Young Goodman Brown: The Power Of Darkness

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hair. “She is clearly the more intimate of the two” (42) and this seems to alarm Young Goodman Brown.
As Brown walks into the forest he meets up with a fellow traveler who states he is late since “the clock of the Old South was striking as I came through Boston and that is full fifteen minutes agone.” (Hawthorne, p.642) This is an indication that the fellow traveler is the devil since no mortal man could cover that many miles in such a short time on foot, but the narrator never confirms that the dark figure is the devil. The fellow traveler has a staff that looks like a great black snake. This snake is referring to the snake in the story of Adam and Eve. The snake leads Eve to the tree of life and after eating the fruit from the tree they were banished from the garden. A staff will eventually lead Young Goodman Brown to the witches Sabbath and after witnessing the mass Brown feels isolated from the village. The two stories are similar in that both are seeking knowledge about a world ...

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tosses Young Goodman Brown another staff he had made and leaves him. Brown thinks for a while about the situation and his ego begins to inflate. Realizing he can meet the minister with a clear mind he applauds himself greatly. Hearing the hoofs of approaching horses he again seeks cover in the bushes. Although he can not see the riders he is almost certain that the voices are of Deacon Goodkin and the minister. Brown has seen “convincing appearances of respected persons well know to him”(Doubleday, p. 208) by relying on known figures Hawthorne was trying to indicate that everyone who seems to be good isn’t.
Brown’s heart is traumatized at the assumption that the minister and Deacon ...

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