Early in the story, the
, a young man called Goodman Brown by his Puritan community at the end of the seventeenth
century, leaves his home to go into the woods on some evil errand. We never learn precisely what
that was, but his intention to do something he isn't supposed to be doing is made clear. For the
Puritans, the forest was a dangerous place, where potential evil lurked behind every dark tree.
Brown leaves behind his wife, Faith, who seems to be symbolic of the Christian person's faith in
God: one's commitment to try to live by God's laws and to honor God in all he does. Faith tries
to keep her husband home, telling him that she is fearful for him, but he does not listen and
goes anyway. He thinks to himself,
Well; she's a blessed
angel on earth; and after this one night, I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to
Heaven.
However, this is not the way one's faith is
supposed to work. It entails a commitment that one is supposed to at least try to uphold, not
one that a person can simply drop when it is inconvenient and pick up again when one feels like
it. Goodman Brown's intent to sin is premeditated and purposeful, and he vows to be good, just
starting tomorrow. However, this "tomorrow" never comes: he loses his Faith (and his
faith) in the forest and lives the rest of his life shrinking from her, miserable and suspicious
of others. Thus, we see that faith requires a true commitment, a real effort, and
should not be affected by convenience.
No comments:
Post a Comment