Allegory og Young Goodman Brown

The Allegory of “Young Goodman Brown”

Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about the Puritan religion and the way that Puritans tend to believe they are better than anyone else when in reality, they have as much evil in them as the non-puritan does. “Young Goodman Brown” is a story of a man traveling a road of faith and being tempted by evil. Hawthorne uses allegory to show the darker side of Puritanism. Goodman Brown must take a journey where he must make the choice to accept or refuse the devil.
Faith, Goodman Brown’s wife, is used as an allegory. The name is indicative of her nature. The story supports this in the beginning with the phrase, “And, Faith, as the wife was aptly named…” Faith is persistent in her efforts to keep Goodman from going on his journey. In other words, Faith tries to keep the “goodman” off the path of sin and evil. Faith says, “…prithee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed tonight.” This is also suppor...