Young Goodman Brown Essay

Submitted By natalygee
Words: 512
Pages: 3

Young Goodman Brown” From what Goodman Brown has shared with me I believe his unconscious mind has taken him on quite a trip. His inner phyc has revealed his true desires and they will not go away simply by smothering them. He must learn to face these impulses before they control him, but the first step is learning where they derive from. Goodman’s journey has revealed to me that his id is to see what the devil has to offer and he is curious about the sins of this world. His ego, however, is his self control to stay away from sin because he is a leader and cannot risk being seen as a hypocrite in his community, in fear he will be prosecuted. His main conflict is with his superego, which is his faith in God and the Puritan church. He has many doubts and suspicions about his community and the people around him and these doubts only get stronger as he ventures further into the forest. Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, is an embodied representation of his actual faith in God. At the beginning of his dream when Faith is keeping him back and is trying to prevent him from going into the forest. This is an allegory to his faith in the Puritan church stalling him from going into the forest and falling into temptation or sin. The traveler he encounters helps pull him deeper and deeper into the forest and reveals to Goodman brown that he knows many church people from the church. This character represents the devil because he his pulling him further into evil and also creates more doubt about his beliefs in the Puritan church. The traveler also holds a staff that looks like a snake, which is a representation of the evil and the devil. Goody Cloyse being in the forest surprises Goodman Brown because she represents all