What draws masses of fans to midnight Batman movie premieres? What factor has influenced millions of people to become readers of Bruce Wayne and other similar characters, like the Punisher They have no superpowers, they have to hide their identities from almost everyone they come into contact with, and in their stories they are hated by most. and feared by all, even in classic literature, like Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" readers are inexplicably drawn to the main character on his quest, even as he actively converses with the dark figure of Lucifer himself. The main factor that makes these dark and dangerous action men so appealing is that they are, first and foremost, human. We, as human beings, continually fall into sin and despair; what makes us human We can relate to these darker vigilantes of “real life” because we’ve been there before. it's not at the same level. But what do all these fictional characters have in common? They fight valiantly to save others, to defend those who cannot defend themselves. And they are also dangerously close to becoming what they fight against... namely darkness. There's a reason why Batman is nicknamed "the Dark Knight", it's because he uses his inner pain, his inner darkness, so to speak, as a weapon to defeat the enemies of good. He is a man who tiptoes between good and evil. The character of Goodman Brown is, like the Caped Crusader, a great representation of the modern anti-hero. The dark hero is brought to this point by tragedy, he embraces the deep darkness around him for strength, and yet he still manages to retain enough of the good to remain sane. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay First of all, what brings Brown to the brink of obscurity? The one that brings every man to despair: a heartbreaking tragedy. For Batman, it was the loss of his parents in his youth that inspired him to become the world's greatest detective. For Browne, this is the moment when he realizes that his Faith is witnessing this pagan ceremony. Brown screams in despair when he sees one of Faith's pink ribbons drifting from above. “My faith is gone!” » (Hawthorne 392) cries a disillusioned Brown. This is the same man who, just a few paragraphs earlier, devotedly declared, “With heaven above and faith below, I will stand firm against the devil!” » (391). The terms “Faith” and “faith” are used almost interchangeably in the text. While one refers to Goodman's new wife Brown (Faith) and the other refers to belief and pursuit of Christ, they are one and the same for Brown. He even says at the beginning of the story how he will “cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven” (387). The main character places all his hopes for salvation in his wife, even if at the beginning of the novel it is he who leaves her with a “present evil design” (387). He meets Lucifer, but becomes more and more resistant to him as they walk through the woods. Brown “sincerely wishes to escape the devil's trap” (Levy 1), and proves this by defending his family name and ultimately, after seeing Satan and good Cloyse conversing, he refuses to go any further. Once again, he uses Faith as his rock, declaring: “Is this any reason why I should abandon my Faith…?” (Hawthorne 390). Faith is everything and more to the protagonist, just as parents are everything and more to a young dependent child. Now thatwoman has taken the broad path of destruction, Goodman Brown loses the one thing in his life that matters most to him. And this pushes him over the edge, as he goes "mad with despair" and begins his transformation into something more terrifying than the character of Satan himself. What gives Batman his power? Which helps him defeat the criminal underworld's vilest enemies, like the Joker, Bane and Two-Face? Yes, he possesses vast fortunes and technology, a brilliant mind and a strong body, but Bruce Wayne's true strength comes from his ability to harness the darkness and fear within him. Essentially, Batman is the face of fear itself, and Goodman Brown becomes that as well. After losing Faith, he becomes "the main horror of the scene" (392), as he grapples with the line between sanity and madness. He shouts violently: “Come witch, come sorcerer, come Indian pow-wow, come devil himself!” And here is old man Brown” (392). He understands that he's gone to the dark side, that he's become exactly what the Puritans are supposed to be against, but he doesn't care. He even compares himself to the devil, saying, “You may as well fear them as he fears you!” » (392). Brown was no saint, as he began to follow the devil's path at the very beginning of the tale, however hesitant and ultimately defiant he became. But it was when he lost all hope, as stated in the previous paragraph, that he became a "demonic" rushing at full speed into the dark forest to get to the pagan ceremony. And it's no coincidence that the setting is a dark forest in the middle of the night. The forest represents “the deception and darkness of the heart of man” (Soler 1). This is especially true of Brown's heart after he loses his faith, when he succumbs to the darkness of the world and takes up the devil's staff. The woods are a terrifying place for a Puritan, full of dangers like beasts and Indians. However, Brown recklessly throws himself through the forest. He took this path “with a disappearance of self” (Soler 1), and Brown in effect loses his own identity, becoming a monster. Sometimes, to overcome the darkness, it is necessary to become the darkness, to become the most terrifying thing imaginable. Just when all seems lost for both the Caped Crusader and Old Man Brown, there is something that stops them from completely giving in to the darkness; this prevents them from plunging over the edge of the cliff beyond “the essential iniquity of humanity” (Humma 425). All men are sinners at heart, but when a man gives in to the sins of the entire world around him, it is incredibly difficult to know when to draw the line. For Batman, his rule is to never kill, no matter how vile the criminal. For Brown, it is the realization that his beloved Faith can be saved. Without this rule, Batman is the same thug he fights against, and without Faith, Brown is, as said before, on the same level as Satan himself, trapped in "an endless cycle of misery" (McCabe 1), as he unfortunately finds himself at the end of the story. After Brown no longer sees Faith present, he returns to his as “hope has entered his heart” (Hawthorne 393). He begins to realize that perhaps he was not afraid of anything, because his beloved Faith is not part of pagan company at all. However, he has drawn closer to the fire, as it were, and when the voice of the devil calls him, he steps forward to join the group, "by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart" (Hawthorne 393 ). Brown became evil to combat the evil that threatened his new wife, but he seems to have strayed too close to the edge of this dangerous cliff. When it is revealed that Faith is the other "convert", he panics