Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’, Essay Example

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’ is a good example of the old saying things are not always as they seem. The main character, ‘Young Goodman Brown’  refuses to join forces with the devil, however  his decision comes too late. Brown wants to believe in himself and the puritan way, but learns things are not the way they are suppose to be.  Goodman Brown learns about himself, his family, and his fellow puritans and is never able to come to terms with what he learns. Goodman Brown becomes a darkly distrustful man at the end of his life because of his own decisions and conflict with the devil. Further,  his disillusion with his family’s association with evil, and the actions of his fellow puritans engaging with the devil.

At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown makes decisions and questions his own conflict within himself;  this causing  him to become a darkly distrustful man at the end of his life. Brown has an interaction with his wife that shows his own conflict with evil. When Brown encounters a journey through the woods, to a satanic evil ritual, Brown’s wife Faith pleads to him, “Prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed tonight” (465). As Brown departs from Faith, he shows his conflict within himself when he states, “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand” (465)! Goodman wants to stay with Faith, but he just cannot resist his journey through the woods with the devil. Furthermore, Brown has the opportunity to turn down the devil on multiple occasions, but chooses to allow the devil’s words to keep him in the woods. Even though Brown does not follow through with any evil actions, nevertheless  he does have conflict within himself because of the decisions he makes.

The second example of why Goodman Brown becomes a darkly distrustful man is because he learns his ancestors are not the Puritans he once believed them to be.  While on the path with the devil Brown states, “My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him” (466). Goodman Brown is horrified when the devil explains his close connection with Brown’s family. The devil tells him that “I helped your grandfather, the Constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman…” (466). The devil also mentions that “…it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village…” (466). These statements show that the ancestors of Young Goodman Brown has a history of sinful actions. Brown tells the devil that “We are people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (467). Brown must to come to terms that his ancestors are not the Puritans he thinks they are.

Finally, Goodman Brown becomes a darkly distrustful man because he learns of the evil actions of the Puritan society in which he lives and has devoted himself to.  Once Brown reaches his destination he finds that even the good Deacon and the Minister are working on behalf of the devil during the satanic evil ritual. Hawthorne states that Brown “…had no power to retreat one step, not to resist, even in thought, when the minister and good old Deacon Gookin seized his arms and led him to the blazing rock” (472). Brown’s beliefs are shattered when he learns that the Puritans also engage in behaviors that will work in favor of the devil. The society Brown has devoted himself too is not as pure and Christian as he once thought. Hawthorne describes Brown as “ A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become…”(473).  These religious beliefs and societal actions provide no escape for Goodman Brown and haunts him for the rest of his days.

Although Goodman Brown struggles with his views of good and evil, he becomes a darkly distrustful man at the end of his life because of his own actions, the actions of his family, and the actions of members within his society. He particularly distanced himself from both his wife and his grandchildren.  Eventually when he passed away he was accompanied to his grave by his aged wife and grandchildren.  The mood was somber and there was no hopeful sign placed upon his tombstone.  An empty epitaph of an unfulfilled life.