Faith Is The Most Significant Symbol Of Brown s Personal...

However, he still had Faith. Faith is the most significant symbol of Brown’s personal faith. From her name to her pink ribbons, Faith is goodness, virtue, and purity personified. From the beginning of the story, Hawthorne makes it clear how heavily Young Goodman Brown relies on his young wife. Brown referred to her as â€Å"’a blessed angel on earth,’† and to rationalize his journey he told himself that â€Å"’after this one night, I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven’† (Hawthorne 261). When the devil questioned Brown’s tardiness, Brown replied, â€Å"’Faith kept me back awhile’† (Hawthorne 262). His faith, represented by Faith, was strong enough to delay his meeting with the devil, but too weak to enable him to resist the devil†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"’My Faith is gone!’ cried he, after one stupefied moment† (Hawthorne 267). With the recognition that Faith was among the group, Brown’s final defense broke down, and he lost his personal faith. This scene is ironic because, only moments before Brown declared that his faith was gone, he cried, â€Å"’With Heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!’† (Hawthorne 266). He was also about to pray to God before he saw the cloud and lost the last vestige of his faith (Hawthorne 266). Though Brown claimed to have faith in God, as soon as his Faith was gone from below, his faith in God was revealed to be insubstantial and feeble. This irony also led to the turning point that caused him to live a bitter and sorrowful life. Young Goodman Brown gave in to temptation and changed his course. He picked up the devil’s staff and â€Å"set forth again, at such a rate, that he seemed to fly along the forest-path, rather than to walk or run† (Hawthorne 267). Brown arrived at the devil’s meeting and found a large congregation of both distinguished and devout church-members and â€Å"men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame† (Hawthorne 268). After a dreadful anthem, the devil appeared and invited the new converts to come forward. Brown and a veiled female approached the altar, where the devil welcomed them to the congregation (Hawthorne 269). By joining with them, the devil promised Brown and the woman that, â€Å"’By the