Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

            Hawthorne is well known for his dark-gothic romantic novels and “Young Goodman Brown” definitely fits that genre. “Young Goodman Brown” is a dark romantic story based on Goodman Brown’s internal battle and his dark encounters in the forest with the temptations of the devil. Brown comes form a generation of Christians and is devoted to his belief in God. It is evident that the dark figure Goodman Brown meets in the forest is in fact the devil because of the serpent on his walking stick or staff. In the bible the serpent represents Satan and in Genesis 3:1 the serpent speaks to Eve and asks her if God really did tell her to refrain from eating the fruit. The Serpent (Satan) tempts Eve to eat the fruit the same way that Satan tempted Goodman into the forest.

            The fact that Goodman even enters the forest shows that he may have a darkside. It is also evident that he is having an internal battle and knows that he should not be in the forest because his conscience weighs heavily on him. Brown keeps telling Satan that he must return to his village “For Faith’s sake”. I love the irony in this statement because yes Faith is in fact the name of his wife, but it is also in a way, acknowledging that Brown is uncomfortable in the forest being tempted by Satan and that he must get back to the village to protect his “faith”, for his faith’s sake, before he does something unchristian.

            As the story progresses and Satan gives Brown the serpent staff, Faith, Brown’s wife is cloaked and brought to the forest for the ceremony. As she is unveiled, Brown believes that Faith has turned evil and all good is lost in the world. I liked this metaphor because if our faith is tarnished by temptations and evils, all good can be lost in the world and what we have to live for will be lost, Christianity would cease to exist in its purest form if all of the once believers lost their faith.

            As Goodman leaves the forest and returns to his village the next morning, he is on edge and anxious. Brown seems to not trust anyone. He cannot identify if the events of the previous night in the forest are a dream or of reality. When Brown walks by a pastor quizzing a little girl on bible verses, he feels the need to protect her and take her away from the preacher. When he returns home to his wife Faith, he doesn’t acknowledge her. Brown is forever changed by his experience in the forest and feels as though he cannot trust anyone and he is unsure of what is true and what he believes in.

            I really enjoyed reading this novel because I am a practicing Christian, and I am growing in my faith. I understand and recognize that we as people, are faced with temptation everyday. It is often hard to resist this temptation and hard to ignore the voice of Satan, but the moment we begin letting Satan in is the moment we lose sight of our faith and our beliefs. I attended Ignite this evening and something that really resonated with me was when our speaker said that in scripture, Satan isn’t described as someone who was asking for followers, he was the one telling people to be selfish and to do things solely for themselves without regard for our Savior or anyone else, regardless of if it would harm others. To connect to my previous example, Satan tempted Eve by questioning if God really did say that she could not eat the fruit. Satan presented the option to Eve, he tempted her to be selfish, he did not try to make her become one of his followers but inadvertently by eating the fruit, she in fact did become one of Satan’s followers in that moment.  To be selfish is equivalent of listening to Satan and letting him guide you. I never really though of it that way and I believe it is true that Satan causes us to be selfish and to disregard our neighbors, or families, our friends. Once Satan had entered Goodman Brown’s life he no longer trusted anyone or even acknowledged anyone.

-What were some of your thoughts on this passage?

- Choose two quotes and explain their meaning in a response.

-Do you think that the forest scene was all a dream or was it reality? Is it possible that it was a little of both?