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The Devil In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Growing up everyone is taught to believe one thing or another of religious based ideas. There are times throughout the teenage years and adulthood when the world seems to challenge those religious ideas. Whether it be through a differentiating opinion of a spouse or friend, or an alternative view given by someone famous or well known to society. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” written in 1835 entails a man who believes his faith in God as a Puritan has come to a test by the devil himself. Throughout this short story Hawthorne has a way of revealing specific characters who contribute to this trial. This analysis will attempt to explicate the significance of these individuals and how they interrelate throughout the story. Initially, …show more content…

The old traveler carries a serpent like staff in which the story reads “…which bore the likeness of a great black snake…”. The traveler attempts to convince Goodman Brown to keep the staff, as the Devil attempts to convince those who love God to commit wrongful deeds. It is easy to reference this to the biblical story of Adam and Eve where it is articulated that a snake persuaded them to eat the forbidden fruit despite God’s instructions. The Devil who owns this staff wants Goodman Brown to make the wrong choice in participating in the conversion ceremony. Alas, this character perhaps, is the most fundamental individual in this story because it is he who influences the Christians who reside all of their faith in God like Goodman Brown and his wife Faith. This is what makes the story about the test of Goodman Brown’s faith in …show more content…

These three individuals help depict what Goodman Brown’s future will be like on a faith basis with God. Goodman Brown is the person the story is about, and the old travelor is the devil himself who wants Goodman Brown to make the wrong choice and interrupt his strong faith in God. Faith is both the wife, and Goodman Brown’s spiritual faith. All in all, the two characters aside from Goodman Brown took part in determining his faith, and his life was never the same after that night through the

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