In Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” the characters and settings are used
to show allegory. The characters and setting are used in metaphor to represent
something else. The whole story of “Young Goodman Brown,” represents the
journey of everyman. It’s path that everyone follows, or so Hawthorne seems to
believe. The main character, Young Goodman Brown represents the sense of
everyone. His last name, Brown, is a common name and therefore could be taken to
mean everyone because it is so common. Young could mean someone who is innocent
and inexperienced. He is newly married and starting his new life or journey down
that path we call fate. Goodman represents just that, a good man. Faith, Goodman
Brown’s wife, represents just that, faith. She stands for Brown’s faith in
god or a greater power than himself. “There was a scream, drowned immediately
in a louder murmur of voices, fading into far-off laughter, as the dark cloud
swept away, leaving the clear and silent sky above goodman Brown. But something
fluttered down through the air, and caught on the branch of a tree. The young
man seized it and beheld a pink ribbon. ‘My Faith is gone!’ cried he, after
one stupefied moment. ‘There is no good on earth; and sin so but a name. Come
devil! for to thee is this world given.’ ” (Hawthorne 196) The ribbon Brown
seized from the branch was one of the things Hawthorne had used to describe
Faith in the beginning of the story. Brown apparently lost Faith when he lost
his faith in god represented by the ribbon falling through the air. The traveler
represents the devil. “But the only thing about him, that could be fixed upon
as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so
curiously wrought, that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself,
like a living serpent. This of course, must have been an ocular deception,
assisted by the uncertain light.” (Hawthorne 192) The devil is like a serpent,
or is represented as a serpent in the story of Genesis. The serpent is sneaky
and deceiving. “ ‘Friend,’ said the other, exchanging his slow pace for a
full stop, ‘having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to
return whence I came. I have scruples, touching the matter thou wot’st of.’
‘Sayest thou so?’ replied he of the serpent, smiling apart. ‘Let us walk
on, nevertheless, reasoning as we go, and if I convince thee not, thou shalt
turn back. We are little way in the forest, yet.’ ‘Too far, too far!’
exclaimed the goodman, unconsciously resuming his walk.” (Hawthorne 192) The
traveler tricked Brown into proceeding with the journey without knowing he was
continuing. The traveler acted as the devil or a serpent by being sneaky and got
him to continue the journey. The setting of the dark forest represents the
devil’s home. It’s a place where one would picture the devil living because
of the darkness. It is a place where very few would normally travel very deep
into. The forest is like sin. The farther Goodman Brown goes into the forest the
more he is apt to loosing his faith. Hawthorne’s story of “Young Goodman
Brown” represents the path of life and how everyone that travels down this
path meets evil along the way. “ ‘My father never went into the woods on
such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and
good Christians, since the days of the martyrs. And shall I be the first of the
name Brown, that ever took this path, and kept’- ‘Such company, thou wouldst
say,’ observed the elder person, interpreting his pause. ‘Good, goodman
Brown! I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among
the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say. 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 Phillip’s war. They were
my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path and
returned merrily after midnight. I would fain be friends with you, for their
sake.’ ” (Hawthorne 192) The reference to Brown’s ancestors shows that he
is not the only one who has taken this path. It shows that even the people he
would never have suspected to take the same path as him actually have to his
surprise. These people are just the everyday person showing everyone will take
the journey of life and all will be tempted by evil. But even though some might
lose their faith, the can still get it back. This is shown in reference to where
Hawthorne threw in that it might have just been a dream. “Had goodman Brown
fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a
witch-meeting?” (Hawthorne 199) this only shows that even though Goodman brown
was tempted by evil and may have lost his faith, he also had later gotten it
back.7

Bibliography
Hawthorne, Natheniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” The Norton Introduction to
Literature. 7th ed. Eds. Jorome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton,
1998.