What is Brown's motive for entering the forest in "Young Goodman Brown" and what does he expect to find?

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's allegorical story,with the utmost confidence in the goodness of his society and in himself, Brown embarks upon his trek into the forest despite the protestations of his wife, Faith.  Along the way, he encounters an older man who bears a curious resemblance to Goodman Brown himself; he carries a snake-like staff.  Self-assured, Brown accompanies this man into the forest primeval. When he sees Goody Cloyse, a real person who was involved in the Salem witch hunts, Brown becomes somewhat fearful, but he believes that he is too good to be harmed; he expects to return unscathed spiritually. After all, his ancestors were all good people.  In Goodman Brown's embarking on this trek into the forest, it seems he wishes to confront temptation out of a curiosity and to prove his resistance to temptation.  Interestingly, when the old man appears, Brown tells him that Faith has kept him back.

When Brown witnesses a carriage pass by with the minister and Deacon Sykes in it, he feels faint as he hears them discuss the evening's meeting and the young woman who will join this meeting. But, Brown's love for Faith propels him into the forest.  As he lifts his hands to pray, he hears Faith's voice; Brown cries out to Faith to resist the devil; however, Brown suddenly finds himself alone in the forest.

This ambiguity about what has transpired is pivotal to the loss of Brown's personal faith, an unexpected turn of events for him.  Because he has doubted that Faith has resisted, he becomes "a hoary man," a man who is skeptical of the goodness in anyone.  He rejects his faith in his religion; he rejects his wife, Faith.  He feels "a loathful brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart."  This "loathful brotherhood" is what causes him to reject others and become "a stern, a sad,...if not a desperate man. His guilt in his lack of faith causes him to see only evil. His life ends emptily.

What is the "guilty purpose" that draws Young Goodman Brown into the forest?

Goodman Brown’s guilty purpose is forsaking his wife literally, and his religion metaphorically.

It should be noted that this story is somewhat open to interpretation, as with many matters of faith.  Here is one interpretation.

In the story, Goodman goes for a walk in the woods.  However, he has to leave his wife Faith to do so.

“Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand! (p. 4)

He feels bad for leaving her on the one hand, and resents her for keeping him on the other.  He is torn.  In religion, we call this a crisis of faith.  Goodman has to decide whether he will stick with his faith or wander from it.  He takes a “dreary” road, and he is aware of the “evil purpose” on which he is journeying (p. 4).

When Goodman is walking, he comes across a traveler in the form of an old man.  He realizes this man is the Devil.  He is not sure what to do.  He notes that his father, and his father before him, have never gone into the woods “on such an errand” (p. 5).  He is convinced that they never strayed, and were never tempted by the devil.

We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and keep…(p. 5)

The Brown family has not been the virtuous sort that Goodman thinks though.  The Devil explains that they have been known to commit sins, such as massacres against the Indians, in the name of God.  Faith and goodness, Brown realizes, are not so black and white as he thought.

In the end, Goodman returns home but does forsake his wife and his faith.  He turns into a grumpy old man.

Goodman Brown’s crisis of faith is one that is typical of most young men, but particularly important for the colonials in the strict Puritan society.  Whatever the Church says is right is right.  Goodman realizes this is not necessarily the case.  After his journey into self-reflection, he realizes that everyone is a hypocrite, and it turns him bitter.  He loses faith, and Faith, forever.

What is Goodman Brown's purpose for going into the woods?

Young Goodman Brown gives his clinging, timid wife the impression that he has to go away on a business trip. However, there is considerable foreshadowing in the opening scene suggesting that he is deceiving her and has some entirely different destination in mind.

"Well, she's a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.”

With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose.

The author does not state what that evil purpose might be, but the story itself reveals what it is at the climax. Young Goodman Brown, whom everyone regards as a nearly perfect man and ideal husband, is on his way to a devil-worshipping ceremony to be held in the woods. At the high point of the story, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the ceremony with his characteristic brilliance in painting word pictures of settings. We can imagine the big fire lighting up the tall trees and lighting up the faces of many of the people from Young Goodman Brown's village whom he recognizes in attendance.

The great irony in "Young Goodman Brown" is that the timid little wife he thought he had left behind seems to be leading the whole orgy herself. She was mistaken about her husband's morals, but he was also mistaken about hers. Both have very dark sides to their characters which they steadfastly keep hidden from the world. But evidently the evil in their natures is like the pressure building up inside an active volcano and has to come out occasionally. This orgy is that outburst for Brown, his wife, and most of their friends and neighbors.

How did Brown's wife get there ahead of Brown? He left town before she did. A clue is to be found in the story. Brown meets a sinister man on the road who accompanies him on the rest of his journey and tells him:

“You are late, Goodman Brown,” said he. “The clock of the Old South was striking as I came through Boston, and that is full fifteen minutes agone.”

The young man really lacks his wife's aggressiveness and fearlessness. He has been proceeding at a slow pace because he dreads reaching his destination and also because, as the narrator tells us, he is afraid there might be Indians behind every tree. Also, it is very dark out there among the trees, and his wife could easily have slipped past without his knowing it.

So Brown's purpose for going into the woods is to attend a devil-worshipping orgy far away from town and farther away from normal civilized morality. He may have thought he was the only one from his community who would be there, but he finds out that everyone, including his sweet little wife, has the same evil impulses as himself. Was it all a bad dream? Or did it really happen?

Be it so if you will; but, alas! It was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream. 

Why does Goodman Brown venture into the forest in "Young Goodman Brown", despite knowing it's sinful?

"Young Goodman Brown" is often said by critics to be, among other themes, a comment on the strict religious culture of the early Puritans. In such a strict culture, the people/characters are faced with an irreconcilable opposition between goodness and evil. As such, those adhering to the radical religious codes and laws would react with outrage at anything remotely evil. This was the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. And in the story, Brown himself reacts with similar outrage. In fact, after witnessing (as a dream or in reality) that evil exists among his pious townspeople, Brown decides that all is lost. Rather than admit that evil and good exist in the world, Brown takes the radical approach that such a balance is not possible. 

So, if Brown is so determined to be good and righteous, why does he go into the forest, knowing some evil might lurk there? Coming from such a strict, religious culture, he goes out of simple curiosity or consternation at the situation described to him. Above all, Brown goes on this journey to examine "faith": his faith in himself, his wife's faith in him, his faith in his wife and humanity as a whole. Hawthorne metaphorically alludes to Brown's testing himself early in the story, though the context is literally in reference to a business journey: 

My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done 'twixt now and sunrise. What, my sweet, pretty wife, does thou doubt me already, and we but three months married? 

Believing in this strict opposition, good/evil, all or nothing, Brown seeks proof of single-minded belief in goodness, but he loses his faith on his journey to the forst because he sees how the mere suggestion of evil corrupts everything. Seeing the possibility for evil in the world and in others he thought to be righteous, he retreats into despair and loses faith in himself as well. 

What does Brown expect for his life and for his journey by entering the forest? What his his motive for entering the forest in the first place?

Brown has promised to meet someone, "the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree (736.) What is curious about this man is his staff, "which bore the likeness of a great black snake" (737).  On their journey into the woods, Brown begins to learn that most of the people of his village, people whom he believed to be God-fearing, are engaged in a form of witchcraft.  This is confirmed when he and his travelling companion, who is clearly the devil or one of his minions, reach their destination, a meeting of the devil-worshipers.

Since the story does not make clear whether these events really happen or are all a dream Goodman Brown has, some interpretation of the story is necessary.  Does he go to the wood with his companion in the hope of proving that his fellow villagers are good people and that the devil is incorrect in his assessment of them?  Does he go because he is secretly tempted to join the villagers in devil-worship, thus bringing himself some sort of success?  There is evidence for both interpretations.  For example, Brown continues throughout the journey to protest the evil his fellow villagers are accused of.  But at the "ceremony," someone says, "Bring for the converts," and Goodman Brown "felt a loathful brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart" (742).  So, did he go to join in, or did he go to prove that he and the rest of the village were above reproach?

What is the real reason for Young Goodman Brown's journey?

This is a good question. The story "Young Goodman Brown" opens with a strange exchange between the title character and his wife, Faith. Faith wants him to stay home, but he replies that he has business in the woods at night:

"My love and my Faith," replied young Goodman Brown, "of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done 'twixt now and sunrise. What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married!"

Young Goodman Brown clearly has some sort of business in the forest, the reader is told, and this business must take place under the cover of darkness.

To me, Young Goodman Brown's insistence on the necessity of his journey away from the village of Salem at night is what drives the story forward. If he had indeed stayed home, he wouldn't have seen his neighbors and, indeed, even his wife participating in the black mass in the forest. He seems compelled to leave his comfortable home and go looking for trouble.

When Young Goodman Brown meets the devil in the woods, the reader has the sense this meeting was the purpose of the nocturnal journey. He greets the devil with a revealing statement:

"Friend ... having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return whence I came. I have scruples, touching the matter thou wot'st of."

Thus, the reader can be fairly certain at this point in the story that the real reason for Young Goodman Brown's journey into the woods at night is to meet up with this strange man with the staff.

Of course, the story doesn't have to be read as a literal meeting between the man and the devil. To me, this story seems very much like a psychological journey within Young Goodman Brown's own conscience. In the course of the journey, he attempts to come to terms with the hypocrisy and moral failing of the world around him. He fails in this attempt, however, and thus becomes very bitter toward the world.

Why did Goodman Brown venture into the forest in "Young Goodman Brown"?

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's celebrated short story "Young Goodman Brown," the protagonist leaves his young, innocent wife, Faith, to journey into the wilderness to engage in an "evil purpose." As Young Goodman Brown reluctantly travels into the forest, he is tempted by the devil to continue his journey, where he will eventually witness a "witch-meeting" or Black Mass, which is an unsettling Satanic ritual.

During Goodman Brown's journey through the wilderness, a pious old woman named Goody Cloyse interacts with the devil, and he watches as Deacon Gookin and the minister travel together to participate in the wicked ceremony.

Despite second-guessing his decision to travel through the wilderness, Goodman Brown is not able to resist temptation and succumbs to his natural human instincts, which Hawthorne suggests are universally wicked and corrupt. Hawthorne never explicitly states Goodman Brown's purpose for choosing to follow the devil into the forest, but it is implied that he wishes to experience something forbidden, which will satisfy his inherent sinful desires.

It is not necessary for the reader to know exactly what Goodman Brown is hoping to find in the forest, but it is more significant as to why he chooses to embark on his journey. Hawthorne is suggesting that all humans are inherently corrupt and will eventually succumb to temptation at some point in their lives, which is the moment they lose their innocence. One can surmise that Goodman Brown was intrigued by something forbidden and could not resist temptation, which is why he decided to abandon Faith in order to travel through the wilderness, where he eventually witnessed a Black Mass.

In "Young Goodman Brown," if Young Goodman Brown, as the pious Puritan he is, knows he is setting out on an evil errand, why does he go?

This is a really fascinating question and one which has troubled me as well. You are right in identifying that there is no real "reason" established for Young Goodman Brown deciding to go into the woods and meet with the Devil. The only reason that I can come up with is that this is Young Goodman Brown's last frolic with evil before settling down for the rest of his life as a good Puritan. Note what he says to himself as he leaves Faith who is reluctant to let her husband of three months go off for his mysterious quest:

"Poor little Faith!" though he, for his heart smote him. "What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams, too. Methought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done to-night. But no, no; 't would kill her to think it. Well, she's a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven."

This seems to support my conclusion that this is one last fling with evil before he determines to "cling to the skirts" of Faith (clearly an allegorical character representing Christian faith) for the rest of his life. Having made this decision, the text then tells us that he felt "justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose." Thinking of the future good he will do seems to make him happier about the immediate evil he is planning.