Question

Discuss how Hawthorne uses irony in "Young Goodman Brown" to develop a theme or a character.

Answer 1

The greatest irony in Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown" is that Young Goodman Brown, named after a grandfather who was "an old friend" of the devil who walks the younger man to the black mass, is not good at all.  Shocked at the hypocrisy of everyone else--Deacon Gookin and Goody Cloyse--Goodman Brown is far darker in his soul than any of the others,