Young Goodman Brown

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with the Devil, he declares that the reason he was late was because "Faith kept me back awhile." This statement has a double meaning because his wife physically prevented him from being on time for his meeting with the devil, but his faith to God psychologically delayed his meeting with the devil.
The Devil had with him a staff that "bore the likeness of a great black snake". The staff which looked like a snake is a reference to the snake in the story of Adam and Eve. The snake led Adam and Eve to their destruction by leading them to the Tree of Knowledge. The Adam and Eve story is similar to Goodman Brown in that they are both seeking unfathomable amounts of knowledge. Once Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge they were expelled from their paradise. The Devil's staff eventually leads Goodman Brown to the Devil's ceremony which destroys Goodman Brown's faith in his fellow man, therefore expelling him from his utopia.

Goodman Brown almost immediately declares that he kept ...

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that his faults are the same as the woman's.

Brown again decides that he will no longer to continue on his errand and rationalizes that just because his teacher was not going to heaven, why should he "quit my dear Faith, and go after her". At this, the Devil tosses Goodman Brown his staff (which will lead him out of his Eden) and leaves him.

Goodman Brown begins to think to himself about his situation and his pride in himself begins to build. He "applauds himself greatly, and thinking with how clear a conscience he should meet his minister...And what calm sleep would be his...in the arms of Faith!" This is ironic because at the end of the story, he can not even look Faith in the ...

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