“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents us with the struggle against, and eventual relenting of a “good Christian” to evil. The author takes an interesting approach to the word “evil” not only figuratively but it is also used like an indication to the reader that this is where the rising action begins.  Our first encounter is when Goodman Brown mentions his “evil purpose,” which is immediately followed by a description of his surroundings; “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest…” with just one sentenced the author turned our setting from a quiet village to a dark and mysterious one. It builds suspense because it gives the reader a feeling that anything can happen. Along that path the protagonist is continually tested, that action is rising and so is our suspense, Brown seems to know what he is heading towards but is hesitant to move forwards, yet the reader is still clueless as to where this story is heading. Then we reach something akin to a minor climax, “My Faith is gone!” here, Brown, refers to his wife named Faith, an interesting choice of naming, because it can also be interpreted as Brown losing his faith in God.

Then we have our second mention of the word evil, again followed by another depressing description of the woods, “The whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds… as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn.” Again more mystery and building of suspense followed by more rising action, him seeming to “fly” through the forest, again hesitant when he reaches his goal, again leaving the reader to wonder if Goodman Brown will resist the evil. This brings us to the actual climax in the story, “Faith! Faith! … Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!”  But we never get a clear explanation of what this evil is, but we still understand that it certainly is some incredible evil that Goodman Brown is dealing with; it is the lack of explanations that makes this evil so powerful that it affected Goodman Brown to the end of his days.

This unexplainable but powerful evil reminds me of the play “Othello” by William Shakespeare specifically Iago, a character that does incredibly evil things but we can never tell why. He seems to be evil for evils sake, but as readers there are no doubt that he is evil, just like we do not see anything explicitly evil about the congregation but we understand that it is.