Despite its shortness, the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne contains a number of educative lessons. One of them is the possibility to understand the nature of evil better. On the one hand, all people are free and happy due to many options and choices. On the other hand, there are always some consequences that make people think, change, and doubt. Hawthorne’s purpose is to show that every person is able to sin even if they have faith at hand.
The point is that evil may be everywhere, and human knowledge and experience are not enough to recognize external and internal threats. The author underlines that “evil is the nature of mankind” and that “evil must be your only happiness” (Hawthorne, 2012, p. 134). Despite evident sarcasm, there are many reasons to believe that people are the true source of evil on Earth.
There are many examples in this short story about how the devil penetrates human life. People are not afraid to go deep in the forest for their journey purposes, even if they do not know the details. Individuals easily trust “the figure, in a deep and solemn tone, almost sad, with its despairing awfulness” and believe in his “angelic nature” (Hawthorne, 2012, p. 134).
Like Young Goodman Brown can leave his wife, Faith, people forget about their hopes and beliefs to take a new step in their growth. In its intention to resist evil, society stays blind to recognize the nearest threat. As a result, people are attracted to the devil and cannot imagine their lives without something evil happening around them. Evil is impossible to eradicate from human life, and Hawthorne perfectly illustrates the circle of hopelessness and miserable struggle in which people do not recognize their true enemy – their fears.
Reference
Hawthorne, N. (2012). Young Goodman Brown. In D. Hennessy (Ed.), Classics of American literature (Vol. 1, pp. 126-135). Kindle ePub.