Young Goodman Brown

9 Pages 2210 Words

ewise a bitter persecutor, as witness the Quakers, who have remembered him in their histories, and relate an incident of his hard severity towards a woman of their sect, which will last longer, it is to be feared, than any record of his better deeds, although these were many (1337).

Likewise, William Hathorne’s son, John, achieved historical fame in the Salem witchcraft delusion of 1692. Seated on the bench as on of the judges, John Hathorne was present at the accusations of, the hearings, trials and sentencing of the accused witches (Turner, 63). Over a period of several months, men and women alike were accused of signing the devil’s black book. Three hundred and seven people were arrested in Essex County and twenty were executed because of the terror-stricken hysteria and hatred, marking a black spot on American history (Starkey, 192). “John Hathorne inherited the persecuting spirit, and made himself so conspicuous in the martyrdom of the witches, that their blood may fairly be said to have left a stain upon him. So deep a stain, indeed, that his old dry bones, in the Charter Street burial-ground must still retain it, if they have not crumbled utterly to dust" (Modugno). Ironically enough, however, maybe as retribution or the curse that was supposedly brought upon the Hathorne line by Salem witches, two of Judge Hathorne’s grandsons married the granddaughters of a couple accused of witchery in Salem, Philip and Mary English. Furthermore, their granddaughter, Susan Ingersoll, held the family traditions and had a closer relationship with Hawthorne that any other of his kin (Turner, 68).
The lives ruined and the families torn apart, as well as the distraught community and damage seen in the new colony, sparked an interest in Hawthorne. In “Young Goodman Brown,” he intertwined hist...