Recognizing The Truth in Humanity in Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown

Failing to recognize the truth in humanity leaves Young Goodman Brown in a sad, skeptical, as well as disparate end in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story with a similar title. On the outward, the story appears to be a reflection and an arraignment of the hypocrisy of the people around Brown. Deep down the ideas of the story is a man who believes that faith is constant, exact and fixed, but as he embarks on the journey to the forest, he realizes that this faith is depthless. Young Goodman Brown is naïve and inexperienced man who fails to recognize that there is a good and bad aspect in every person. He judges the virtue of the persons he previously considered sincere (or devoid of evil) only to know that all of them are somehow polluted with the sinfulness of the world. Hawthorne’s reflection on the lives of Salem, helps in deriving the moral that proposes inescapable evil in a person, and that coming into term with this reality can help one to live to his fullest.

Hawthorne delves into a society painted in purity but tarnished by evil. It divulges the transformation of Goodman Brown from moral decency into moral decay as well as stagnation. This change from a newlywed and pure life into the forest darkness and meeting with the devil are demonstrative of a greater moral schema. Assuming a deconstructionist perspective, it appears that with the loss of innocence, an individual gets to recognize that evil is as prevalent as good. Brown relationship to a woman of innocence, Faith, as suggested by the name, nurtures the concept of his worldview innocence. Again, while he is aware that the journey, he undertakes is one of ‘evil purposes, he does not appear to comprehend the outcome of the journey as he enters forest characterized by an ‘excellent resolve’ (Hawthorne 233). In the forest, Brown now learns to view the world and those closest to him not via the lens of innocence but as mature person who has been taken to the world of maturity as well as reality. The myriad disclosures, including the role of his wife in the rituals forest, is meant to break the shred of innocence while letting him recognize that he is also evil. When he is challenged with the true nature of goody Close, it divulges that Brown is still innocent even with the conversion of a rod into a snake. Hawthorne states that “Brown could not take cognizance” (236), and this further shows that he still could not understand the true nature of humanity that good and evil are intertwined.

Whether through seduction or submission, evil is the chant of humanity and as Hawthorne appears to suggest, no one is perfect yonder any mean. Brown naivety makes him believe that “what you see is what you get.” He never bothers to understand beyond the surface and assumes everything to be good based on the value in the face. When he realizes that his people have been in “league with the devil”, Brown is distressed. The presence of evil is evident as he steps into the journey to the forest, which symbolizes wickedness and sin (Levin 345). The road is characterized by darkness and encloses him as it closes quickly behind him, showing the abdication of faith. He walks with the devil as he moves into the forest. Brown states that “faith has kept him back awhile”, showing that he was once faithful to his beliefs before being consumed by the inescapable evil (Hawthorne 217). His instability of the mind, inconsistency in faith, and distrust to others exemplify the conflicts between doing good and bad. This results in a change in the concept of trust and faith, his personal life and interactions with others, and particularly the wife.

As the journey into the forest continued, Brown starts to distrust the community. He comes across many people going to the congregation-they all appear prayerful and devout in the community. As he views their actions, Brown start distrusting them, making him consider returning to his wife. He appears to not recognize how to create a dichotomy between bad and good at the center of the journey. Had Brown been convinced that all human is inescapable, he would never have struggled with trusting those around him. Instead, he advertently seeks to test his faith and is faced by a challenge almost overwhelming to bear the lucidity (Levy 375). With his innocence and little exposure to the hard reality, the result of his undertaking is a hallucinatory view of the people he formerly perceived good consorting with the bad. Brown perception of evil in other people, according to Levin, is only his narrow-minded misconception of humanity. The human communion based on the acknowledgment of the evil selfishness in every person is based on the truth that only the strong can bear with this hard reality. The idea that humanity is perfection or perchance the good puritan are differentiated from imperfection, appears to dominate Brown’s world view. Hawthorne uses this naivety to illustrate that every human struggle with temptations, and the devil, and living a completely perfect life is close to impossible. Anyone who does not recognize this truth will end up dying due to their own undoing.

Not everyone, however, requires knowing this truth because the sooner they recognize, the harder it will be for them to bear. Brown does not appreciate this truth because he believes in the realms of a perfect world where individuals are never close to worldly sinfulness. What he does not understand is that no one is perfect, and everyone has done something evil in the past. In fact, Brown is himself evil because he opts to leave the faith he strongly believed in, at the point he decides to leave his wife and begin a journey to the forest. There is an undeniable connection of human being with the evil, and this, if not well understood, can result in the damage of human relationships. Nathaniel Hawthorn leaves a question about whether everyone should be left to recognize that even the close families, friends, or community have some aspects of evil in them. The answer to this is simply dependent on the self-confidence of an individual. If one is confident about the ability to survive amidst the hard reality that even the closest people can turn evil. Otherwise, a vulnerable and self-doubting person like Goodman Brown is not strong enough to handle the complexity associated with the recognition that everyone has some bad attributes. Perchance brown has misconceived the meaning of ‘Faith’ in his easiness, with an expectation to live a life without a doubt of evil (Hawthorne 234). Brown epitomizes the repercussions of embracing an excessive devout attitude in a rather secular world. He is happy with his wife, local and the faith in general, hitherto his convictions that they are all evil. Upon the discovery, he, in some way, reveals his evil aspect as a human being. Hawthorne is of the view that human nature of good and bad by forming an everyman character who has both of these thoughts. It means that humanity is usually an epic struggle between good and evil even in the absence of pyxies or flaming catapults. Brown not only comes into reality with the real devil but also has to cope with his evil side- the temptations, the anger, evils in his family. It was a battle that best demonstrates how everyone has both a positive and negative side regardless of how devout or pious they are (Hawthorne 217).

Nathaniel Hawthorne does a wonderful work using allegory to portray a real-life battle that every human being struggles within their daily lives. The journey through the forest was not merely to fulfil the setting of the story, but also an embodiment of the journey of individuals. Hawthorne is exhorting people to recognize that no man is free of evil and therefore, this understanding can help in preventing one from running his life. If only Brown was conscious of this truth, that those around him are humans and vulnerable to evil, he would never have died as a sad and desperate person. His innocence is to blame for the assumption that everyone is good in their face value and when he is close to recognizing the truth, he cannot handle it.