Faith In Humanity In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Faith in Humanity Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” is about a man named Goodman Brown, whose faith and creeds are put to the test by evil, wickedness and corruption in the society. Goodman Brown, the man of faith loses his trust in humanity after he realizes that the world is surrounded by evil and every human being has a devil residing inside them. Hawthorne captures his reader’s interest by creating mystery and suspense in the story. Through his story, Hawthorne stresses that humanity is flawed by corruption as people tend to choose evil over good, resulting in frustration, disbelief, and fear. The protagonist of the story is a proud Puritan, Goodman Brown, who goes on a voyage of self-discovery; a voyage to prove that no evil can destroy his faith in God and his faith will allow him to fight against the evil within himself and the society. To test his faith, Brown leaves his young wife to travel through the darkest path that only leads to immorality and debauchery. As a Puritan, Brown believes in God whose supreme powers maintain authority over devil. During 1600’s, the Puritan religious beliefs started in England and moved to America when Puritans left England and sailed to Massachusetts (Deering). …show more content…
Hawthorne uses the name of the protagonist, “Young Goodman Brown” as a symbol. “Young” symbolizes innocence and inexperience, while “Goodman” symbolizes a man of honor who is well respected and admired within the society. Overall, Goodman Brown’s character symbolizes the mankind. Moreover, Hawthorne employs the name of Brown’s wife, Faith, as a symbol of Brown’s own faith and trust in his religion. Additionally, Faith is compared to a “blessed angel on earth,” who represents purity and serves as a proxy for Brown’s religion (Hawthorne