The Evil in Young Goodman Brown
In my interpretation of the story, I will be discussing three main topics: the beginning conversation with Faith, the devilish character, and Brown’s wife’s meaning in the story. Young Goodman Brown is about to take a journey like many others before him, across the threshold separating the young unknowing boys and the elderly sages. This, however, will not be without peril, because aging is a testing process defined by trial and error, and the errors’ prices are sometimes significant.
This errand he is undertaking has an evil purpose. It seems as though this night has been foreseen long ago by both Faith and Goodman Brown. The wife begs him that, of all nights, he should stay this one home because she senses trouble. The purpose of the journey is not discussed, because it is the passage b...
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...; The last paragraph of the story indicates that this was not just a journey to mature, because he died like a heathen, away from the religious community. He strayed his faith and he was punished for this. Gloom is a big part of this story, symbolizing the forest, unknown, and evil. The fact that every person in Salem, sinful or pious, was present in the forest can reflect some humor. They act as zombies by night, and normal people by day, pretending one faith in the gloom, and returning to church at dawn.
In 1875, Dr. Arthur Paul Davis and Alice Davis of Toronto, feloniously and willfully murdered Catherine Laing and then subsequently a week following on Sunday morning murdered Jane Vaughn Gilmour. They were found guilty of the crime committed to victim Gilmour as the case with Laing did not preced...
36 Fleras, Augie, and Jean Leonard Elliott. Engaging Diversity: Multiculturalism in Canada. Toronto: Nelson, 2002: 171.
David Milgaard’s story is one of the most striking and well know representation of wrongful conviction as it happened right here in Saskatoon. Even further than that his case has been called “one of the most famous examples of wrongful conviction in Canada” (CBC News, 2011). In January of 1970, 17-year-old ...
The Canadian Justice system is run like a well-oiled machine. It is based on the fair and humane treatment of suspects who remain innocent until proven guilty. There is one big question that has been debated since July 14th, 1976 - should the death penalty have been abolished in Canada? The new younger generation of Canadians seems to agree with me that the death penalty should be resurrected in Canada.
Canada has been a fully abolitionist country since the 10th of December 1998, and has since continued to maintain a strong anti-death penalty attitude (Amnesty, 2015). The last death penalty sentenced under Canada’s Criminal Code was given in 1962 to two convicted felons charged with first degree murder (Amnesty 2015). After the two were hanged, it brought the total number of people executed in Canada to 710, marking the end of an era (Amnesty, 2015). The death penalty has been a fiercely debated topic spanning even before 1867, Canada’s establishment. Notably however, Canada’s Prime Ministers have long opposed the death penalty starting with John Diefenbaker (Amnesty, 2015). Only the second most recent Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has
But she wonders if there is something else other than the spirit of citizenship that could hold the Canadians together. Are there values commonly shared by the Canadians? Chong has found out solution for these questions, and she states, “What sets Canadian society apart from others is that ours is an inclusive society” (Chong, 2015. P. 8). Canadian immigration laws are forward-looking than many other countries, because the Canadian immigrants and the naturalized citizens enjoy status. Canadians understand the importance of “Unity in Diversity”. The inclusiveness is the bridge that connects the Canadians, and this bridge is tempered with the values like tolerance, fairness, understanding and
In Canada, they have a policy on multiculturalism which reflects racial and cultural diversity in their society. Through this policy, their government was able to acknowledge the freedom of every individual in their society, allowing everyone to preserve, share or even enhance his or her
trial of two men for the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas Manitoba.
Maidment, M. (2009). When justice is a game: Unravelling wrongful convictions in Canada. Canada: Fernwood Publishing.
“Young Goodman Brown” is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The literary work entails a young man’s journey into the woods one night and stumbles upon a variety of people that will change his life forever, but not for the better. The overall tone for the passage is more skeptical in the beginning as Brown tries to figure out his stand on the subject of his puritan faith, however, the it shifts towards a more traffic tenor at the end as he lives with the consequences of his choices from the night in the woods when he decided to walk along side with the weary old traveler. Young Brown proclaims during his journey, “‘Faith! Faith!’ as if bewildered wretches were seeking her, all through the wilderness… ‘My Faith is gone!’ cried he,
Griffiths, C. T. (2007). Canadian Criminal Justice: A Primer (3rd Edition ed.). Toronto: Thomson Nelson.
Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, is representative of his true faith. Seeing Faith personifying innocence and security is helpful to blatantly display how curiosity and sin stain spiritual faith. This faith was once innocent and pure, a source of protection and safety. Because of his curiosity, his faith is devalued and tarnished by the devil and the wilderness. He now has knowledge of the sinfulness that could be around him. This destroys his relationship with Faith and with God. The cheapening of Faith ruins his
D. At first, Goodman Brown hesitated to follow the devil. However, he still decide to follow it with doubt. Even though, Brown knows what he was doing is a sin. This is a fine example of Goodman Brown’s ambivalence, of how he struggle between good and evil, between faith and the devil.
"Why did Goodman Brown leave his wife to fulfill an evil purpose?" "What was his evil purpose?" "Who did he meet in the woods?" "Was it a dream or was it reality?" These are just a few of the questions that ran through my head after reading the short story, Young Goodman Brown. After several nights of reading, rereading, thinking, and debating I've received many revelations of this story; one being the true identity of the "fellow-traveler" mentioned throughout this adventurous tale. You see, he was not just any man, he was the devil himself.
Young Goodman Brown goes into the forest at first with only a small expectation of what he is going to experience. Of his fellow Puritan society he sees the bad seeds as well as supposed men and women of the utmost regard. He sees virgin girls filled with reverence and innocence, and even members of the church present at the devil’s ceremony. This causes Young Goodman Brown to question his entire upbringing and trust in his society. It creates...