Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" takes place during the end of the 17th century in Salem, Massachusetts. The main characters are Goodman Brown, his wife Faith, and the stranger who accompanies Goodman Brown in the forest. The story's protagonist embarks on a metaphorical errand in which he plans to confront the evil within himself. Unprepared to accept sin as part of his human nature, Goodman Brown rejects this idea, prescribing to his own doom, and ultimately undergoes a revolutionizing change.

The theme of "Young Goodman Brown" centers on the conflict Goodman Brown has between joining the ranks of the devil and remaining "good"(67). It is a very difficult personal journey for the main character in this story, as he travels through the woods to follow an inner desire to become a witch, all the while thinking of all the "good" things (like his wife, Faith) he would be leaving behind. Initially, Brown bids his wife, Faith farewell at their front door. It is in the evening in the village, and he is leaving on his guilty errand, which his wife begs him not to go on. She pleads by saying, "Prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to night"(67).

When Brown arrives at the clearing, he sees his entire community standing in congregation, church members and tavern-goers alike. Among the "reputable and pious people" he spies "men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and healthy vice"(76). No longer able to distinguish between the moral and the improper in their flawed civilization, Brown condemns them all. In doing so, Brown forever excludes himself from everyone he knows. For him, it was "strange to see, that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were sinners abashed by the saints"(76), because he cannot understand that each one has his or her own evils.

Brown's ruin begins when the devil preys on his pride and devotion to God. "I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem" he teases, "And it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village"(76). Brown takes the devil's bait, replying, "We are a people of prayer, and good works, to boot, and abide by no such wickedness"(76). He refuses to see any wrong in himself or those around him. When Satan reveals the evil face of Goody Cloyse, Brown again distances himself: "What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil, when I thought she was going to Heaven! Is that any reason to quit my dear Faith, and go after her?"(73) Because he can only see things in terms of good or evil, he accepts the devil's distortion and condemns Goody Cloyse.

When Brown encounters the shadowy figure with whom he has planned his journey, Hawthorne makes it quite clear that the stranger is in some way a reflection of Goodman Brown, "...the shape of old Goodman Brown,"(75). As Brown interacts with this figure, Hawthorne offers us telling clues to his identity. Hawthorne later refers to him as "the fiend"(73). Whether his resemblance to Brown is an illusion or a metaphor is arguabl

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Approximate Word count = 1324
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)