Nathaniel Hawthorne is eminent for his works that portray the iniquitous evilness dwelling behind the images of rectitude embedded into Puritan society during the 17th century. Hawthorne's depiction of hidden wickedness is emphasized in “Young Goodman Brown,” a short story published in 1835, about a naïve Christian man who sets out on a mysterious journey only to come to the discernment that everyone he knows has sinned in one way or another, causing him to cynically question the righteousness of the people whom he has always thought as decently good people. The allegorical nature of Hawthorne ’s work is evident in his combination of diction, symbolic objects, and details to ultimately expose the true weakness rooted in mankind for eternity.

Hawthorne uses diction to justify the meaning hidden behind each character and the character’s name, relevant to the juxtaposition of good and evil entwined into humans. The...