The Eternal Link of Cause and Effect and it's Inescapable-ness

"As nearly as could be discerned, the second traveller was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features" (Bohner and Grant 540).

If this short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne was a complete fantasy story, the devil expressed in this story could have been the older self of Goodman Brown himself. Although this story is written in the "young" Goodman Brown's perspective, as the title indicates, it could have been written from the "old" Goodman Brown's perspective. This story depicts young Goodman Brown going through the changes as he, either in his dream or in real life, witnesses the dark part of human nature: the evilness of the people whom he had expected to be perfect and heavenly, with no faults. He becomes "a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man" after that night, and it stays throughout his life (Bohner and Grant 547). As this story portrays the fact that certain amount of moderate suspicion or distrust may be sufficient and in times needed and that, however, an excessive amount leads to unhappiness, this story may also be illustrating the possibility of the inescapable-ness from one's destiny and the eternal link of the vagueness of what is the cause and what is the effect of everything. For an example, which came first-the hen or the egg? If it was the old Goodman Brown who, possibly traveling back in time to, exposed the young Goodman Brown to the dark side of human nature, it may have been because, in his life, he was betrayed and tricked by a lot of people and he wanted to change that miserable life by going back in time and cautioning his young self about it. The cause, nevertheless, may have been the result of going through the witnessing when he was young, that made him pessimistic and grim that induced him to go back in time to expose his younger self to the same somberness.

This story reminded me of a part of this one completely fictional story I have read before: There was once a man, named Noin, who had loved Jone of Arc. Actually, the two had loved each other. After her crucifixion, however, Noin becomes a demon and lives forever. Meanwhile, Jone reincarnates to a girl named Marron, who is fighting against the forces of evil. Noin finds her and tries to seduce her but fails because Marron loves somebody else. He finds out that he still loves her, and helps her in doing her task. Somehow, one day, the two go back in time and end up in the time and place where Jone was still locked up in the prison. After they get to talk to briefly talk to Jone, they watch her get crucified. Noin decides to stop the previous, human self from becoming a daemon and finds his younger self. However, he finds out that it was his future self, the self that time travelled back to that time, that had done the action, to encounter the reincarnated Jone, Marron, whom he got friendly with, and to help her again.

Which is the cause and which is the effect? Which was first? Does it matter? Was it destiny and was it impossible for Goodman Brown to escape it? In other words, are people born with a destiny and are there no way to escape how they are and how their lives are going to be?