What do we not know about the Young Goodman Brown? The nature of his trip – confrontation with evil? or a Faustian business arrangement? Why Goody Brown is so fearful? I recall from a lecture something about it being Walpurgisnacht, or All Hallows’ Eve. The true identity of Young G. ‘s travelling companion (sure, it’s probably his alter ego, Young Badman Brown, but the author never spells that out). If the meeting was real (story real).
Hawthorne equivocates with consummate skill through the entire forest sequence with “could have” and “seemed to” and the story has many references to dazzlement and apparition). Any attempt to perfect life will only lead to its destruction or the price one pays for refusing to accept the Fall. I detect some irony in his name “Goodman. ” Is he really good? Can he be good if he is unfallen? I don’t know, but I know you can’t be human unless you’ve fallen. He is making a pilgrim journey.
His wife, Faith, is dual in nature, symbolized by the combination of passion/desire and innocence and also the color pink which is a mixture of red (passion) and white (innocence) in case you all missed Symbolism 101. Brown cannot accept the sexuality and human sinfulness of Faith; he prefers her in fantasy. The scene in the woods where they are all invited to partake of the communion of their race is an opportunity in which we can recognize our imperfections, but he won’t.
It’s a fallen world, one that is a mixture of good and evil. He won’t accept the evil or the duality of human nature. He hates the very thing that makes him human: his imperfection. You must embrace it in yourself as well as others or you will end up living in isolation because you will have nothing to connect you with the rest of humanity. Here, as in practically all of Hawthorne, we have someone who has committed the “unpardonable sin,” forming a heart so cold, hard, and intellectual that it creates bitterness and isolation.
