Mankind's Inherent Evil

A detailed Summary of Mankind's Inherent Evil

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown" tells the story of a young man who lives in Salem, Massachusetts. In the story, Goodman Brown takes a journey through the "heathen wilderness" (201) and comes upon a witchcraft ceremony. All of the townspeople are there, which leads Brown to believe that they are all evil. At the end of the story, Brown wakes up in the woods and walks back into town. He does not know if the previous night's activities were real or if they were a dream. Nevertheless, it makes Brown suspicious of everyone. This shows that, since mankind is inherently evil, we all have sins that we cannot escape. This is shown through the characterization, style, and through the point of view.

In the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown is leaving on an evil journey. He does not want to go, but he feels as though he must go. He feels that even though he is about to do something evil, he will still be able to get into Heaven by clinging onto his wife, Faith. This pun says two things. One, it shows that we cannot escape are sins. It illustrates thi

Although Hawthorne's choice for a theme in this story is a touchy subject, he does an excellent job illustrating and supporting his idea that none of mankind is free of sin. He shows that there is no escape from this sin, and that we must hold on to our faith in order to get into Heaven. Brown learns that he cannot escape his sin, even though he is not sure if the what he experienced was real or a dream.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Eds. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 196-206.

Hawthorne's style is also important in the development of this theme. One major aspect of his style, his use of puns, is extremely successful at developing this theme. Goodman Brown's wife is named Faith. Her name is used several times as a pun. When the Devil remarks that Brown was late, Brown replies by saying that "Faith kept me back awhile" (197). This obviously has more than one meaning. Another time when Hawthorne uses Faith's name as a pun occurs shortly after Brown's experience involving the clou

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Approximate Word count = 748
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Mankind's Inherent Evil

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