Loss Of Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes faith as a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof”. “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a short story that shows a part of Young Goodman Brown’s life in the village of Salem, during and after a test of his faith. When he travels into the woods he meets a man who claims to be the Devil. The Devil takes him through the woods and they come across citizens of the village that are all attending the Devil’s ceremony. Even though Young Goodman Brown states several times that he wishes to return back to his home for “Faith’s sake”, The Devil continues to take him into the woods to the Devil’s ceremony. After he sees all the people he admires and respects at the ceremony he lives the rest of his life alone, in fear, and without faith. When Goodman Brown put his faith into other people he believed that their …show more content…
Goodman Brown believed that he had the same strength as everyone else and when that was taken away from him he didn’t know what to do or how to think. After Goodman Brown witnesses his father and grandfather at the Devil’s ceremony he loses all the faith in everyone and everything that he had before. Seeing his father, grandfather, and Faith all at the ceremony is the reason he loses all his faith in the people around him which leads to him losing the faith in himself.. Faith, his wife, was the main reason Goodman Brown completely loses all hope and belief in God. Goodman Brown saw Faith as the most pure and innocent person he had ever known so seeing her at the ceremony proved to him that there is evil in even the most pure people. Whether or not Young Goodman Brown was dreaming or if he actually attended the Devil’s ceremony he learned a valuable lesson about people. It is not wise to put trust and faith in people without first putting trust and faith into yourself and what you believe
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