Symbolic Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorn’s Young Goodman Brown

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of Satan, in the Bible Satan is referred to as the serpent. (2085) The traveler, Satan, is pulling Goodman Brown deeper and deeper into the forest. When Goodman Brown starts to realize that questioning his faith is a dangerous thing to do and something his father and grandfather would have never done Satan counters his statements by sharing the truth with Brown that his father was a hypocrite who overly beat a woman and his grandfather murdered Indians. Satan also tells Brown that he is good friends with many church deacons and that they have also come into the forest and made a pact with him. These statements further solidify Goodman Brown's doubts in the Puritan faith.

The traveler (Satan) also carriers with him a staff which is black in color: a symbol of evil. The staff is also in the shape of a snake, a snake represents deception and temptation and in this story it symbolizes the guilty purpose that has brought Brown to the forest. When someone takes hold of the staff ...

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Good Brown experienced were a dream, it was so vivid that he can't get it out of his mind. When he's awake he thinks everyone he knows is hiding a dark secret. He thought going into the forest to make communion with the devil would allow him to see the honest truth of his neighbor's hidden secrets but still be able to live a good Christian life. He finds out the hard way that even in a dream his bond with the devil stills holds power on him in his waking life. In the end Goodman Brown is completely consumed by his doubts and suspicions and life for him will never be the same. The symbols of Goodman Brown's dream embody his doubts and suspicions allowing the reader to see a glimpse ...

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