Goodman Brown's dream can be analyzed to understand what Hawthorne is portraying in the story. The dream is set in the woods because they are very dark and easy to get lost in, as Goodman Brown is facing his own internal darkness and losing his faith. As he walks further into the woods, he is actually going further into his mind. Each character he encounters is of the utmost religious faith. When he sees them at the witch meeting, he is trying to validate in his mind his own lack of religious faith. As he walked thr

ough the forest with the dark stranger, who bore a striking resemblance to his father, Brown had to confront that maybe all in his world was not as it appeared to be. Every person that he had a high regard for was challenged on this walk. Evil was the shape of his father and goodness was his own mother reaching for him. Even if a dream, Brown could not bring himself to soil his mother's image. The high regard for all that was pure and good were centered in his Faith. When Brown asked her to look heavenward and found himself back in the forest alone without knowing whether she obeyed him or not, gave him the final blow. Brown's life was changed in that instant and forever; his faith was shattered in all mankind. During this evaluation of his soul, he not only approaches the scene of climax in the story, but the center of self-knowledge. The burden of his midnight vision is that evil exists. But Brown's mistake is to confuse partial knowledge with absolute truth. His nightmare knowledge of evil in all men eliminates his ability to believe in human virtue. Brown loses the joy he once had in life. He loses the self-confidence that he had prior to his quest. He lives and dies a miserable man

Some common words found in the essay are:
Goodman Brown, Faith Brown, Goodman Brown's, Salem Hawthorne, goodman brown, dream reality, goodman brown's, goodman brown's faith, witch meeting, story dream, brown's faith, religious faith,
Approximate Word count = 809
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)