What is the mood of "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Mood refers to the general feelings created for the reader by the text. This story's mood is somewhat eerie and melancholic, even foreboding and tense. The story begins as Goodman Brown leaves his home "at sunset," just before nightfall; he even says his journey "must needs be done 'twixt now and sunrise." The story is set in Salem Village.  Now, nighttime is often associated with mystery, dark deeds, and sinfulness, so it seems pretty shady that he has to do something that can only be done at night. Moreover, most readers have a general knowledge of the terrible witch hysteria that resulted in tragedy for so many in Salem in the late seventeenth century. Therefore, simply beginning the story with these details helps to set the mood. 

Further, the fact that Brown's wife, Faith, is "troubled" with strange dreams and begs her husband to delay his journey foreshadows something terrible. Her anxiety for him and his safety prompts readers to feel a similar sense of apprehension. 

As Brown leaves home, he takes a "dreary road" that is made darker by "the gloomiest trees of the forest." The path is "lonely" as he travels deeper into the forest. Like nighttime, the forest is often associated with evil and/ or temptation, especially in Hawthorne's works, and this is no exception. Brown even thinks, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" Again, this foreshadows the evil waiting for him in the woods, as well as those corrupt qualities within himself that allow him to believe "after this one night, [he'll] cling to [Faith's] skirts and follow her to Heaven." Brown is not planning a late-night prayer session; he is up to something bad, something he knows that he really shouldn't be doing (as a Puritan man), and that something turns out to be spooky and upsetting.

How does Hawthorne illustrate the Puritans' hypocrisy in "Young Goodman Brown"?

Regardless of whether Goodman's Brown's encounter with the devil is real or simply a vision, the implications of this vision would represent an indictment on Puritanical displays of self righteousness, given the scale to which the human condition is mired in sin. Moral hypocrisy is thus a critical theme in "Young Goodman Brown."

One of the most powerful passages, which relates to the entire history of colonial Puritanism, emerges early on within the story, when the devil relates to Brown the following words:

I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that's no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip's War.

As the devil says shortly afterwards:

I have a very general acquaintance here in New England. The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest.

As we see in these passages, the devil is not a newcomer within Puritanical New England, and his dealings with the Puritan community are widespread. Evil is embedded across its entire history (and it is an evil which the Puritans have themselves have propagated).

As the story continues, Goodman Brown will eventually observe for himself the full scale by which evil pervades the Puritan community when he observes the respected and despised join together in service to the devil. This represents a revelation of sorts, revealing the degree to which the pious and impious alike are both susceptible to sin. This revelation would render any declarations of moral superiority problematic.

At the same time, Goodman Brown's reaction to this vision is itself deeply hypocritical. In the end of the story, he stands in judgment over the people around him, ultimately rejecting them as sinful. But with that in mind, do not forget that he himself walked into the forest and treated with the devil, and he is therefore just as susceptible to sin as the people he rejects.

How does Hawthorne illustrate the Puritans' hypocrisy in "Young Goodman Brown"?

Irony, the contrast between what is expected and what actually happens or is said, appears in its different forms throughout Hawthorne's story, "Young Goodman Brown."  In fact, even the title of this story is ironic, representing from the beginning the hypocrisy often found in the Puritan. Here are some examples:

• After telling Faith that he will just go out this one night, "With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown feels himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose."  In his Puritan sanctimony, Brown thinks nothing will happen to him when he attends the black mass in the forest.
• When the old man calls to him, Brown explains that "Faith kept me back a while."  At the end of the story, Brown, who has admitted to abandoning his faith, sees all others as faithless.
• Goodman Brown tells his fellow-traveler that his father never went into the woods

"on such as errand, nor his father before him.  We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs." 

But, the old man, who knows the hypocrisy of the Browns, tells Young Goodman that he had helped his grandfather when he   lashed the Quaker woman, and he was with Brown's father     when he set fire to the Indian village.  Brown's ancestors obviously were hypocrites to have said that they never went into the woods.

• The man with the crooked staff is also acquainted with many a deacon who has had communion with him at the black mass in the forest.  Goodman Brown asks how this can be so.  Nevertheless, he says, he cannot continue, for if the governor should see him, he could not face him.  To this the "elder traveller" replies, having recognizing the hypocrisy of his remark,

"Ha! ha!ha!...Well, go on, Goodman Brown, go on; but prithee, don't kill me with laughing!"

• When Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin pass by, Goodman is shocked that they will attend the black mass because Cloyse is his catechism teacher.  In an act of verbal irony, Goody Cloyse tells the elder traveller that Goodman Brown is really a silly fellow--just the opposite of what Brown expects her to say.
• The climax is ironic, of course, as Goodman worries that harm will come to Faith, when it is he who loses his faith in mankind as he becomes " a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man" after that night of what he believes is his dream.  Ironically in the resolution of the story, Goodman Brown also becomes the hypocrite in seeing others as having no faith, gazing sternly at his wife and turning away from her.

How does Hawthorne illustrate the Puritans' hypocrisy in "Young Goodman Brown"?

Puritan life is centered on religion. Puritans believe that one’s goal is to work hard and pray daily. It is important to live a pure life staying away from sin as much as possible. The biggest enemy is Satan, who lurks everywhere trying to cause people to do evil deeds and sin.

As a Puritan, Goodman Brown is expected to comply with the rules of society. However, he goes into the woods where it is believed the devil resides and waits for people to corrupt. That act in itself is sinful: his walk into the woods, symbolizes his committing a sin. He does not tell his wife Faith where he is going, only that he needs to make this trip overnight. Therefore, even before he walks into the woods, he has sinned because he has lied by omission.

When he meets the traveler who talks of helping his father and grandfather in the woods, Goodman does not believe his story. “We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness.” He refuses to believe that any of his family could be party to sin. Goodman never considers his own presence in the woods means he, too, is sinning.

He is also shocked and horrified to witness his friends and neighbors in the woods consorting with the devil. But his greatest horror comes when he sees Faith in the woods, causing him to cry in desperation because she is sinful. He is terrified to see Faith there and yet still does not admit what his own presence means.

Witnessing the ceremony, Goodman feels “a loathful brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart.” He does have the capacity to sin, but he continues to focus on the sins of others.

He coaches Faith to rely on heaven to resist the devil’s power. Yet, he is unable to resist once he returns home: he despises his neighbors and even his wife and lives the rest of his life in misery. Goodman judges others for their interaction with sin and he no longer can tolerate them after his realization that they are not perfect. He does not judge himself so much when he cannot listen to Psalms; instead he focuses on his neighbors’ transgressions. Goodman does not seem to recognize his own part in sin.

Goodman continues to sin throughout his life. The walk in the woods is only the beginning of his sinful life. He wants to believe he is better than the others and that he leads a moral life adhering to religious principles. In truth, he sins daily when he judges others and refuses to participate in any type of self-reflection. His hypocrisy dooms him to a miserable life.

How does Hawthorne critique the village's hypocrisy in "Young Goodman Brown"?

A critic of Puritanism, especially that aspect of its creed that retains remnants of Calvinism, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is a tale of the woe of the Puritan who believes that his faith will take him to heaven.  For in this belief, Brown is greatly disillusioned.

Brown's disillusion with his Puritanic-Calvinistic beliefs begins when the devil, his fellow traveller claims to be very familiar with Goodman Brown's ancestors,

...I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that's not trifle to say I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartl through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your a father pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip's war.  They were my good friends, both, and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path....

That Hawthorne is critical of Puritanism is apparent when Goodman Brown espies Goody Cloyse coming along the path and hides so that she will not ask who is his companion.  Brown, of course, is shocked that Goody is so familiar with the devil,  even taking his staff on which to ride to the black mass, soon followed by Deacon Goodkin.  If Goody has taught Brown his catechism, and the narrator has added, "there was a world of meaning in this simple comment," then her teachings teach the way to the devil, not to heaven.

With he learns that Deacon Gookin and the "good old minister" are also in league with the devil, Brown doubts his original conception of his faith.  Surely it must be diabolic, rather than divine.  During his gloom of doubt, Goodman Brown's wife appears.  When Faith's ribbons fall from the clouds above,  Brown cries, "My Faith is gone!"  But, he makes another grand effort  'Faith! Faith!...look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one." But, when Faith comes to him, Brown looks away from her sternly without speaking.  For, he realizes that his Faith will not lead him to heaven.It is this epiphany which causes Brown to look upon the stay at home,

In his essay entitled, "Hathorne's Young Goodman Brown :  An Attack upon Puritanic Calvisism, Thomas E. Connolly writes,

It is this awakening to the full meaning of his faith which causes Young Goodman Brown to look upon his minister as a blasphemer when he teaches "the sacred truths of our religion."  For, there is little else but misery.

Analyze "Young Goodman Brown" using a historical and biographical approach.

According to Hyatt H. Waggoner, author of a biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne

continued to note in himself, and to disapprove, feelings and attitudes he projected in . .. "Young Goodman Brown." He noted his tendency not only to study others with cool objectivity, but to study himself with almost obsessive interest.

The Puritan values that inspired Hawthorne's close observation of people and events contributed to his genius as a writer. For, his Puritan gloom determines the dark atmosphere of many of his narratives as well as the overriding shadow of Calvinism which generates a certain pessimism about man.  It is this mixture of objectivity and Puritan gloom which creates the ambiguity that is present in "Young Goodman Brown."  Did Brown witness Faith give herself up to the devil, or did something happen within his heart?

The setting of Hawthorne's challenging story is a result of the tremendous historical influence of the Salem Witch Trials.  Even in Hawthorne's time, the nineteenth century, New England was yet reeling from the guilt of ancestry about such a hysterical time period, while at the same time it rebelled against the Calvinistic morals that were so constrictive. Goodman tells his wife he is going into the forest primeval "just this one night" because he wishes to challenge the devil, challenge the Calvinistic belief in the depravity of man.  Yet, as the traveller in the person of the old man with the serpentine staff hints at his recognition of the darkness of Goodman's soul, Brown claims his innocence and goodness.  Certainly, Hawthorne, whose ancestor  served as a judge in the Salem Trials, examines this dichotomy in his story with Goodman Brown as the personage who represents the conflict of guilt and rebellion.  Indubitably, art imitates life in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."

How does Hawthorne portray antitranscendentalism in "Young Goodman Brown"?

Transcendentalism was a philosophical tradition that was, at its core, rooted in optimism, particularly as it concerns the capacity of the human beings to achieve moral goodness. It was fiercely individualistic in its viewpoint (as opposed to more collectivist approaches, such as those championed by the Utilitarians) and was largely focused around the subjects of self-cultivation and self-actualization.

With that in mind, in a question relating to what anti-transcendentalist qualities are present in "Young Goodman Brown", it's worth noting just how cynical this story is when it comes to questions surrounding basic human nature. If transcendentalists looked for a path of moral betterment and championed the individual's capacity to achieve it, this story largely follows the opposite path, presenting a much bleaker picture in which all of humanity seems to wallow in corruption. At least, that is the lesson Brown takes from his experience in the forest: all people are wretched, and no one is to be trusted.

How does Hawthorne portray antitranscendentalism in "Young Goodman Brown"?

Hawthorne belonged to a group of authors, including Melville and Poe, who were known as anti-Transcendentalists, or Dark romantics. This is because their views of the world were at variance with the views of the Transcendentalists - of Emerson and Thoreau, for example. These writers placed an emphasis on Original Sin and the inherent wickedness of human beings. Thus Dark Romantic literature always features at least some of the following ingredients: the conflict between good and evil, the psychological effects of guilt and sin, madness in the human psyche. The attempt of Dark Romantics can be summarised as to strip away the acceptable and respectable veneer of human nature and reveal the blankness, hypocrisy and evil that lurks not too far beneath.

Considering this sketch of anti-Transcendentalist ideas, it becomes clear that a number of these aspects fit in to "Young Goodman Brown." This is a story that seeks to show the evil inherent in all of us through establishing the hypocrisy of the Puritan elect in Goodman Brown's locale. Likewise the fact that everyone needs to make the visit to the woods at least once indicates that evil is an inherent part of the human condition. We could also say that the impact of this experience on Goodman Brown and his inability to accept the fact of evil in all humans illustrates how other forms of evil can operate in Puritan society, for he ruins his own life and that of his wife through his depression.

How are Brown's assumptions challenged in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"?

During the course of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the title character makes a number of assumptions which are later challenged or contradicted by ensuing events.  Among those assumptions are the following:

• Brown seems to assume that he can deliberately flirt with evil and easily return unchanged; it doesn’t seem to occur to him, at first, that his journey into the forest might have fundamental and life-altering cionsequences. He thinks that after one night of deliberate contact with Satan, he can cling to his wife’s skirts (symbolic of religious faith) and follow her to heaven.
• Brown seems to assume that he needs to fear forces outside himself (such as hidden Indians or concealed devils), whereas by the end of the story it is clear that Brown most needs to fear his own darkest impulses.
• Brown seems to assume that his father and other members of his family were free from sin, when of course no human (according to standard Christian teachings) is free from sin:

"My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept'' . . .

• Brown assumes that the people of his community are also free from sin (“We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness") – an assumption that is wrong for the same reason just mentioned.
• Brown seems to assume that evil deeds, once committed, cannot be repented and forgiven. He forgets the power of God’s grace and mercy. He assumes that any deviation from perfection is cause for despair, when nothing, in fact, should be cause for despair. Despair, after all, assumes limits to God’s powers of forgiveness and redemption:

"My Faith is gone!'' cried he, after one stupefied moment. "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.''

Brown's faith may indeed be gone, but none of the other statements he makes here is true. Moreover, his faith can be recovered if he is willing to seek forgiveness.

• Brown assumes that his experiences in the forest may actually, literally have occurred, when in fact the narrator explicitly raises the possibility that Brown’s experiences were merely the products of a bad dream:

Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?

• Finally, after his return to the village, Brown assumes that he has the right to judge his wife and the other members of the community. He assumes that he is morally and spiritually their superior -- yet one more assumption contradicted by his subsequent behavior and final fate.

In "Young Goodman Brown," how did Brown's outlook influence his actions?

This is an interesting question. I am not sure that we are given much information about Goodman Brown's outlook on life but it is clear that his action in insisting on going into the woods is part of some last rebellion against good and dalliance with evil before he settles down to become a righteous and spiritual man. Note how as he starts off on his journey he reflects on what a terrible man he is to ignore his wife's plea for him to stay:

"Poor little Faith!" thought he, for his heart smote him. "What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams, too. Methought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight. But no, no; 't would kill her to think it. Well, she's a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven."

Note how allegorically, Faith, Goodman Brown's wife, is exactly that, and so after this one last night of evil, Goodman Brown resolves to "cling to her skirts" and by so doing "follow her to heaven."

Thus perhaps we can infer that Goodman Brown's outlook on life is that he is entitled to one last fling with the Devil before settling down to become a good Puritan and focusing on becoming holy. It is this belief that he is entitled to one last night of evil that leads him into the woods and changes him utterly forever.

What is Hawthorne's main concern in "Young Goodman Brown"?

I think the central preoccupation is what we do when we discover that people are not perfect, that they may not live up to our expectations of them.  We actually do not know what happened in the woods, and are left to suspect that nothing may have happened and that it might have been a dream.  The fact that we do know is that the Brown who leaves the woods can no longer look at his townsfolks with the same acceptance as he once did; in fact, he becomes isolated from his wife, Faith, and his faith in the goodness of the townfolk, and this leads him to live a miserable life and die an unhappy man.

Stated briefly, Hawthorne's central preoccupation is with accepting the ambiguity that is part of life; there is good and bad in everyone and everything and we have to accept it or be as miserable as Brown.

What is Hawthorne's main concern in "Young Goodman Brown"?

There seem to be a number of central oppositions that are explored by Hawthorne in this short story. Good vs evil is an obvious central theme. Some aspects of this story can be viewed as allegorical, and certainly the trip into the forest seems to assume a greater significance than just a trip. The fact that Brown only has to do it once suggests that this might be viewed as a spiritual quest that all humans have to undergo at somepoint in their lives: an exposure to evil. However, Brown is unable to live with the truth of humanity's fallen nature. Faith, his wife, on the other hand, is able to welcome Brown back with open arms. There is a contrast then between his reaction and her reaction: Brown's absolutism and the absolutism within Puritanism at large is shown to be a moral cancer that saps the joy out of life and leaves nothing but suspicion and distrust.

What is Hawthorne's main concern in "Young Goodman Brown"?

This is an interesting question. You could probably answer sufficiently by choosing a theme from the story and providing an analysis and support of the theme. The answer is undoubtedly subjective. Consequently, different readers could think that Hawthorne has a different main point. Personally, I think that a main point of this story is about hidden sin. This should make sense because Hawthorne has written other pieces that focus on hidden sin. The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil" both have a strong emphasis on hidden sin. "Young Goodman Brown" shows readers the hidden sins and secrets of a town through Brown's encounter with Satan, when he sees that the people he thought were most faithful were actually in league with the Devil. While I don't think that Hawthorne is trying to tell readers that everybody is in league with Satan, I do think he is making a point of telling readers that even the most pious are incapable of being 100% good.

What is Hawthorne's main concern in "Young Goodman Brown"?

If you are referring to the main idea or the lesson to be taught from Young Goodman Brown you can conclude that Hawthorne wanted to send a message to those who call themselves "holier than thou".

Evil is a capacity that everyone has. Everybody has the potential of committing sin, to be led into temptation, and to turn into something they never thought they would.

In Young Goodman Brown, a man who always followed the right path is diverted by a strange man in a dark forest in which he encounters those very people whom he once considered "good" turned into creatures of evil.  This, Hawthorne would argue, is what happens when you deviate from your faith (Faith is also the name of Goodman Brown's wife, whom he left to go into the forest).

Therefore, the morale of the story is that our souls can be corrupted no matter what, and that no matter how much you want to claim your kindness and purity. We are nevertheless human, and human only.

Why might Hawthorne depict Brown as a hypocritical Puritan in "Young Goodman Brown"?

The Puritan man was supposed to love his neighbors, go to church, keep his faith always, and contribute to the community in a meaningful way. However, as a result of Brown's experiences in the woods (or his dream of those experiences), he is no longer able to do any of these things. Yet he continues to judge others for their failures as well. Brown ceases to love his neighbors, as he becomes a "distrustful, if not a desperate man," and he takes no joy in his fellows anymore. Further, he cannot bear to sit in church, as the sight and sound of the minister preaching causes him to "turn pale" for fear that the roof will cave in on the "gray blasphemer" and his corrupt congregation. Neither can he stand the sound of the congregation singing a holy psalm because, when they sing, "an anthem of sin rush[es] loudly upon his ear." He think of them all as sinners (neglecting to recall that he is also a sinner). Moreover, he loses his faith, which is symbolized by his wife (aptly named Faith), as he "shrank from the bosom of Faith" by day and by night, and he can only gaze at her "sternly." She cannot comfort him anymore, symbolizing the loss of his Christian faith. In short, then, Brown no longer participates in the life of the community in anything resembling a positive or loving way, and he sins by judging others for their failure to live up to the values of Puritanism all while he fails to do so as well. For this reason, Hawthorne invites us to view Brown as a hypocrite.

How does Hawthorne address the concept of perceived reality in "Young Goodman Brown"?

It is never made clear whether or not Goodman Brown's experiences that night were a dream or actual events.  At the end, no one ever brings up those events, including Brown, so even Brown himself is unsure.  This is one way in which Hawthorne brings into play the concept of perceived reality.

Furthermore, Brown's perceived reality up until that night were that he was surrounded by people who lived a Puritan life, free of sin and malice.  The events that transpire on that night make him question what he has deemed as his reality in life up until that point.  Brown is now questioning everyone aruond him, including hsi wife Faith, and is also unsure now of his own faith in his religion and his society. His perceived reality was negated by the events that night and, ever after, whether true events or figments of his imagination, they have affected him for a lifetime.

What is your interpretation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"?

An essay with five paragraphs usually consists of an introduction, three “body” paragraphs that include arguments and evidence, and a conclusion. The thesis is generally presented in the introduction, which also includes indications of the kind of evidence that the author will present and how they will use the evidence to support the distinct arguments that are connected to the thesis.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story can be analyzed in terms of the protagonist’s intentions in entering the forest, in relationship to his experiences there. One can examine Goodman Brown’s character to see if he undergoes any significant changes as a result of these experiences. A relevant thesis might propose that the story is a coming-of-age story, in which Goodman changes from an innocent youth to an experienced man.

Another way to approach the story is by investigating the way that the author presents the concepts of good and evil through the secondary characters. This type of approach would contrast the “good man” in the central role with each of the people he meets of observes. A thesis based on this approach would look at the story as a morality tale, emphasizing that Hawthorne makes Goodman Brown the moral center of his story in order to convey his beliefs about positive and negative behavior.

How would you conduct a new historicist analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"?

New historicism in literature examines both the historical context of the author writing their work of literature and the historical context of the critic. For example, new historicism might observe that Harriet Beecher Stowe, in the context of her own time, was considered radically sympathetic to Black people in Uncle Tom's Cabin, while in today's context the book is considered racist.

In terms of organizing your paper, it would be easy to first discuss "Young Goodman Brown" in the historical context of Hawthorne's time period (the early 1830s, when the story was written), then to discuss the story in the context of twenty-first-century thinking.

"Young Goodman Brown" is a work of historical fiction, set in the seventeenth century but written in the nineteenth. Such fiction always uses the past to comment on the present. Since the story focuses on the damage of overly rigid religious thinking, which cannot accept that even good people have faults, you might explore if Hawthorne found similar rigidity in the religious world of his own day or too much rigidity in 1830s political debates, such as about slavery or states' rights.

A modern reading, in contrast, might explore the rigidly negative ways Indigenous people in the story are depicted. Hawthorne leans into negative stereotypes, in lines such as Brown seeing at the woodland ceremony:

the Indian priests, or powwows, who had often scared their native forest with more hideous incantations than any known to English witchcraft.

Hawthorne, in the context of his times, may have meant to critique the use of moral absolutes in judging other white people, but we might critique Hawthorne for his judgments of Indigenous people.

What is Hawthorne's view on the relationship between good, evil, hypocrisy, and humanity in "Young Goodman Brown"?

This story suggests that it is human nature to be both good and evil. No one is completely good and no one is completely evil. Goodman Brown wants to be good, and he swears that after this last night, he will. However, he also wants this one last night to be evil—he knows that going into the woods on this errand is evil and wrong, because he plans to start being good tomorrow.

Once he enters the forest, he sees Goody Cloyse. She is a woman who well-known to him as godly and associated with the church. However, she knows the devil, just as everyone else in the village seems to, as they all are present at the devil's meeting in the woods. Thus, even those individuals who seem the most godly, the most good, also know evil and have committed sins. No one is perfect. We are human.

However, it seems that most people choose to hide their human imperfection, as Goody Cloyse evidently does. This prevents people from realizing that everyone is imperfect and that imperfection is normal. Goodman Brown, for example, hides the evil within him from his wife and from everyone else in the town that the devil meets on the path through the woods. It is this pretending—this hiding of one's true, dual nature—that constitutes our hypocrisy.