haracters as symbolic images to represent his feeling and thoughts about the religious culture at work during the late 1800’s. No different, the stranger Goodman Brown meets in the woods is a projection of Hawthorne’s conscience through Brown. I hope to demonstrate that Hawthorne’s conscience has created the character of the stranger through a neurosis produced by his unresolved conflict with gay relationships versus his puritan society beliefs. The stranger represents Hawthorne’s struggle with sin, his id’s primary pleasure’s, and the close relation between sin and the devil.Within the first few paragraphs of the story, Brown states, “what a wretch I am to leave her on such an errand….but no would kill her to think it…after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.” This is a powerful statement about the inner conflict between Brown’s hidden sexual desires and his purpose. Not only does he know his wife would be devastated to find out, but his comment on heaven presents an interesting insight. Brown seems to imply that after this one last night with his lover, he will go back to Faith and live out a heterosexual life, therefore providing a way into heaven. The tension between religion and sexuality in Hawthorne’s life is evident here.Further conflict occurs as the two individuals meet and walk through the woods. The story reveals an underlying consciousness about the severity of sin involved in homosexual relationships. As the two men walk, Goodman Brown begins to tell the man how he will be “the first Brown that ever took this path.” Brown feels that his sexual thoughts have caused him to sin, and that his forefathers would not have done this. The stranger then tells Brown the actions of his father and grandfather that include murder and the lashing of a woman. The stranger uses these instances to compare not o...
