He lets the evil into his head and clouds his vision of others. He ends up living, but he isn’t happy nor is he nice towards others, especially his wife Faith. He thinks she is plotting against him and he ends up dying unhappy and almost alone. He viewed others differently and thought they were all involved with evil. So, as you can see, people were infected with evil, especially Brown himself.
Young Goodman Brown The short story “Young Goodman Brown” examines the characteristic battle between good and evil. Young Goodman Brown goes out on an adventure to test the strength of his faith. He goes into the dark forest in order to deny the attempt of the devil to sway him from his religion; a test he believes his strong faith is ready to confront. Young Goodman Brown is forever altered in ways unknown to him by taking a walk with the devil himself. Throughout his journey, Goodman Brown discovers that even highly observed people of Salem are vulnerable to the forces of darkness.
The puritans thought that the devil could be any person or anything and appear at any given time or place. So for Goodman Brown to be meeting the devil in this time period is considered not normal. To describe how much the puritans feared the devil Hawthorne says “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow! (4)” In conclusion, the decision to go into the forest and the fear Goodman Brown experienced when he first met the devil is what begins the process of him losing his innocence. The fear of the wilderness in “Young Goodman Brown” is something that was not
In the theme of morality vs. temptation, Goodman Brown has to either follow what he knows is right, or do what everyone else is doing. One time when he encounters this theme is when he thinks his Faith is gone while he is out in the woods. A pink bow falls from the sky, lands in his hands, and he thinks his Faith has left him. When this happens he decides that the world is given to the devil. He gets up from his rock and runs to where they are
(Hawthorne 398-400) At the beginning of the meeting there is still some hope for Brown, who must now deal with what he feels is an honor-bound duty. The Goodman believes that he is from a family of good men that would have never been into the forest on an errand to meet the devil. This view quickly disintegrate as the devil states that all of his ancestors were with him as they tortured women in Salem and burned Indian Villages to the ground, and afterwards the devil and
This jar becomes a later symbol hopelessness and mockery as it has failed to stay alight and protect him from his fears, unable to protect his experiences of the world. “Ready to bless, to exorcise monsters” is religious imagery which is used to display how much faith the boy has in his jar as it is his god. Him believing that it will protect him, which with that failing, crushes his faith to the jar and ultimately changing his approach to his world. The experience of losing his faith was a turning point. The quote “field and flower/pincer and claw” uses the technique contrast, which displays light and darkness, ‘field and flower’ represents day light and safety which is contrasted by ‘pincer and claw’ which represents night and fear.
I think this is because his family, especially his siblings Dewey Dell and Jewel, truly do not understand Darl’s positive intentions. Instead, they are just weirded out by his actions because they are too simple-minded and self centered to understand someone else’s motives who do not match their own, making him that much more subjective to be labeled as crazy. Not only do his intellectually inferior siblings misunderstand Darl, but also his own mother never liked
Young reflects one who is young and perhaps is inexperienced or ignorant of the world around them it may not be aware of the dangerous. Goodman is a newly married man and so his destiny is one of fate that awaits him. Faith whom is Goodman Brown’s wife is a symbol of his strong faith in God or higher power whom he deems greater then himself. The scene in which a scream can be heard followed by murmuring, fading laughter and faint whisper are a symbol that Goodman has lost his faith in God represented by his cries of terror, agony and desperation as the forest mocks his cries. The traveler that Goodman Brown meets along his journey is a symbolic metaphor for the Devil who comes to entice Goodman Brown whom carries a staff in the form of a snake or serpent.
In conclusion not only was this a dream, but a nightmare. For Goodman Brown came face to face with his own evil. He denied his human part of himself which in turn took his “life” from his soul. Goodman Brown is so deeply affected by this dream that he sees his townsmen and wife as fallen from grace. He is the only one that resisted the temptation and has no forgiveness for others.
Next his belief system would be damaged. For this reason all the people in his life he thought was good and decent were evil. The people of good standing in his community were also visiting the devil in the woods. Young Goodman Brown was having second thoughts deciding not to join the devil converts at the fire and look to heaven .But the good people of the town were carrying out this evil