devil”(315). He realizes that he has nowhere to hide from the persuasive influence of evil, not even sitting by himself with his own thoughts. A black cloud of doubt literally sweeps over Brown and he hears his own townspeople, holy and wretched, at the devil’s communion table along with his wife’s voice. He shouts, “Faith,” and her pink ribbon she wears in her hair flutters down into his hands, which makes him think she is in the forest (315). The dark cloud representing his indecision vanishes along with Brown’s resolution of good and he cries, “My Faith is gone!” while he clutches the ribbon (315). “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is the world given,” Brown cries madly as he runs in the heart of the dark wilderness (315). The heart of Goodman Brown has become a dark forest as he runs after the devil. He gives into the pressure and is led astray by the voice of Faith. He runs towards the evil more like a devil, than like a man at all.Brown stops running once he spies an open field “hemmed in by the dark wall of the forest, arose a rock, bearing some rude, natural resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an evening meeting”(316). The field resembles the ideal hell, and Brown is standing at the gates deciding whether or not to enter. The fire represents his intense emotions and feelings because he is surrounded by sin, and this heavily influences him. He looks around the fire and sees the pious and unholy consorting with each other, and “[i]t was strange to that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were the sinners abashed by the saints”(316). Brown continues to look for his wife, Faith, when the devil appears to call forth the converts. Brown comes out from hiding behind the shadow of the trees an...
