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Loneliness is understood when all truth is laid bare in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown. Marriage should be the end of solitude, but for Goodman Brown it is just the beginning. Goodman Brown’s wife Faith is portrayed as a young, beautiful, newly married woman that feels lost with just the thought of her husband leaving her. She says,” A lone wan is trouble with such dreams and thoughts…”(Hawthorne 607) She is telling her husband that she does not want to be alone and that he should not go on his journey. Not only will they be apart from each other, but also he will be apart for his vows. The forecast of this story is not the loneliness of Goodman Brown’s wife, but of their marriage. “After this one night, I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.” (Hawthorne 607) he feels that if he can just accomplish this one task he will never leave her alone again. “With Heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the Devil!” (Hawthorne 615) Throughout the story his wife and his marriage are a barriers for any evil, but Brown begins to doubt that Faith is committed to only him.
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