Theme Of Irony In Young Goodman Brown

In the short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses irony to reveal nothing is really how it seems and what Mr. Brown encounters in one night ends up changing his life forever. Mr. Brown leaves his wife, Faith, to attend a meeting in the woods and believes that he comes face to face with the devil and some of his follows. When Mr. Brown arrives back home from his meeting he is then led into a life of mistrust against everyone in his town, including his wife. At the end of the story the author leaves us to wonder, by not telling his readers if the encounter Mr. Brown believed to witness was real or a type of dream that had a major effect on him.

Mr. Brown had lived in a town that were filled with many devoted Christians …show more content…
Brown was approached by an old man with a stick, that told him he had been late. He replies to the old man by saying, “my dear Faith held me back”, ironically this can be interpreted as his faith in the Lord held him back from going into the woods and he knew he should have not been there. Later, another man came up to Mr. Brown and they all conversed for a minute, then the two men tried to get Mr. Brown to go farther into the woods but said Mr. Browns replies by saying neither his father or grandfather ever had to go so far on an errand and he should not have too either. Mr. Brown eventually goes further into the woods and then tries to turn back to his dear Faith but he then continues onto his journey and parts further without it. The old men that happened to be holding a serpent like stick told Mr. Brown that he could grab it whenever he had gotten weary of walking. In Christianity, the bible the serpent is a snake and often refers to the Devil himself. Mr. Brown recognizes this and declines the old man’s offer. He then continues to walk until he approaches a woman he recognizes that happened to be a spiritual teacher in his town, and he then he happens to see the Deacon of his church, he then realizes that they are a part of the evil surrounding …show more content…
Brown later refuses to take another step forward on the path because he figures out that the old man that appeared to be normal is actually the devil himself, the spiritual teacher happened to be a witch, and the deacon appeared to be a follower of the devil. This shows people are not always what they portray to be. I believe that the author tried to hit on religious hypocrites because the people that Mr. Brown thought to be completely religious where evil spirited. He then overhears that there is a devils sacrifice/worship further into the woods and he eventually sees that his whole town is a part of it except for his wife. Later, a pink ribbon passes him, the same ones his wife had been wearing when he left her, so he goes into the woods and he sees her at the Devils ceremony and sees she had been corrupted