Faith And Faith In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story of a religious Puritan man from Salem Village who decides to meet with the devil in the forest. At the beginning of the story he leaves his wife, Faith, for what he thinks will be just one night to feed his curiosity about what the secret meetings are about that are held in the woods. He changes his mind several times on the way but the devil lures him there. He is first lured by the revelation that the devil knows his father and grandfather. Furthermore, it is revealed that his Christian Bible teacher is going to the meeting as well as the minister and Deacon. Finally, he knows he has to go when he hears his wife’s voice. Goodman Brown and Faith end up being the young man and woman who were to be taken in to communion that night. During the ceremony, they were welcomed to the communion and shown all the evil in the world.…show more content…
He hurries on his path in the woods thinking he will faithfully return to his wife after his curiosity is fulfilled. “Well she’s a blessed angel on earth; after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (Hawthorne 340). He rationalizes his adventure in his mind. “With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose” (Hawthorne 340). He has second thoughts of going when he meets up with devil. He sees his Bible teacher going and he views her as a “wretched old woman” who chose to go to the devil when he thought she was going to heaven. He says, “I should quit my dear Faith and go after her?” (Hawthorne 343). While resting on the path and thinking he’ll go home to Faith he hears the voices of the people from his Salem village. When he hears the voice of Faith he is “maddened with despair” (Hawthorne 344) and rushes off to the
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