The Struggle Between Good And Evil In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about the struggle between good and evil which is a narrative that has been around for decades. All throughout history people have fought to maintain balance between the two and not let one overpower the other and Young Goodman Brown is one of these people. Young Goodman Brown is stuck between choosing to worship the devil or have faith in God. Faith is also the name of his wife, who he sees as the ultimate symbol of purity and goodness. Faith’s portrayal of purity is only furthered by the pink ribbons she wears as they represent purity and innocence while also giving her a childlike quality. The pink ribbons symbolize Young Goodman Brown’s transition from having faith to losing it while …show more content…
White is often a color that symbolizes innocence and heaven, angels are depicted as wearing white gowns and the color is often associated with holiness and virginity. Red, the color that is mixed with white to get pink, is linked with passion, lust and sin, which are all things the highly religious Puritan society would never have outwardly acknowledged. This is why Young Goodman Brown introduces Faith by calling her young and placing importance on her name being Faith. He is trying to convince himself that the “red side” of Faith isn’t significant. When Young Goodman Brown is leaving for the forest he states that, “Faith (was) still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons”(1). He’s saying she can’t feel sad or be anything but happy because she is so pure. If he acknowledged the sinful side of Faith he wouldn’t be able to use her in order to convince himself to not go with the devil. Throughout his walk in the forest with the traveller he often cites Faith as a reason to not go further or join the devils