Mankind has a history of turning away from God and embracing evil. From the days of Cain to the present, there are a chain of men and women who have forsaken the promise of salvation in favor of what is called Satanism. In Hawthorne's story, Goodman Brown is faced with this challenge. He must endure the trials of Satan, learn troubling facts along the way and lose the one he loves. The choice to be made is succumbing to the devil and suffering eternal damnation, or embracing God and be saved.
             Goodman Brown, symbolic for "any good man," dwells in the village of Salem. The Massachusetts town of Salem was once a site of a horrific witch hunt and is a symbol of pure evil. It is ironic that Hawthorne chose this site for the setting and the characters have all the traits of a "normal" citizen of Salem. All of the good people appear to be god fearing Puritans, when in fact they all are practicing devil-worshipers.
             As Brown leaves his house and wife at sunset, we meet his wife Faith. Faith, whose name has a double meaning, is Brown's wife, love and later, divine inspiration. His wife, like any "faith" pleads with him not to travel out that night, "pray thee, put off your journey until sunrise...A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts..."(196-197). Brown does not heed Faith's wishes and begins his strange journey that is foreshadowed with evil when he says, "and after this one night, I'll cling to her (Faith) skirts and follow her to heaven" (197).
             With his thoughts of Faith still fresh in memory, Brown hurries along a path that is on a "dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees in the forest" (197). As he continues, the path and his thoughts become darker and a nervous Brown proclaims: "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" (197). An ironic statement made by Brown, as a dark man, who we later find is the devil, rises from the shadows and joins Brown's journey.
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