Internal Conflict In Young Goodman Brown

Wickedness within selfnot to talk to anyone or trust anyone, not even his wife. “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story about Goodman Brown who leaves his wife, Faith to go on a journey into the woods. Faith asks him to stay with her but, he says he must leave just for one evening. Throughout the journey, he meets a fifty year old man who greets Goodman Brown. The man tells him that he knows his father, grandfather and members of the churches. Goodman is confused by man’s words and he wants to return to the village for Faith’s sake. Goodman hears noises after a while and discovers that many honorable members of the society are on their way to the ceremony of the evil. He follows people to the ceremony and discovers that his wife is also there. After returning back to his village, he doesn’t trust anyone and doesn't love his wife the way he used too. Even though most people trust the ones that are the closest to them, sometimes those close relations could mislead one’s faith. Hawthorne's central idea is that by trusting society alone will lead one’s belief to become
At the beginning of the story, Brown thinks he is religious and attends all the ritual but, by the end of the story, Brown is affected by the words of the devil he met in the forest. As the reader know that when he walks into the woods, he doesn’t know that he will meet the devil instead, he says to himself, “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!” (Hawthorne, 586). The devil influences Brown by making him think that the society is evil and “there is no good on earth” (Hawthorne, 590). He attempts to disregard the devil because he knows that he will not commit any sins and not become evil himself. After seeing the change in society from righteousness to wickedness, Brown realizes that following the society will turn him evil and he wants to stay