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Journey Into The Forest In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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The forest shows that the journey into the forest is a test of one's faith. In the beginning, Goodman Brown believes in the goodness of everyone, he will be able to return home to his holy wife, and be able to follow her to heaven. Within the forest, however, he discovers that the whole town has come to the devil’s meeting. Goodman Brown then concludes "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given." Goodman Brown is at that moment certain everyone is evil and gives up hope, because he has lost his wife, Faith, the one he desired most. Goodman Brown is misguided by this suspicion, since every human is a sinner and still has some good underneath whereas he only sees himself as the faithful one. As an allegory, the forest contains information similar to the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Book of Genesis. Goodman Brown’s decision to journey into the forest is driven by curiosity which is easily comparable to Eve’s decision to eat the forbidden fruit. Goodman Brown is therefore given knowledge that opens his eyes to the wickedness of the world. When Goodman Brown returns from the forest, Hawthorne states, “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream.” Goodman Brown realizes that his happiness is gone and becomes wary of those around him. …show more content…

No one is perfectly good, unlike Goodman Brown believes, so his experiences forces him to forsake his religion and live off of anxiety, despair, and doubt of the world. Once there, finding the good in life from all the corruption in the world, something the main character fails to do, is one of mankind’s greatest

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