Mankind's Inherent Evil
Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown" tells the story of a young man who lives in Salem, Massachusetts. In the story, Goodman Brown takes a journey through the "heathen wilderness" (201) and comes upon a witchcraft ceremony. All of the townspeople are there, which leads Brown to believe that they are all evil. At the end of the story, Brown wakes up in the woods and walks back into town. He does not know if the previous night's activities were real or if they were a dream. Nevertheless, it makes Brown suspicious of everyone. This shows that, since mankind is inherently evil, we all have sins that we cannot escape. This is shown through the characterization, style, and through the point of view. In the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown is leaving on an evil journey. He does not want to go, but he feels as though he must go. He feels that even though he is about to do something evil, he will still be able to get into Heaven by clinging onto his wife, Faith. This pun says two things. One, it shows that we cannot escape are sins. It illustrates thi
He, like so many others, believes that he, as well as his ancestors, are free of sin. Although Hawthorne's choice for a theme in this story is a touchy subject, he does an excellent job illustrating and supporting his idea that none of mankind is free of sin. He refuses to admit that he could be evil, or that his wife could be evil. When Goodman Brown claims that his family has always been a good Christian family. Brown is a young, self-proclaimed Christian. By doing this, Hawthorne is insinuating that everyone has sin. " Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. s by Brown thinking that he will not be able to get into Heaven because of this one sin that he is about to commit -- he cannot escape this sin. Then he screams: "My Faith is gone!" (202). Her name is used several times as a pun.
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