How Young Goodman Brown Became Old Badman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a nineteenth-century American writer of the Romantic Movement. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804, he was one of those rare writers who drew critical acclaim during his lifetime. Hawthorne used Salem as a setting for most of his stories, such as The Scarlet Letter, The Blithedale Romance, and “Young Goodman Brown”. Today, readers still appreciate Hawthorne's work for its storytelling qualities and for the moral and theological questions it raises. Nathaniel Hawthorne's work is typically fraught with symbolism, much of it deriving from his Puritan ancestry; relatives of his were judges in the Salem witchcraft trials. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory whose characters play a major role in conveying the reoccurring theme of sin and retribution. The short story represents one man's journey to leave his faith, home, and security temporarily behind to take a walk with the devil into a dark forest.

The forest is a symbol of the test of strength, courage, and endurance. Aside from “Young Goodman Brown,” forests carrying a negative or challenging connotation have been featured in other stories. For example, in the folk tale The “Three Bears”, Goldilocks encounters the cottage of the three bears in a forest; in Hansel and Gretel, the children's father takes them off into the forest to abandon them and they have to find their way back out; in Red Riding Hood, the little girl has to travel through the forest to her grandmother's house. There has always been an association between forests and evil because of its dark and gloomy nature. The forest further goes on to represent evil in “Young Goodman Brown” because Faith asks Goodman Brown not to go into the forest on his mysterious errand. What is his errand? Hawthorne never says, but clearly Goodman Brown has planned for it. He knows that the aim of his journey is less than wholesome, for he feels guilty at leaving Faith on such an errand (1264). Despite Faiths protest, Brown goes on his quest anyway. Thus, faith was not able to achieve the desired outcome. This means his faith tried least and got the least, for it was apparently weak. When faith is weak, not only it cannot control desires, but also it needs protection, for it could be lost at any time. That was what made faith beg Brown to put off his journey and stay with her that night. Knowing that Faith was troubled with such dreams and thoughts, Brown was disloyal to his faith when he left it/her alone. Likewise, he will be left alone afterwards when he tries to retrieve it/her during his journey. Author Terence Martin speculates that Goodman Brown's journey into the forest is best defined as a kind of “general, indeterminate allegory, representing man's irrational drive to leave faith, home, and security temporarily behind, for whatever reason, to take a chance with one more errand onto the wilder shores of experience” (Martin 92).

It should not escape attention that Goodman Brown's wife, a lighthearted naive woman, has the name of Faith. Faith is by no means an unusual woman's name, but it is significant in this story that she is presented to us first as a very young bride with pink ribbons in her hair--almost like a child (1264). This young woman is filled with hidden sin, yet she is said to be Godly. Because Faith was so honest and Godly, Young Goodman Brown put all of his faith in her, which made her the best of his worst enemies. Faith’s ribbon is a description of her personality or her inner-self. The pink ribbon that Faith wears is a symbol of purity. Faith’s ribbon is found in the evil forest when Brown awakes, and that’s when Faith is really seen as an unclear person. Faith is also said to have forsaken not only against Goodman Brown but also against God because she gave in to the likes of the devil. The ribbons provide continuity between faith as an ideal of a Puritan woman and as a sinner. Her pink ribbons symbolize her youth and innocence, and Faith, in turn, symbolizes her husband's lightheartedness at the beginning of the story. In Christianity and Puritan religion of the time, childlike faith is a good thing. Jesus said, for example, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15). Hawthorn’s success could partially be attributed to using characters such as Faith, which had deeply rooted religious significance for his target audience of the time. Initially, readers find Faith characterized by wholesomeness and purity. However, as Goodman Brown witnesses the clandestine meeting in the forest and Faith committing herself to the devil, her inner sin is apparent.

Another aspect of “Young Goodman Brown” that conveys the theme of sin and retribution is the character that comes to represent the devil.