SPOOKTOBER 2022 ep4: "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Episode 4, Young Goodman Brown, comes to us from 1835 and continues our trek backwards in time to find some of the earliest forms of short story horror in the modern age. Nathaniel Hawthorn weaves a tale rich in religious imagery, doublethink, and madness set within the time of the Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. It is a fantastic example of the Puritanical mindset and how even amongst likeminded folk they were often riled in philosophical struggles against good and evil. Hawthorne hypothesizes - based on his own personal guilt that his father was a judge during the Witch Trials - that evil is inherent in all people and that the truly pious are those few and far between with the courage to stand against their community and hold firm to their beliefs. And with the Young Goodman Brown, the Devil is everywhere and is much more familiar than you or I give him credit for.