Would you say that Goodman Brown was heroic in the story "Young Goodman Brown"? I have to argue either he was or was not a hero in the short story. I...

As
the question states, it is possible to argue either way on this question.  The support that you
give your argument is what is most important.  

Let's look at a few well
recognized heroes.  Captain America, Spider-man, Luke Skywalker, and even Beowulf are all
characters that use violence to fight against the forces of evil.  They are all young, white
males, and each character has special powers that make each character able to successfully fight
against a great evil.  Each character is loved by the public for his heroic acts, and each hero
saves helpless innocents from being hurt or killed.  Goodman Brown can't claim any of those
things other than being a young, white male.  He goes off into the forest by himself.  He is
shown that everybody he knows and loves is a servant of the devil, and he returns a broken and
scared man.  He didn't physically fight anything, and he didn't rescue anybody either.  We are
told that Goodman Brown became "a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative,...