An Experienced Young Goodman Brown

“All knowledge is derived from experience whether of the mind or of the senses” (“Empiricism” 480). In a man’s life, there comes a time where we all learn the animosity of evil in the world. When we realize that the innocence of childhood doesn’t last eternally, we allow our experiences to shape our perspective of people and our relationships with our loved ones. For Young Goodman Brown, this experience comes with his journey into the forest while experiencing internal conflict as chronicled in Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “Young Goodman Brown”. At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown knows that the experience and feelings that he is about to embark on will effect him for the rest of his life. He feels guilt and remorseful for leaving Faith behind to make a journey to experience evil. “What a wrench am I, to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams to” (7). Goodman Brown is already beginning to reveal hesitation and beginning to question his own thoughts of conducting an act of infidelity. These thoughts begin to shape the man that he becomes. The story then begins to explain how Goodman Brown is dealing with his emotions. As he was driving into the forest, his thoughts were a true relation to how he is feeling about the sin he is about to act on. “It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude” (8). Goodman Brown is already feeling remorse and regret even though he hasn’t acted physically yet. Although he has a sense of guilt, he is also enjoying the feelings that he is having. The evil is giving him pleasure which reveals that his actions aren’t as innocent as he would like to believe they are. While being led through the forest by, what seems to be a trusted friend, he is beginning to feel the evil weighing on his conscience. He misses Faith and begins to appreciate her love and dedication to him, which makes Goodman Brown realize what is at stake while also revealing the level of confusion that his character has. “He looked up at the sky, doubting whether there really was a Heaven above him” (46). The feeling of confusion turns his world upside down as he