Young Goodman Brown

1 Pages 354 Words

Young Goodman Brown

The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials. The story was written and published in 1837 in Hawthorne’s “Twice Told Tales” shortly after Hawthorne’s graduation from Bowdoin College in Maine. Hawthorne’s main influences stem out of the New England Puritan culture. The Salem Witchcraft Trials and his puritan family background all shine through in his creation of this short story. One of his forefathers, Judge Hathorne actually presided over the Witchcraft Trials in 1692. (Note the change in spelling of the last name to help clear his name from the witchcraft incidences) According to my research, several of Hawthorne’s works deal directly with issues such as good vs. evil, alienation and isolation, and in Young Goodman Brown spiritual growth and pride.
This story involves a young man’s journey into vast, unknown, uncharted back woods in Salem, Massachusetts. A place where it would be difficult to convince many people of that time to travel, but this is no vacation for Goodman Brown. It is a spiritual journey that he must embark upon to clear his spiritual conscience, and confirm his “Faith”. Hawthorne shows his belief that evil exists in everyone, and we all battle within to find that gracious faith in God. Goodman Brown even questions his companion on his journey through the woods by saying, “Can this be so! Howbeit, I have nothing to do with the governor and council; they have their own ways, and are no rule for a simple husband like me.” (p. 504) This quote begins to show Goodman Brown’s conversion from naivety to enlightenment into the evil ways of different men in his community. In the end, Hawthorne purely intends for his reader to take awareness into the evil ways of society, and to use that awareness to better deal with future situations. Isolation and complete rejection of all people who have...