SOURCE: "Antinomianism in 'Young Goodman Brown'," in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. III, No. 1, Fall, 1965, pp. 73-5.

In the essay below, Mathews notes that Goodman Brown's fall into sin is the result of theological error.

Almost everyone commenting on Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" has noted that its general theme is the loss of personal faith. On the specific application of certain symbols, however, there has been a good deal of disagreement. Some time ago [in "Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown': An Attack on Puritanic Calvinism," American Literature XXVIII, November 1956] Thomas E. Connolly re-asserted the paramount allegorical significance of the character Faith and justifiably concluded that "this story is Hawthorne's criticism of the teachings of Puritanic-Calvinism," though he limited the object of Hawthorne's criticism to predestination. Giving further scrutiny to Faith can establish a more specific probability of meaning, which converts to theological terms Hawthorne's ubiquitous thesis that the...