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The Devil In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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The Devil In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” the devil uses ethos to convince Goodman Brown to give into his evil side. The Puritan view of a virtuous member of society is one committed to God by obeying strict moral rules. Goodman Brown (up until his encounter with the devil in the forest) was a model Puritan, believing his lineage was a “race of honest men and good Christians.” Therefore, the devil attempts to lessen Brown’s guilty feelings of submitting to the devil by giving names of those he has been “well acquainted with.” Those individuals included Brown’s father and grandfather, as well as figures Brown had revered as ideal Christians. Giving these names is the devil’s strategy to subtly argue that, if these figures are
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