The allegory that Hawthorne is trying to portray in the story is that Young Goodman Brown explores man’s instinctive drive to do sin through his journey in which the fall is inevitable. This story is not to be understood as a rejection of faith, but as a symbol for man and his question of his faith in religion. This story also acts as a defense for mankind because all of us face struggles with temptation, sin, and faith.

I believe that the setting of the story is set during the same time of the Salem witch trials. Evidence is found through references of Young Goodman Brown’s father who fought during King Phillip’s war. (p. 82) This war was fought during the years of 1675 and 1676, and a son would have been of marrying age by the early 1690’s. The Salem witch trial was in the year 1692, and the story is likely to be set just before this date. The setting is symbolic of how the village of Salem was in a heightened state of religious oppression and strict moral code. Goody Cloyse reminds Brown t

The story could have ended differently by Brown choosing his faith over the temptation of the devil. Most stories end in a joyful way, but not this one and that is what makes it interesting. If Brown outsmarted the devil and showed him his strong faith, the devil would have been defeated, thus proving that not all of us must succumb to the devil’s power.

The devil offers Brown his walking staff that is described as having “the likeness of a great black snake” (p. 81). The snake “might also be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a live serpent” (p. 81). The snake-like appearance of the staff symbolizes the sly and treacherousness of the devil. The snake appearing to be alive symbolizes that the devil, with his staff, is already preying on Brown. On page 81, paragraph seven, the devil offers Brown his staff by saying, “Take my staff, if you are so soon weary.” Brown’s rejection of the staff symbolizes Brown’s reluctance to succumb to the evil in the world. Brown’s experience in the forest changes him by the new knowledge that he has about his father, the people of New England, his minister, and his Sunday school teacher, Goody Cloyse. Brown sees his father as a symbol an honest and good Christian man, but as the devil tells Brown that he has bee

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