disavows it, withdrawing into himself to become a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not desperate man. When he dies, nobody grieves. (Gener 8) Here it explains Brown to disavow his polluted core but in turn ends up to be the withdrawn person he dies as. There are many interpretations of what happened to young Goodman Brown. The fact of the matter is his faith, maybe if still there, was not ever the same. It was tainted by his evil encounters in the forest, real or not. So in all practical terms I don?
t believe he passed his test of faith. If he had he would have been able to go on unscathed. Kennedy, X. J. and Gioia, Dana.
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Longman, 2000 Gener, Randy. ? Into the Woods with the Devil. ? American Theater. Vol. 12: Iss. 4 1995: pg. 8. Easterley, Joan Elizabeth. ?
Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne? s? Young Goodman Brown? . ? Studies in Short Fiction.
Vol. 28: Iss. 3: pg. 339.
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Research essay sample on Young Goodman Brown Good And Evil
