Yes, Faith, the name of
Goodman Brown's wife, is one of our first clues that this story can be read as an , a concrete
and tangible representation of an abstract idea or concept. Goodman Brown plans to leave his
wife, Faith, as well as his Christian faith behind for "this one [last] night," and
then he plans to "cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven." The narrator tells us
that
With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman
Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose.
He purposely goes into the forest on some evil purpose with the
intention to be good starting tomorrow, but this is not how faith is supposed to work; one
cannot simply abandon one's faith (as Brown abandons his Faith) and then pick it back up
whenever one feels so inclined. If one is going to have faith in God and commit oneself to God,
then this is something a person is supposed to always be engaged in, not trying to be
good...
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