Comparing Evil In Young Goodman Brown, The Devil And Tom Walker

Evil is understood as the force in nature that oversees and provides a rise to wickedness. Evil is a very difficult subject that many consider displeasing, however, evidence from the stories, “ Young Goodman Brown,”,“ The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and, “ The Devil and Tom Walker,” shows that evil does exist; and has existed since the beginning of time. By reading these three stories the themes of Good vs Evil, “Young Goodman Brown,” greed and gluttony in, “ The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and moral decay in, “ The Devil and Tom Walker,” become quite apparent. If all these themes are put together, it shows that there is great evil in each and every human heart. In the tale, “ Young Goodman Brown,” Brown is representing the common man who is struggling in the fight good against evil, which he portrays by venturing into the forest in the dead of night ( the forest generally representing wickedness), and discovering things that are suddenly shown or understood in reality that all must eventually face— that there is sin within the world and nobody is perfect. To …show more content…
This decay is symbolized by the trees flourishing on the outside yet being rotten at the core. At first he is hesitant to agree to the terms of the devils bargain because he guarantees that not even the devil can transform him into a slave broker, which displays some form of a conscience. Then after a huge moral decline due to an interaction with the Devil, he starts to believe that the loss of his wife was a good thing, then goes on to scam hundreds of people out of their money. As he starts to realize the monster that he has become, he tries to cover up for his actions by carrying around a bible, but at that point it becomes clear that Tom Walker has passed the point of no return because he let his natural evil cover him in darkness and