1. Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne

2. Allegory
• An allegory is a narrative in which the
characters, the setting and the events
all symbolize an idea, concept or
another well known story
• Many say “Young Goodman Brown” is
an allegory for the creation story

3. Goodman Brown and Faith
• Goodman Brown leaves his Faith – his
wife – at home. Although she asks him
to stay there is something he must do
• Faith – very childlike, wears pink
ribbons in her hair
• Faith is innocence also she is
Goodman Brown’s innocent faith –
“Then God bless you!”
• Goodman is a “good man”

4. The Traveler
• Looks like Goodman Brown
• Takes him deeper into the darkness of the
forest
• Tells him, “I helped your grandfather, the
constable, when he lashed the Quaker
woman so smartly through the streets of
Salem; and it was I that brought your
father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my
own hearth, to set fire to an Indian
village, in King Philip's war. They were my
good friends, both…”

5. The Traveler
• Goodman Brown refuses to believe
the traveler yet he continues on
deeper into the forest.
• “The devil!”, screamed the pious old
lady
• Has a snake staff
• He has shown Goodman that all those
that he admired embraced him
• The Devil

6. The Forest
• Darkness
• The deeper he goes in the more he
despairs
• He loses his “Faith” as the dark cloud
circles him
• “My Faith is gone” – as he finds the pink
ribbons on the tree
• “There is no good on earth; and sin is but
a name. Come devil;” and picks up the
serpent staff

7. The Refusal
• Although he goes into the meet the
evil congregation he is maddened
over losing his faith
• The Devil asks him to embrace his true
sinful nature
• At the alter he tells Faith to look up to
God

8. The Refusal
• His refusal leads to his madness
• When he returns he can no longer be a
part of the community
• Rejects Faith
• He is isolated – living in the alternate
reality of his madness
• Hawthorne seems to be saying you don’t
have to reject faith but also must
embrace the human sin otherwise you
are living in an alternate reality