In 3 pages, consider the “spectral evidence” that was used against accused Salem witches in Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World. Apply the Puritans’ belief in such evidence to its effect on young Goodman Brown, especially since he had been catechized in the doctrine of Original Sin (The New England Primer: “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all”).
Bearing in mind that Hawthorne is writing a work of fiction in “Young Goodman Brown,” not personally endorsing its concepts, does the Devil’s possible use of spectral evidence (the floating pink ribbon, the participation of townspeople and Faith in the Black Mass) so overwhelm Brown that he comes to believe Original Sin is literally true for everyone he knows in his town (and deep, dark sin at that)?
Include in your discussion both the fact that Hawthorne’s own ancestor was a Salem witch trial judge, establishing a context for Hawthorne’s classic, gloomy short story … and why you think Brown leaves his Faith and sets out to meet the Devil in the woods in the first place, a possible key clue to the mystery of what “actually happens” to Brown. Why does he go out to be tempted in the wilderness?