Young Goodman Brown: Struggle with Evil Young Goodman Brown The story Young Goodman Brown is about a man and his faith in himself, his wife, and the community they reside in. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before sunrise. The time era is approximately a generation after the time of the infamous Salem witch trials. Goodman Brown's struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can face. He reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. This characteristic of Goodman Brown is similar to the life lead by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of self-doubt. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an unhappy person his entire life, never satisfied with his accomplishments. Goodman knowns what he must do but dreads the deed. Apon entering the forest he is suspicious of every rock and tree, thinking something evil will jump out at him. When he finally does meet someone on the trail, who appears to be of evil origin, he feels confident that he can refuse any temptations. This evil person makes several advances and Goodman refuses. This makes Goodman feel strong until they meet his childhood catechism teacher and see her turned. This act deters his confidence to a great degree. He continues down the trail looking for hope in the heavens but hears only howling voices. Goodman eventually reaches his destination and sees the rest of the community there participating in satanic acts. When he sees this it destroys any faith he might of had in the community or himself and he appears to give-up. The following morning he finds himself in the forest and wonders what happened the previous night. Whether the scenes he witnessed were real or his imagination, he believes what he remembers and trusts no-one in the village, not even his wife. Goodman lives the rest of his years a miserable and distrusting man. The lead character is happy with the locals and his faith until his trip, when he is convinced they are all evil. Apon this discovery he, in a sense, becomes evil. Whether he actually meets satin, and the community is evil or he fell asleep and tricked himself, he turns out suspecting everyone. The author tells in the end that Goodman is distrustiing after his journey, so he either did met the devil or fell asleep. The story seems to lean toward him meeting the devil in person. If Goodman had dreamt the entire trip the author would have probably described his anxiety with more detail in the beginning. This would have allowed the reader to believe that events were not real. When Goodman comes back he thinks he is better than the rest and judges everyone instantly. He then comes to the conclusion that he is the only person that is not a devil worshiper. Just as before with the witch trials, he is judging them as the so-called witches were judged by his ancestors. A reference to Martha Carrier is made is the story, Goodman's predicament is similar to hers. She was isolated from the community because of her beliefs just like Goodman. The difference is that Martha's community isolated her, and Goodman felt isolated or isolated himself. The views and beliefs of the people of that era were if anything to an extreme. Whatever they believed they worshipped with a vengeance. This extreme faith can be compared to the current time "Career Goal." If the people of today can not pursue a career and succeed, they feel as if their life has no meaning. This most likely has its roots from the protestant work ethic. The ethic, in general, says that you must work hard to please God and compete for a place in heaven. This story is about such people. The modern day person has taken this work ethic and given it a greedy twist. People of today fight for position, status or power just as much as the pioneer puritans worshiped and studied the bible. The puritans would take the word of bible as the word, without interpretation, only translation by the minister of the community. Although these career driven people do not have a book to guide their path, they pursue it none the less. Some of these people have lost, or never had the belief, of reaching heaven, or even its existance. These people are the peers of the believers and set the rules or guidelines for career goals. So in effect the status in the community is a way of saying they are better. The people who do not believe in any god-like being fight in an effort to make their mark on the world, for this is the only they can be recognized or remembered.
Young Goodman Brown is about a young, newly wedded man who leaves his wife, Faith, and to go on a journey into the forest one night. Young Goodman Brown has an innocent and maybe even naïve soul and was looked upon by townspeople as a “silly fellow” (Hawthorne 83). He is accompanied by a mysterious, older man who is later on revealed to be the devil. As they are walking, Young Goodman Brown tries to turn back several times and at one point succeeds in getting rid of the devil. However, when he sees that even his wife has surrendered to the same evil path that he was on, he stops resisting and continues into the forest. He ends up at a witches’ sabbath where he sees familiar faces of people whom he previously looked up to for spiritual guidance; he also finds Faith there and becomes devastated. In the end, he cries out to resist the devil and then wakes up to find himself alone in the forest.
US Attorney's Office. "Investigation of Northeast Oklahoma City Street Gang Results in 56 Convictions and a Collective Prison Sentence of Over 414 Years." FBI. FBI, 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Madden, Frank. Exploring Literature. 4th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print 539-663
Words are powerful things. They can be used to construct or destruct. In the novel Black Boy, Richard Wright discovers this fact after reading inspirational works written by a man named Mencken. It is at this point in his life where he understands the importance of words. Wright qualifies the idea that language is an important key to identity and social acceptance using figures of speech and warrants.
Taking this path that closes behind him represents Young Goodman’s decent into the unconscious and his loss of innocence. On this journey he soon meets a man who is a condensation of several different factors. The man represents the devil, as well as Brown unconscious
Once in the forest, Young Goodman Brown is met with "the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree" (p. 103). When questioned as to why he has dallied in meeting this figure, Young Goodman Brown replies "Faith kept me back awhile" (p. 103). In the literal sense, Young Goodman Brown's pretty young wife delayed him from his meeting with the dark figure by begging him to "put off his journey until sunrise and sleep in his own bed to-night" (p. 103). In a symbolic sense, Young Goodman Brown's devotion to all that is just in the world has made him hesitant to enter the corrupt reality of the forest.
Nelson, S. W., McGhee, M. W., Meno, L. R., & Slater, C. L. (2007). Fulfilling the promise of educational accountability. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(9), 702-709. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/218481883?accountid=32521
Goodman Brown embarks on his journey into the forest with the fervent belief that his potent dedication is indomitably ironclad, and thus will be able to overcome even the most tempting persuasions of the devil. As Goodman and the devil continue sauntering along the serpentine path, they encounter Goodman’s old catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, and it is eventually revealed that she is heading to the satanic occult meeting at the core of the forest. Goodman is absolutely confounded at the sight of her, as he had always considered Cloyse as a moral and spiritual guide in his life. Goody Cloyse’s appearance is the first moment where Goodman begins to question his faith. Brown's illusions about the purity of his society are finally obliterated when he discovers that many of his fellow townspeople, including religious leaders and his wife (aptly named Faith), are attending a Black Mass or “witch-meeting”. At the end of the story, it is not clear whether Brown's experience was a nightmare or biting reality, but the results are nonetheless the same. Brown is unable to forgive the possibility of evil in his loved ones, and as a result spends the rest of his life in desperate loneliness and gloom.
Humans, like all animals, attempt to evade death. Though death is usually seen as an unwanted end, some see it as an alternative to suffering. Most people cringe at the thought of suicide, but is euthanasia the same thing? Do human beings have the right to choose death?
Goodman Brown in the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne goes on a journey into the woods to meet a stranger which ultimately changes his life. His blind faith in his religion makes him believe that all people are good. Goodman Brown is a trusting, naive man in the beginning if the story but witnesses a witch ceremony that changes his personality drastically. Seeing his family and his neighbors taking part in the sinful act changes his outlook on life and his outlook on their personalities as well. Brown’s blind faith in people and his naivety make the shock of what he sees in the woods turn him into an untrusting, paranoid man.
Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Shakespeare, William, Marilyn Eisenstat, and Ken Roy. Hamlet. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2003. Print.
Despite the lack of information on Goodman Brown's past, the cause of the trip into the forest is known. He has sinned and knows he has of his own free will. Also Brown experiences the sin of pride. He wants the knowledge about what nobody really knows about: the devil. The major flaw with this thinking is that Brown relies on the village to protect him. He thinks if he decides not to join the devil, the town will greet him with open arms and will fix everything. But when Brown returns to the village, he sees the villagers differently and does not ask for their help.
Shakespeare, William. The Three-Text Hamlet. Eds. Paul Bertram and Bernice Kliman. New York: AMS Press, 1991.
Late one night he finds himself in the middle of the woods with the Devil, on his way to a meeting of the Devil's followers. After seeing respected townsfolk at the Devil's meeting, including his minister and his wife, Faith, he loses hope in humanity and all that he had known to be true or real. Goodman Brown wakes up in his bed immediately following the Devil's meeting and wonders if what had happened was reality or simply just a dream. Despite his confusion about the events that took place, he was unable to forget what had happened and lost faith in religion and his com... ...