Humans not only perceive the world through the sense of sight but also through a heavy dose of prediction. When this system of prediction making fails, humans tend to have hallucinations. There is an external stimulus that exists in the case when one has an illusion. This denotes an instance where the individual takes something for something else. Illusions may distort the reality of an object within the mind of an individual. Illusions tend to deceive humans and are technically considered as normal. The force of evil is a vigorous illusion within Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.” This can be seen by Brown’s unstable depression, the illusion of evil he summons up, and how evil is smoldering American culture today. Within the text of Hawthorne’s story, “Young Goodman Brown”, one can see many contributing factors following up to Brown’s unstable depression. On one night in Salem village, Brown was on a journey, having to leave behind his wife Faith and even his religious beliefs’, to the darkened …show more content…
In Hawthorne’s story, although many characters are openly seen as honorable and in good standing with virtuous duties, behind closed doors, their corruption rots like a decaying corpse. During the crusades, the Roman Catholic Church raised an army of “holy warriors” known as the Knights Templar who were to fight for God and protect the Holy Land. The Knights took solemn oaths of allegiance to the church and lived by commandments against all sin. These oaths included abstinence and temperance so that they could be forgiven and were not a blemish in the eyes of God if they had to kill in battle. As righteous as the holy Knight sounds on paper, the truth leaks off the page with insidious stains. The soldiers of Rome committed the same act as Cain, which was murder. Rape and plundering of the Middle East’s resources spoiled the name of the Knights Templar like a glass of milk sitting on the porch of a mid-July day. Genocide against Jews and Muslims shackled the warriors of God with an unforgivable history. Movies such as “Captain America” proves that people want a hero, someone who attests to noble characteristics, someone who is everything people like to think we are, but fall short of. Even though the honorable Captain prevailed on the battlefield, the plot unravels as one sees that the integrity of those behind the desk were flawed.