The Hopelessness of Faith Weighted with Hypocrisy

Faith is a powerful force that has the ability to create a sense of hope in both life and death. It has seen many a person through the storms of life, by providing an inner tower of strength, and soothing words of comfort. It can be a beacon of light amid the darkness of a despairing world, and a safe haven from the surrounding chaos. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Goodman Brown," a seemingly simplistic story is relayed about the struggles of a man in a New England Puritan community, while in actuality making a statement about the human condition. Faith's value to a person becomes evident when it is no longer available, as in Goodman Brown's case. It need not be religious faith necessarily, but simply faith in something. It is when a person or idea placed upon a pedestal as an image of perfection and goodness is violated by secret truths, that one feels let down. Goodman Brown illustrates how, at the point when one realizes that faith is not always as it seems and comes to believe that goodness is but a fabled word, that his mind caves in to despair, for there is no hope left in the world for him to cling.