Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown is the story of a man who was just married, Goodman Brown, and a particular night he spends in the woods. While traveling into the forest one night, Goodman Brown meets an unnamed person who looks like him so much he thinks, "they might have been taken for father and son." As they get deeper into the forest, he soon realizes that his new friend is the devil. He tries to stop several times and insist on not going any further, but the devil tells him no and he keeps on going. While in the woods, Goodman Brown thinks that his wife Faith, is offering her soul over to the dark side. When Goodman Brown reaches out to heaven to save his wife, it is then he realizes all this was just a nightmare and soon he wakes up in the woods all alone. The central idea in the story is that faith is tempted everyday, and the devil will go to any extent to turn someone to the dark side.
The main character in the story, Goodman Brown, is a simple man that comes from a very Christian family. The way both the devil and Goodman Brown are alike in appearance is significant because of the faint way the devil temps Mr. Brown. This familiarity between the two gives Mr. Brown a funny feeling of connection with the devil, thus weakening his faith. Then the devil tries to make him more comfortable by telling him of his relationship with his father and grandfather. Even though Goodman Brown's faith looks to be strong, the devil keeps on trying to tempt him. Mr. Brown then shows his pride when he defends his family name. In the story, Mr. Brown tries to be a good man and has the will, but the skin is what is weak. .
The main conflict in the story is an external one. Mr. Brown is in conflict between his faith with Christianity and the temptations of the devil. Even though he seems to be a good, young Christian boy, his faith with God is put to the test when he goes into the woods that day.