“Young Goodman Brown” is short story about a young Puritan man who sets out on a journey through the forest to witness a witch ceremony, leaving his wife, Faith. He must resist the devil’s temptation and return to her at sunrise, as promised. On his journey Brown experiences events that alter his way of thinking forever. This story is centered around the concept of Faith. Faith is used to show the extent to which religion can become the driving force in one’s life. Faith is defined as an “unquestionable belief in and loyalty to God” (Guralmick 502). Faith can control one’s behavior and manipulate one’s mind in the same way that one’s extreme face or pride can. Goodman let his excessive pride in himself destroy his relationship with his wife and community, and his ability to worship God.
Goodman Brown goes into the woods to meet with the devil, therefore, he is questioning his faith from the start. He steps away from his faith for a short period of time to go on his journey saying that, “After this one night, I’ll cling to her (Faith) skirts and follow her to Heaven” (Hawthorne 1). This is one example where Goodman’s excessive pride comes in to play. He feels that he can do this sinful deed because he
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We have been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs” (Hawthorne 2). Brown dies a lonely and miserable death; buried with “no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne 9). Goodman still assumes that his community has a monopoly on virtue. Goodman showed his arrogance and excessive pride when he ignored the Deacon and his Faith’s greetings and snatched the small child away from Goody Cloyse. He shows disgust toward the minister, his old catechism teacher and even his wife. She accepts the devil’s staff and continues through the woods to the communion. Think about it, what was Goodman doing in the forest? The same thing all the other townspeople were doing. promised himself he would repent afterwards. Did Goodman actually lose his faith? If he had true faith would he have questioned the existence of Heaven and God? It was his pride that kept him isolated from his community. This is where Goodman experiences his epiphany. And it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip’s war. Goodman’s pride begins to build as he thinks about how strong he is for refusing the devil’s temptations. He naively believed that his fellow Puritans were actually “pure”.
Brown sees his old catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, befriending the devil and speaking of witchery.
Approximate Word count =
1033
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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