From the start our good man abandons his faith and enlists himself into a battle lost. His journey, long and winding, leads him off the path off righteousness and into the hands of evil. Along the way every feeble attempt to repent fails under the heavy influence of the night. In his struggle with internal morality the setting Hawthorne created suffocates Goodman's sense of faith and connection to the good will of others.
Goodman embarks on his mission at sunset. He symbolically kisses his Faith good bye and under false justification for his endeavor follows what Hawthorne describes as, "a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind." It bestows the impression that Goodman is drawn into the forest and sealed into his fate. The path in this way represents his dynamic state through out the night. The path winds but grows ever wider toward the end. Much like he changes along the way but every attempt to
go back becomes thwarted by the narrowness of the path and lack of hope in the gloomy forest behind him. In front of him exists evidence of light and people, however frightening they sound, at least he won't be alone. In this respect the road and surrounding forest seem to squeeze him through the entrails of evil with no intent on regurgitating him out.
With this evidence it is clear that the setting constructed by Hawthorne was intended to provide a sense of a supernatural force acting on Goodman. The manner in which he repeatedly ignored reason to be coerced into such a predicament cannot be fully understood in the context of this story without this element. Hence the setting is an integral part in any explanation as to his lack of faith and aversion to the human race he exhibits at the conclusion of the story.
Along the road he encounters a man in the core of the forest and the rise of the night. Hawthorne depicts the man as relatively normal except he states, "the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the li
Some common words found in the essay are: Goodman Brown, Faith Offering, Eden Furthermore, ,
Approximate Word count = 725
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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