When I was first reading Young Goodman Brown and I read the description of the Man I knew he was evil. He had a serpent shaped staff, Jafar has a serpent shaped staff and he was evil. Snakes are the epitome of evil. In the bible a snake convince Eve to eat the apple and is part of the reason why she and Adam are expelled from the Garden of Eden.
When I first read the story I assumed that this man would be Young Goodman Browns undoing just like the snake was Adam and Eve's undoing and I was partially right. Just like in Adam and Eve the snake was the instigator but Adam, Eve and Goodman Brown are not without fault. There bonds to their Faith were weak and all it need to break was a small tug.
When Young Goodman Brown see his Faith a symbol of Faith and Goodness in the story he immediately accepts evil and sin. Had his Faith been strong he would have resisted like he had after he discovered that his father, grandfather, Goody Cloyse, the Minister and Deacon Gookin had been corrupted.
After I finished reading the story I still felt that the snake/ Man had led to Goodman Brown's undoing but mostly I felt that he was the cause of his own undoing. He took that path that night to meet the snake/Man when he could have stayed home with his Faith and prayed. He had countless opportunities to turn back but he didn't and ultimately he led to his own downfall.
When I first read the story I assumed that this man would be Young Goodman Browns undoing just like the snake was Adam and Eve's undoing and I was partially right. Just like in Adam and Eve the snake was the instigator but Adam, Eve and Goodman Brown are not without fault. There bonds to their Faith were weak and all it need to break was a small tug.
When Young Goodman Brown see his Faith a symbol of Faith and Goodness in the story he immediately accepts evil and sin. Had his Faith been strong he would have resisted like he had after he discovered that his father, grandfather, Goody Cloyse, the Minister and Deacon Gookin had been corrupted.
After I finished reading the story I still felt that the snake/ Man had led to Goodman Brown's undoing but mostly I felt that he was the cause of his own undoing. He took that path that night to meet the snake/Man when he could have stayed home with his Faith and prayed. He had countless opportunities to turn back but he didn't and ultimately he led to his own downfall.
RSS Feed