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Nobody is immune to sin. Even the people that seem the most innocent and good experience temptation

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Hailee Reilly

"...leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness, still rushing onward with the instinct that guides mortal man to evil"(Hawthorne).

Throughout the passage, Hawthorne uses blackness as a symbol of darkness and an indication of evil to come. Goodman Brown hails himself as holy, however his all black clothing and his use of the staff contradicts his image of himself as being innocent as he is involved with darkness.

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Alexis Cole
"So saying, he threw it down at her feet, where, perhaps, it assumed life, being one of the rods which its owner had formerly lent to the Egyptian magi" (Hawthorne).

All throughout religious history, especially in Christianity, the snake/serpent has been used as a symbol for evil, the Devil, and temptation. One such reference is mentioned in this quote - when Moses goes to the Pharoah to free the Israelites, the Egyptian magicians use their false, black magic to try and invalidate Moses' plea by throwing down their staffs and turning them into serpents. Moses was representing the will of God, and the Egyptians were acting for the Devil. In Hawthorne's story, this theme of evil is recalled to demonstrate the darkness of the stranger.

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Julia Smidt

"' There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree," said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!'" (Hawthorne)

The symbolism of the Forest throughout Hawthorne's passage represents sinful temptation and the time where decisions are made either for good or evil within a persons mind when alone.

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Emma Davidson

"The traveller put forth his staff, and touched her withered neck with what seemed the serpent's tail.
'The devil!' screamed the pious old lady" (Hawthorne).

Unlike some of the other symbols in this story, the stranger is literally what he represents: the devil. He tempts characters, such as Young Goodman Brown, his father, and his grandfather, to commit sin. He knows the sins of all of the members of the town, even though most of them have kept these sins hidden away.