Central Conflict, Climax and Resolution in "Young Goodman Brown"This essay will analyze "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne to determine the conflict central to the tale, its climax and partial resolution, using the essays of literary critics to aid in this interpretation. In my opinion, the central conflict in the tale is internal: the conflict in Goodman Brown between joining the devil's ranks and remaining good, and the extension of this conflict to the world at large represented by the villagers of Salem. It is a difficult personal journey for Young Goodman Brown, a young Puritan residing in Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1600s to say goodbye to Faith on that fateful night and fulfill a previous commitment made to an evil character (the devil) in the woods. As she travels through the forest to fulfill her personal desire: to experience evil, to indulge in devil worship, to become a witch - whatever this strange nocturnal affair may entail, all the while she repeatedly thinks about the "good" things she wants. he is leaving at church, at home (his wife Faith) and in Salem Village. This internal conflict ultimately destroys the young Goodman Brown who existed before the visit to the woods and creates a new, cynical, faithless man with a dark and distrustful disposition. This interpretation of the central conflict differs from that offered by Terence Martin in Nathaniel Hawthorne: His journey into the forest is best defined as a sort of general, indeterminate allegory [italics mine], representing man's irrational drive to temporarily abandon faith, home and security, for whatever individual reason, and to take his chances with another errand in the wildest s...... middle of paper ...... goes to Faith and to Salem to the extent that he is able to living with both, yet he has lost the inner peace and innocence he had possessed before the intrusion of evil into his life. WORKS CITED "Hawthorne and His Mosses." The Norton Anthology: American Literature, edited by Baym et al. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1995. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1959. 247-56. Giacomo, Henry. Hawthorn. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1965. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” The Norton Anthology: American Literature, edited by Baym et al. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1995. Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne - The man, his stories and his love stories. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.