In Massachusetts there was always someone who was suspected of having some form of the devil with in them during the puritan times. In order to be excepted one had to be free of any sin, and these individuals need not have any connection with the devil. If they were they would be put to trial with accussation of being a witch. In "Young Goodman Brown" and "Rappacini's Daughter" Hawthorne created two different stories that have much to do with the devil. Although these stories are different in many ways, they show how people and evil can become united.
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In "Young Goodman Brown" Goodman Brown goes on a search for the devil. Humans associate the devil with evil and darkness. It just so happens that Goodman Brown's story takes place in the dark forrest. He goes into the forest and he took "a dreary road darkened by all the gloomiest trees in the forrest" (46). It is as if he wants to get as close to the devil as possible, he is willing to come face to face with him. Hawthorne surrounds Goodman Brown with all the typical stereotypes that we see as the devil. The search for the devil is associated with badness yet Hawthorne puts the good in there as well. Beauty always equals goodness and beauty for Goodman Brown is Faith. The description of Faith is associated with all good. Even the pretty pink ribbons in her hair. Goodman Brown is seeking the devil and leaving the good (Faith) behind.
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In "Rappacini's Daughter" Giovanni does none of this. He never went out to seek the devil because he just wanted to coninue to study with peice and quiet in Padua. Giovanni did not see the devil immediately. Instead he saw beauty and goodness. He sees a lovely girl surrounded by an array of flowers in a garden. As he describes it, "She looked redundant with life, health and energy;all of which attributes were bound down and compressed, as it were, and girdled tensely, in their luxuriance, by her virgin zone" (64).
