Goodman Brown (The Goodman family)

The Goodman family in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" serves as a symbolic representation of Puritan morality, faith, and the struggle between good and evil within individuals. Goodman Brown himself is a devout but naïve man who confronts the presence of sin and hypocrisy in his community during a nighttime forest journey. The family name "Goodman" reflects societal expectations of righteousness, yet his experiences reveal the complex, often conflicted nature of morality, highlighting how personal and communal beliefs influence perceptions of virtue and temptation.