No Sympathy for the Devil: Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Young Goodman Brown," is a study of human nature and psychology. Goodman Brown's internal self-doubts manifest themselves in a dream, which causes him to doubt others. In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne uses symbols, most of which are affiliated with religion, and reveals an intrinsic religious struggle that is universal to the human race. He criticizes the Puritans, but shows that, while there is much hypocrisy in the Church, the principle of religion itself is a good thing. Hawthorne also means to show his readers that while social institutions need to be doubted in order to keep them free of corruption, life-long pessimism does no good to anyone involved.

In young goodman Brown's dream, his "Faith," who is symbolized by his wife, is brought into question, as is the faith of his fellow townspeople. Brown's "journey, as thou [Faith] callest it, forth and back again, must be done 'twixt now and sunrise" (1264). Brown feels that he must finish his quest under the cover of the night because no respectable citizen would be seen going into the woods alone. Symbolically in literature, "going into the woods" is seen as choosing a dark path, which is exactly what Brown contemplates doing. Goodman Brown leaves the village and goes to the forest to meditate in solitude, without the interference of Faith, presumably, although "Faith kept me [Brown] back awhile" (1264). His trip away from his town, which interestingly is Salem - the home of the infamous witch trials, is taken so that he may leave, and question, his "Faith."