Juan Torres October 8, 2009 “The human soul without its mask”, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, theoretically, is based on ethical and moral principles that are brought up or disseminated primarily by religion. Consequently, religion, no matter what is its name, church, or belief, has a fundamental importance in what is considered the formation of the individual. However, despite having such a significant social responsibility, religion has suffered from the ills that industrial society imposed: the lust for power, respect and money. These ills that afflict the majority, reserving the exceptions to the rule, of world religions is evident in the story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Modern men, like the institutions he invented, founded, constitutes and chairs, are totally corrupted by "the man with the snake stick", the devil. Any person is exempted from sin because people are badly brought up to it, in order to justify the presence of religions, churches, or
