The Game of Goodman Brown

After reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown", I decided to use the characters from Game of Thrones to cast my story. I believe that A Game of Thrones is perfect to cast this story because the general belief is that death is imminent and if you let fear overcome you, death will come sooner rather than later. As Tyrion Lannister stated, "Fear cuts deeper than the sword", and in my opinion, Goodman Brown is overcome with fear, ultimately leading to the rot of his mind and soul.

Goodman Brown is a character in the novel who seems to lack a backbone and is incapable of recovering from the events that occurred in the woods. It is ironic that his name is 'Goodman' because he does not possess any qualities that would make him good. At the start of the story, he is saying goodbye to his beautiful and pure wife Faith so that he can go into the woods for an "evil purpose", not to mention the fact that he fails to tell Faith where he is going. This right here tells me a lot about Goodman, that he is weak of character and unfaithful to his loving wife. Secondly, after his encounter in the woods (which he is not even sure if it is real or a dream which proves that he is a bit off his rocker) with these people, he is morphed completely into a different person. He is so weak that he is no longer the same man to his wife as can be seen in the story, "Faith skipped along the street and almost kissed her husband before the whole village. But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting. In my story, I would cast Joffrey as Goodman Brown. Joffrey is placed in a leadership position as King, however, he is incapable of leading and becomes an evil man in the process. This can be seen when his kingdom is under attack and his soldiers and midget brother Tyrion rise to defend. Rather than leading his men into battle, he flees to his room where he hides until the battle is over. I believe this applies to Goodman in that once shaken by the fear of evil in the forrest, he runs from his responsibilities as a Christian and a husband and hides in his own misery. Joffrey is insecure, constantly judging those around him. He is also greatly influenced by evil and power.

Faith is a character of strong conviction. She is represented with her "pink ribbons" as pure and sweet. She is strong and is able to wait bravely until her husband returns. Although she is scarred, stating that A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she's afeard of herself sometimes," she remains strong until Goodman returns. I will cast Catelyn Stark as Faith. Catelyn Stark waits patiently in Winterfell as her husband, Ned Stark, is filling a dangerous position as the Kings Hand in Kings Landing. She is strong, and remains strong even when her husband is murdered. This compares to Faith because Faith is able to remain strong even though her husband comes home as a lifeless man.

Goodman Brown's "fellow traveler" in the story who is known to be the devil would be casted as a White Walker. The White Walker's are terrifying monsters who sweep the countryside and take the lives of those around them. Those that are killed within the wall come back as lifeless zombies who in turn suck the lives of the living. This can be compared to what occurs in the forrest. Inside the forrest walls, the people in a sense are murdered by the evil spirits. When Goodman returned to town, he was like these lifeless zombies, sucking the joy of those around him.

In my opinion, Goodman Brown died the day that he entered those woods. As George Martin States in A Game of Thrones, "When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."I believe that although Faith survives the temptation of evil through standing with Christ, Goodman Brown is incapable of staying pure. Instead, he dies a more painful death than any, remaining a walking corpse throughout his entire life.