Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown

Happy Halloween! With the witching hour at hand, it seems appropriate to tell you one of my favorite witch stories. I first read it in high school and have since come to appreciate its many nuances and not-so-subtle innuendos as worth exploring both as literature and as a study of the human condition. So, settle into your favorite reading chair, sip a glass of wine, and enjoy the familiar yet eerily strange tale of Young Goodman Brown.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic tale about a young man who sets out on All Hallow’s Eve to meet a new acquaintance in the woods outside of Salem, Massachusetts, remains as one of his most famous works of fiction; though the author had a real connection to the setting of the town as well as the people who lived there during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693.

The story starts out with Goodman Brown leaving his wife, Faith, home alone at dusk, promising her that he will return by morning and that she should not leave the house. Faith begs him not to leave, but leave he does, making his way down the path to the woods. Once he reaches the trees, he is met with an older man with a cane in the form of a black snake, who is described as being very much like Goodman himself. They are so similar, in fact, that they could be mistaken for father and son. Another interpretation of the two men is that they are, in fact, the same man – Young Goodman Brown and an older, more worldly version of him. One way of thinking about the relationship between the two men is that there is good in everyone (portrayed in the young, faith-driven and naive Goodman – whose name is derived from “godly man”) as well as evil (the older, more worldly and cynical stranger).

Young Goodman Brown shies away from entering into the forest at night, claiming that all of his family before him never acted in such evil fashion. The older man argues that he had been good friends with his grandfather who had “lashed a Quaker woman through the streets of Salem.”

Sidenote: Nathaniel Hawthorne is referencing his own family connection to Salem during the witch trials. His great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne, was a judge who oversaw the trials. As a way of disconnecting himself from this notorious ancestor, Nathaniel added the ‘w’ to his family name sometime in his early adulthood.

As the two men walk down the path leading deeper into the trees, “the man of the serpent” as the older man is described, continues to tell of how high his connections go, from the deacons of the church to the governor of the state. Many hints are given as to who the man truly is, though Goodman Brown seems to be ignoring the truth. He is walking in the woods with none other than the devil himself.

They are passed on the road by people of Goodman’s acquaintance, people that he saw in church and whom he considered to be good and pious individuals. Even as he recognizes them, Goodman finds comfort in the belief that his wife, Faith, is safely at home. His companion even tells him to return to his Faith, if it will keep her from harm. This is probably my favorite inference within the story. If Goodman went home to his wife, if he turned around and stopped following the stranger, then all would be right and good in his world. But hidden within this statement, there is also a threat, one that begins to become clear as the story unfolds.

If that were the end of our tale, what an example Goodman would be for us. There stands a man who turned from evil, who embraced goodness. And he lived happily ever after to the end of his days.

Alas, that is not the end of our tale. For he did not turn and go back home. The stranger stops one woman, Goody Cloyse, who Goodman knows well. The woman greets the stranger as an old friend, telling him of how she could not find her broom, believing it to be stolen by another witch, and so she had to go by foot to the meeting place where a young man would be “taken into communion.” By now, I’m sure, you can tell where this is going. Goodman Brown is the young man being taken, now almost willingly, to a coven.

At this point, Goodman does try to go back home. He had seen enough. People he had known and respected were nothing more than sinners in disguise. The stranger gives him the snake staff and tells him to sit for a while, before going home. Goodman complies, fully intending to return to Faith. Only, he hears two men on the road and, hiding, listens to them as they walk by. The two men are a minister and a deacon of the church. In their conversation, Goodman hears them talking about a godly woman who would be joining the coven that night.

Goodman begins to pray, stating,

“With Heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!”

He watches as a storm cloud moves above, seemingly without the aid of the wind and the whole congregation of witches begins coaxing a young woman into their circle. Unfortunately for Goodman, he recognizes the woman. It is his wife, Faith. Now, with his faith destroyed, Goodman is faced with a world that is full of sin and devil worship rather than the goodness that he had known.

To say he loses his cool would be an understatement. He picks up the stranger’s staff and flies to the gathering of witches, a motley crew of powerful men and women mixed with those that claimed to fear God on Sundays. At this point, it is safe to say that Goodman is already a full-fledged member of the coven, though in his eyes that can’t be true. Hoping to save Faith, he searches for her in the crowd.

The stranger, now standing before the congregation, calls for the converts to enter the center of the circle. Faith steps forward and Goodman follows suit, begging his wife to resist temptation, to look towards Heaven. Before she answers him, Goodman found himself alone in the forest, having woken from a dream. But was it really a dream?

He returns to Salem in the morning, bewildered and suspicious of all around him. All of the people he remembers from the night before are walking around town as if nothing ever happened. Unsure of what to believe, he keeps walking. Even the sight of his Faith was not enough to bring him comfort and he passes her without so much as a greeting.

The end of the tale is a sad one, but it also comes with a warning. Young Goodman Brown lived his early life believing that everyone was inherently good, only to find out that evil hid behind the mask of their everyday lives. This realization tore apart his faith, not only in people, but also in God.

I hope you stay safe out there this Halloween night. And don’t follow strange people into the woods. Especially if they are carrying a strange snake-like staff.