Wednesday, August 8, 2012

From the story, "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, please explain the pharase, "My Faith is gone!"

This
exclamation has a double meaning.  Goodman Brown's wife's name is Faith, and he loves her
dearly.  She is the picture of innocence as she bids him goodbye, with her pink ribbons blowing
in the breeze.  Goodman Brown holds on to this image and his love for his wife as he traverses
through the woods.  By entering the forest, he chooses to leave Faith behind, both literally and
symbolically.  As he tries desperately to resist temptation, he exclaims, "With Heaven
above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!"  Then he hears many
voices he recognizes from the village, among them his own sweet wife.  He then cries, "My
Faith is gone!€¦There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! for to thee is
this world given."  When he realizes that even his wife is a cohort of the Devil, he gives
up not only on her, but also on his religious faith as well. 

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