"Young Goodman Brown" Essay

Self doubt leads to questioning the past and present but also to fearing what is to come. Often times, a conclusion is not met as a circle of confusion builds and one question leads to another. In "Young Goodman Brown," the last "evil purpose" changes Goodman Brown into a doubting individual whose visions on his previous judgements and religious commitments change. His past acknowledges what is right and what is wrong but after his trip, his guilty conscience causes him to see light differently. 

In "Young Goodman Brown," the reoccurring theme is good vs evil. In the beginning, Goodman Brown seems to hold a strong view of what is right and what is wrong when he feels the guilt of leaving his wife, Faith. He knows of his guilt and tries to alleviate them, but the guilt is soon pushed aside in place of suspicion and a sort of obsession of finding out "the truth." During and after, he struggles to decipher good vs evil and feels an urge to identity the people of Salem as one or the other. His uncertainty, controls his life as he struggles to believe what he had always put his faith in and instead, questions his present and future.