Start of Young Goodman Brown Research Paper !

Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his writing about the puritan religion. There is a sense of admiration for the faith, but also a sense of shame for the way they prosecuted others during the Salem Witch Trials. The story, “Young Goodman Brown,” focuses around the hypocrisy of the Puritans. Throughout the story, Goodman Brown struggles to hold onto the Puritan faith, where they teach that a person must live without sin. As the story goes on, he loses faith in the human race. He realizes that humans are born into sin and no matter how much they try to get away from it, it’s impossible. In this story, he goes on a mission through the woods where he “sees” the people, whom he looked up to, participating in the evil works of the devil. It is believed that Goodman Brown dreams every event that happens in the forest. This shines a light on his inevitable evil side.
The mission through the forest was a test of faith, both his wife and his religion. “Well; she’s a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night, I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven.” (332) When he leaves for his mission he swears that after this night, if faith remains pure and holy, he would stay by her side and follow her to the heavens. “With Heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil.”(337) Looking towards the heaven and knowing that Faith is untainted, will keep him grounded in his faith and religion. His faith depends on the Faith’s faith. From the color of her ribbons (pink), it would seem that Faith is confused about her beliefs, which causes Goodman Brown to be confused about his own. Pink is a mix of white and red; white meaning pure and red meaning blood, love, lust, fire, and evil. Even though red can represent good and bad, it is clearly brought up with the mention of anything evil.
He starts to question Faith when he saw her pink ribbons flutter down from the sky, in the midst of his struggle within himself. When Brown finds that Faith is at the...