ure is a dream or reality, but if the mysterious stranger is, indeed, the devil, then we may be sure the message from Hawthorne is that intolerance is evil. It is exactly this kind of intolerance exhibited by Mather and many Puritans due to their belief that they maintained a virtue on faith and goodness. Mather and fellow Puritans maintained the notion that they were somehow more pure in thought, word and deed than those who held different beliefs. Because of this they had little compunction in destroying Indians, torturing those believing in other faiths, or accusing and burning alleged ôwitches.ö Such attitudes and actions were viewed by men like Mather as justified, since any ôgoodö Christian would perpetrate such acts to keep society ôpure.ö A thorough reading and understanding of Young Goodman Brown might have demonstrated to Mather that the only ôdevilsö in Massachusetts were those who felt their own beliefs justified intolerance and violence against others. Instead, Mather did embody such a perspective and felt that his superior moral beliefs allowed him to dispense justice against those who felt differently. MatherÆs overzealous desire to keep the community ôpureö allowed him to paint those who held different beliefs as an ôevil other.ö He attributed those who practiced witchcraft as being under the powerful influence of ôthe Devil [who] has made a dreadful Knot of Witches in the Country, and by the help of Witches has dreadfully increased...a more gross Diabolism, than ever the World saw beforeö (Mather 1950 1).
The writings of Cotton Mather demonstrate that he was completely comfortable with the principle that religious authority overrode civil society. Indians, Quakers, witches, and even Puritans who argued for separation of church and state were viewed as ôimpureö or ôevilö and such beliefs justified their persecution and removal from ôpureö Puritan society. HawthorneÆs story demonstrates ...