Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown is one of my favorite short stories and my favorite work by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I’m a big fan of most things concerning the supernatural, snakes, witches, and surreal events. The first time I read this story was in my freshman English class in high school. Honestly, I just skimmed it before a quiz; but the following summer I visited it again and realized how good it is.

            The descriptions of the forest and the depictions of it as a wild unholy beast are rather great. It’s almost like I’m in Brown’s shoes walking through the dark woods, not knowing what evil could be lurking around the corner. One of my favorite passages concerning Nature is when Brown finally comes across the assembly of witches as they are singing. Of this scene the narrator says, “Verse after verse was sung, and still the chorus of the desert swelled between, like the deepest tone of a mighty organ. And, with the final peal of that dreadful anthem, there came a sound, as if the roaring wind, the rushing streams, the howling beasts, and every other voice of the unconverted wilderness, were mingling and according with the voice of guilty man, in homage to the prince of all” (612). There’s just a sense of dread and magic in this scene that I feel in my chest. It’s hard to explain, but I feel it- it’s rousing.

                        The passage that moves me the most though is the speech of Old Goodman Brown as he describes to Faith and Young Brown the hypocrisy that they have been living amongst in ignorance. He speaks of women poisoning their husbands and young men killing their fathers for money and of infant funerals and adultery. It’s short, detailed, and damning information that presses me to check my own moral compass; and I am happy to not practice any of the aforementioned. The end of this speech is also intriguing. Old Brown talks about the “mystery of sin” and “the fountain of all wicked arts”, implying that Young Brown and his Faith have gotten into something that is inescapable. Giving yourself to sin just leads to more sin, in the case of Young Goodman Brown, and that’s probably what I like most about the story. It’s simple and has a moral to it: don’t give into temptation if you aren’t ready to handle the consequence.