Young Goodman Brown - Hawthorn “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about the devil, good, bad, evil, temptation, faith, lost innocence, hypocrisy, suspicion and doubts. The story doesn’t really say if the events that happen to Goodman are real or just Goodman’s imagination but either way, they change Goodman’s life forever. Goodman is married to Faith, symbolic of what is at stake for Goodman throughout the story, his faith and resisting the devil. The Old Man, possibly the devil, tempts Goodman to attend a ceremony in the forest. The old man even offers Goodman his walking stick, tempting Goodman to use it to help him if he is weak. This walking stick changes in the story, at one time it is withered and twisted
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In the book of Geneses in the Bible, the devil living within the serpent, tempted Eve by telling her she would by like God and know good from evil if she ate from the tree of life in the garden of Eden. Just as the serpent tempted Eve, the old man was tempting Goodman with the staff so that Goodman could travel faster to the ceremony. Ultimately, Goodman’s weak faith and curiosity as to what was ahead in the forest takes him to the ceremony. It was Goodman’s choice to use the staff the old man, the devil, offered just as it was Eve’s choice to eat the forbidden fruit. This symbolism was important in Hawthorn’s writing because at the time of this writing many were Christians and knew of the bible and the role the devil played in the lives of everyone. Goodman’s faith weakened and when he got to the ceremony his innocence was lost and where he once believed that all people were good he now found out that they were not what he thought. In fact he finds out that even those he believed to be good Christians, his father, grandfather, Goody Cloyse, the minister, Deacon Gookin and Faith are all with the devil. Goodman’s choice to not resist the devil had consequences. One of the consequences was when he cam back from the situation he no longer saw the good
In the book of Geneses in the Bible, the devil living within the serpent, tempted Eve by telling her she would by like God and know good from evil if she ate from the tree of life in the garden of Eden. Just as the serpent tempted Eve, the old man was tempting Goodman with the staff so that Goodman could travel faster to the ceremony. Ultimately, Goodman’s weak faith and curiosity as to what was ahead in the forest takes him to the ceremony. It was Goodman’s choice to use the staff the old man, the devil, offered just as it was Eve’s choice to eat the forbidden fruit. This symbolism was important in Hawthorn’s writing because at the time of this writing many were Christians and knew of the bible and the role the devil played in the lives of everyone. Goodman’s faith weakened and when he got to the ceremony his innocence was lost and where he once believed that all people were good he now found out that they were not what he thought. In fact he finds out that even those he believed to be good Christians, his father, grandfather, Goody Cloyse, the minister, Deacon Gookin and Faith are all with the devil. Goodman’s choice to not resist the devil had consequences. One of the consequences was when he cam back from the situation he no longer saw the good