He sets off on his way at sunset into a thick forest to rendez-vous with an old man who is to lead him to this secret deep in the woods, the secret being a meeting to welcome the people of Salem to Satan's evil kingdom. Goodman Brown, throughout the story, is in conflict with himself as to why he is doing this.
He tries to turn back many times but is once again drawn to this inevitable journey by the old traveler. Once he arrives near the meeting, he hears Faith succumb to Satan and rushes to be with her. Goodman Brown then awakes in the forest and returns to Salem. He is accompanied by a mysterious, older man who is later on revealed to be the devil.
As they are walking, Young Goodman Brown tries to turn back several times and at one point succeeds in getting rid of the devil. However, when he sees that even his wife has surrendered to the same evil path that he was on, he stops resisting and continues into the forest. In the end, he cries out to resist the devil and then wakes up to find himself alone in the forest. They were worshipping, praying, and obeying the devil. As Goodman Brown started his journey into the forest, he met an older man.
The old man, "was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features" DiYanni, In Brown's ignorance, he does not realize that the one he is with is in fact the devil.
This is shown when Brown asks a question in fear before meeting the old man, "There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree," said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him, as he added, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow! Not surprisingly "Young Goodman Brown" takes place in Salem during the puritan era.
The story begins with Goodman Brown departing from his wife in the village to meet with and take a stroll in the forest with a "fellow-traveler" the devil.
Which is why it's so fascinating. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Goodman Brown thinks he sees his father beckoning him forward and his mother trying to hold him back. Before he can rethink his decision, the minister and Deacon Gookin drag him forward. Goody Cloyse and Martha Carrier bring forth another person, robed and covered so that her identity is unknown. After telling the two that they have made a decision that will reveal all the wickedness of the world to them, the figure tells them to show themselves to each other.
Goodman Brown sees that the other convert is Faith. Goodman Brown tells Faith to look up to heaven and resist the devil, then suddenly finds himself alone in the forest. The next morning Goodman Brown returns to Salem Village, and every person he passes seems evil to him. He sees the minister, who blesses him, and hears Deacon Gookin praying, but he refuses to accept the blessing and calls Deacon Gookin a wizard.
He sees Goody Cloyse quizzing a young girl on Bible verses and snatches the girl away. Finally, he sees Faith at his own house and refuses to greet her. We are led to doubt whether what he witnessed the night before actually happened. Was it all a dream? He becomes distant from his own wife. Once he has made the decision to go down to the woods tonight he was always going to be in for a big surprise.
The twist, of course, is that in leaving Faith his wife behind, he finds Faith again, in the woodland black sabbath, where she is at first veiled and then revealed to him. He already suspects those in authority around him, those who teach religion to the village children or who dutifully pray, of secretly harbouring evil desires and performing dark deeds. His dream was merely an enacting of these paranoid suspicions.
The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University. Image: via Wikimedia Commons.
The symbolism in this story is as subtle as a ton of rocks.
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