Skip to main content

How is the Devil's service and congregation described in "Young Goodman Brown"?

The Devil's congregation is described as being made up of all kinds of people, the high and the low, those believed to be pious and the known sinners, the young and the old.  Goodman Brown is shocked to see the faces of those involved in government, and even religious leaders of the community, those who "looked devoutly heavenward" each Sunday as they faced their congregations from their pulpits.  Even the governor's wife was there.  He sees young girls hiding from their mothers, and "a score of church-members of Salem village, famous for their especial sanctity."  Mixed in with these are men who lead "dissolute lives" and "women of spotted fame," and even some people who are suspected of having committed truly heinous crimes.


During the Devil's service, the converts -- Goodman Brown and his wife, Faith -- are led forward into a clearing filled with the perverse company described above, while all the trees of the forest around them seem engulfed in flame.  The Devil sermonizes as a minister would in church, beckoning his auditors toward sin and corruption instead of imploring them to turn away from it as such a minister would.  The converts are then invited to look upon one another, as if to confirm that all are sinners, none are guiltless, and they are welcomed to the community of faithless.  It is as this point that Brown demands that Faith resist the Devil, and the entire scene disappears.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more