Many authors have written and explained their views on how man struggles with the dilemmas of good and evil. None have quite taken it in to such an intricate setting as Nathaniel Hawthorne did in “Young Goodman Brown.” All through the story Brown deals with his internal battle between his faith and the lure of the devil. As he leaves his home on the forest trail and attends the communion of the night Brown goes through several mental battles of good and evil which leave the reader wondering whether he actually lived through the experience or just imagined the whole thing.As Brown walks away from his new wife Faith he thinks himself to be wretch to leave her at such a time but then reassures his purpose by promising to, “cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (Hawthorne 311). This is simply Hawthorne saying that even when doing wrong it can be justified by doing good from now on: the idea of repenting. Then shortly after entering the wood Brown turns back to look behind him and the instant he looks forward again his “guide” is seated at the base of a tree. He lets Brown know he is 15 minutes late by the Old South clock of Boston the man passed on his way to their meeting. The only oddity about this is that they are in Salem. The pair then walk elbow to elbow through the forest until they spot another traveler no more than 50 yards ahead of them. Brown ducks into the wood line to avoid being recognized only to find the passer by to be Goody Cloyse; a woman of the church who represented all that is good. The woman recognizes Browns companion as the devil taken the form of her old gossip Goodman Brown the grandfather of the silly fellow that is now waiting in the wood. Brown then walks the woods seeing more and more of the townspeople of whom he had thought so highly until he hears the voice of his dear Faith. He then catches a ribbon; his wife wore one of which. He then proceeds to ...
