Definition Of Faith In Young Goodman Brown

The definition of faith is a strong belief or complete trust in a higher power or another person. Whether it be a spiritual faith, or faith in an individual, most, if not all of us, have at one time or another been prey to this uncertain word. The word faith is ambiguous, teetering back and forth between a noun and a verb, and always tentative. In the short story, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the premise of faith is an unsettling, recurring theme.

Throughout the story Goodman Brown questions his faith in his community, his faith in his wife, and his faith in his spirituality, but one particular passage early on in the story is personally relatable. Young Goodman Brown’s wife Faith pleads with her husband to put off his impending