Good verses Evil has always been a constant battle within individuals. We are always told to act good and seek the good in others, but what about the evil? We all know that all humans have both good and bad characteristics about them, and that it is wrong to only accept one side. In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne's main character, Goodman Brown comes face to face with both aspects of human nature, but is afraid to embrace the "evil," or bad in himself when tempted by the Devil and fellow townsmen. Goodman Brown's refusing to accept his evil shows that humans, by nature, are able to judge others easily, not acknowledge what is bad about themselves, and afraid to experience new things. As the story shows, humans are afraid of discovering themselves. .
Every human is guilty of picking out the bad things in others. We all find it easy to say when we believe a person has done something wrong, or against what we believe is right. For example when the Devil tells Goodman Brown, "I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem", Goodman Brown found this to be true because of his father raising him as protestant, and instilling that their belief was most righteous (106). When Goodman Brown witnesses the bad in his fellow town members, he begins to judge them as being hypocrites because of their partaking in and acceptance of the bad or evil within, "Good old Deacon Gookin had arrived, and waited at the skirts of the venerable saint, his revered pastor" (110). Goodman Brown shows that it is much easier to see the bad in others, and not ourselves. By humans constantly judging others shows that people are insecure about themselves. We find it easier to see the bad things that others do because we are afraid to acknowledge that we too sometimes make mistakes and do bad things.
By nature humans are afraid to admit when they have made any mistake.
