Young Goodman Brown

The Puritans believed in original sin due to AdamÆs breaking of GodÆs covenant in the Garden of Eden. In ôYoung Goodman Brown,ö Goodman Brown embarks on a journey into the woods at night where he discovers the Devil. Goodman Brown believes in the piety of the Puritans. When he encounters the Devil he maintains, ôMy father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christiansö (Hawthorne 2). However, the Devil informs Goodman Brown that he has ôbeen as well acquainted with your family as with ever one among the Puritansö (Hawthorne 2). He explains he helped Goodman BrownÆs grandfather lash a Quaker woman and supplied his father with the pitch-pine he uses to set for to an Indian village.

Goodman Brown refuses to believe the Devil and maintains that his family and the Puritans ôare a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickednessö (Hawthorne 2). As they travel further into the woods, Goodman Brown becomes confused when h

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nd him like a bewildered manö (Hawthorne 8). Time and again in ôYoung Goodman Brown,ö Hawthorne employs images of Goodman Brown as confused or delusional. When he initially encounters the devil with a staff that appears like a ôgreat black snake,ö we are told that this image, ôof course, must have been an ocular deceptionö (Hawthorne 2). When the Devil explains to Goodman Brown that he has quite a familiar acquaintance with the deacons and officials of Puritan communities, Goodman Brown is once more confused, ôÆCan this be so?Æ cried Goodman Brown, with a stare of amazementö (Hawthorne 2). When Goodman Brown is confronted with the image of his catechism teacher taking part in the Satanic rituals in the woods, we see that once more he cannot believe the images his sense are revealing to him, ôOf this fact, however, Goodman Brown could not take cognizanceö (Hawthorne 4). Young Goodman Brown cannot believe his sense and he appears confused and delusional throughout his experiences in the woods because what he sees and hears go completely against his faith and believe in Puritan religion and the piety of the good Puritans he knows. However, he begins to doubt these beliefs and thinks that perhaps these good Puritans are only good
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Approximate Word count = 2179
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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