"Young Goodman Brown" is another one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic evil short stories. Due to his Puritan upbringing Hawthorne writes

Authors Avatar

Goodman vs. Evil

      “Young Goodman Brown” is another one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic evil short stories. Due to his Puritan upbringing Hawthorne writes a lot about faith and the devil. In the story of Goodman Brown the author creates a sort of suspense and anxiety by establishing a gloomy and demonic tone. Hawthorne establishes a gloomy tone throughout the story by using imagery to create a dark and evil environment surrounding the main character. The author does this by first setting the character in a place of innocence and then taking him through dark and evil places. Brown is forced to choose between the good of the first setting or the evil of the second setting.

Join now!

      The innocent setting at the beginning of the story is set up by the author’s establishment of purity through his use of color and symbolism. Goodman’s wife, Faith, is established as an innocent in the story through the use of pink ribbons in her hair, and the symbolism of her name. “Letting the wind play with her pink ribbons”(316) and “came forth at sunset”(316) are both two pieces of imagery that put a scene of tranquility into the readers mind. Towards the end of the scene Goodman refers to his wife as “My love and my Faith”(317), which comes into play later ...

This is a preview of the whole essay