the protagonist examines and experiences themes like loss of innocence and faith, the impact of guilt on human beings, and good versus evil during a dream.

Through Goodman’s dream, in an atmosphere of gloom, Hawthorne, as a dark romantic writer, demonstrates the inner terror and fear among humans in the backdrop of the dawn of the American Dream during the Puritan era. Goodman Brown must determine the place of individuals in the community. He envisions Salem to be a hypocritical community, leading him to question his faith. He experiences tremendous guilt, because he abandons his wife to set out on an evil journey to confront the devil. To discover whether the truth permits him to stray from the oppressive laws and beliefs of Salem village, he heads for the forest and into the unknown:

With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest .... It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveller knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead.

Hawthorne’s position on truth expressed in literature differs greatly from the traditional analysis of words and symbols as commonly offered by philosophical theories, didactic fiction works designed to teach moral lessons, or the overuse of symbolic references. Hawthorne favors the concept of imagination.

In his view, the truth revealed in the spoken or written word is a traditional type of truth. He opines that another truth exists, hidden deeply in the human heart. Only through imagination and the examination of the secret thoughts of human beings can literary characters reveal the inner truths that control their behavior patterns. Thus, in “Young Goodman Brown,” the author allows his main character to venture outside of the strict rules of Puritan life and into an unexplored realm by virtue of an imaginative dream. To the protagonist, the truth of the human heart is more than religious tenets or pious prattle. It is found in the deepest secrets revealed in his actions during his imaginary nightmare.

Through this tale, Hawthorne is telling his readers that the words of the residents of Salem are hypocritical. They profess to be holy, religious folk without sin. The reality is quite different. Human beings are frail and must inevitably lose their innocence, as Goodman Brown discovers. The protagonist makes his choice. It is his decision to meet with the devil, so his downfall rests on his shoulders. From his experiences in the woods, he discovers the evil in all mankind and is condemned to suffer an unhappy life full of paranoia. He now sees the entire world as evil:

when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit with power and fervid eloquence ... then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers. Often, waking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith; and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away.

Whether Goodman Brown’s dream is real or not is insignificant to the author’s vision of the truth. During his journey in the forest, he learns that all those people he once knew, loved, or respected were in league with the devil. Had he chosen not to meet with the devil, his faith would have prevailed. However, he realizes the loss of faith is inevitable.

Goodman Brown discovers that perfect goodness is impossible, despite the pious platitudes of the religious hypocrites of Salem village. He did not trust his own sense of morality, but measured his vision of right and wrong against the communal vision of the villagers. The truth buried deep in his heart once revealed in the forest can no longer be forgotten. Since it is impossible to determine whether other human beings are sinners, he is doomed to a life of misery, suspicion, and gloom.

This story comments on the human condition when the narrator describes the people in attendance at the Witches' Sabbath in the woods. Goodman Brown looks around him and sees not just the known sinners in town, not only the people he would have assumed to be evil or sinful, but also those people he's always thought to be good and pious, even church members known for their "especial sanctity." The good and wicked sit together as though they are absolutely equal. The devil enjoins this congregation to tempt others to do evil, to penetrate every breast because, as he says to the new converts, "'Now are ye undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind.'" In other words, then, it is human nature to sin, and to tempt others into similar evils.

Further, the narrator suggests that the evilness of which humans are capable is actually far more devastating than the evilness exhibited by the Devil himself. He says, "The fiend in his own shape is less hideous, than when he rages in the breast of man." Thus, we actually have far more capacity to do and be evil than even the Devil can.

Simply put, an allegory is a story in which everything--characters, objects, places, even colors--is meant to be symbolic in order to present a deeper truth, or meaning.  "Young Goodman Brown," as a moral allegory, uses overt symbolism to portray a basic story of good versus evil amidst the complications of religion and societal influence.

Consider, in this short story the first two named characters: Young Goodman Brown and his wife Faith.  Symbolically speaking, Goodman Brown is meant to be an innocent and otherwise unbiased or unblemished character.  Brown is neither black nor white, nor is it even a combination of both.  It is neutral.  His wife, Faith, in this case, represents a trust (or faith) in people, society, and the religion--or morality--of a society.

Goodman Brown takes a journey into the forest at night purportedly because he has a task to accomplish before sunrise.  Symbolically speaking, this is a spiritual journey, in which the main character will not only encounter, but be tempted by the devil to walk further and further away from Faith (an intentional metaphor).  The forest, as in many stories set in Puritan times, represents evil.

Of course, because this is an allegory, everything that happens, is meant to have an overt symbolic meaning.  As he talks to the devil, Young Goodman Brown basically explains that as a good Christian, he really shouldn't go any further.  He uses his father and grandfather's Christianity, or morality, as evidence of this.  As further argument, he reveals that he could not look into the eye of his own minister and deacon should he continue to journey further down the road of temptation.

What he ultimately discovers on this spiritual journey, however, is that everyone he holds in high moral esteem (including his wife), has either made this journey before, or is actively making it that very night.  The story's ambiguous culmination of the meeting in the forest is a climax that certainly leaves much room for interpretation.  It is not clear whether Faith is able to resist the devil that night.  Further, it is left unknown whether the entire episode was real or dreamt.

What Hawthorne ultimately accomplishes through this short story is the posing of spiritual, faith, and morality (both religious and personal) questions, and then not actually answering any of them.  The use of allegory itself serves as a buffer.  Readers tend to enjoy this story because the characters are mostly likable, the plot itself is straightforward, and at the surface, it comes across as very innocent.  But the deeper thoughts that are clearly intentionally provoked are far from innocent.  Critical readers and thinkers are left with many unanswered questions, and those who truly seek answers are doing exactly what the author intended.

Hawthorne uses both young Goodman Brown and his wife, Faith, as allegorical symbols in this story.  Goodman Brown has a fairly generic surname—Brown—and his title, Goodman, is a very common one in Brown's Puritan community, referring to a man of a lower social rank than Mister.  Taken literally, however, we are left to wonder if Brown is really a "good man": he is a Christian, but is he truly one of the faithful?  He, then, is symbolic of a sort of "everyman" Christian character.

His wife, Faith, symbolizes Goodman Brown's Christian faith.  Though Goodman Brown claims to be devout, he quite literally leaves his faith/Faith behind when he goes into the woods on his "evil purpose."  He thinks to himself, "after this one night, I"ll cling to [Faith's] skirts and follow her to Heaven."  In other words, he vows to be good from now on, and he will resume his faithful/Faithful life after this one night.  Moreover, the idea that he will ride Faith's skirts to Heaven makes it clear that Brown does not realize that this should be work, a belief in God necessitates that he try to live a good life and do good works.  He thinks his faith alone will be enough to get him into Heaven.

However, this is not really how faith works.  A Christian cannot simply pick up his faith and put it down again when it suits him.  Either one is faithful and does his/her best at all times to abide by God's laws, or one does not.  In choosing to leave his faith (and Faith) behind, Goodman Brown makes himself even more vulnerable to the Devil's temptations.  The fact that he sees his wife, Faith, at the witches' Sabbath indicates that faith itself is lost to him.  He will no longer be able to look at his wife or consider his faith in the same way again.

Then, when Brown returns home the next day, we cannot be sure whether what he saw in the woods really happened or not.  Perhaps he had "fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting"? Despite the uncertainty, Brown becomes a "stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man."  He can no longer listen to the psalms sung by his congregation because "an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear, and drowned all the blessed strain."  Further, he "shrank from the bosom of Faith" and no longer took any comfort in his wife; symbolically, his faith is no longer a comfort to him because he has lost it. 

The journey of Goodman Brown is one which is allegorically connected to the Puritan-Calvinistic concept of the innate depravity of man. Young--as one who is innocent--Goodman Brown, the Puritan Everyman, decides to test his faith and journey with the old man who resembles Goodman's grandfather, a traveler in possession of a staff that is "in the likeness of a great snake." Committed to Faith, Brown leaves his wife behind to journey alone for one night into the primeval forest where the black mass is celebrated. Brown believes his personal goodness will arm him against any evil:

"We (the Puritans) are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness."

However, his faith is shaken when along the way he and the old man encounter Goody Cloyse, who once taught him his catechism, and Deacon Gookin [historical figures from the Salem witchcraft trials]. Goody Cloyse recognizes the "elder traveller" and calls him "your worship" as she notices Brown, saying "...there is a nice young man to be taken into communion tonight." 

After this encounter, Brown considers returning to his Faith, but, upon further consideration, he decides to venture into the forest, imagining with what a clear conscience he will meet the minister the next morning as he will have so "happily turned" from temptations. However, when Brown realizes that he has come upon the black mass, he falters, grabbing a tree to support him. vowing to "stand firm against the devil." Then, he hears a familiar voice and he cries out, "Faith! Faith!" as a dark cloud sweeps over him, the cloud of religious doubt. Then, when Goodman Brown beholds the pink ribbons waft downward to earth, he cries aloud,

"My Faith is gone...There is no good on earth, and sin is but a name. Come, devil for to thee is this world given."

At this point Goodman grasps the staff and seems to fly along the forest path, embracing what he perceives as the innate depravity of man. This, indeed, is Goodman's inward journey:

In truth, all through the haunted forest there could be nothing more frightful than the figure of Goodman Brown....The fiend in his own shape is less hideous than when he rages in the heart of man.

The truth that Goodman learns is that no one is immune to temptations of the devil. Therefore, human relationships become problematic, even inscrutable, since no one is pure. Faith's ribbons are pink, not white; her soul has some of the scarlet of sin. Thus, after his journey into the primeval forest and his crisis of faith, Brown finds evil in places where there is none, and by doing so, he alienates himself from all others, such as Faith who exists in a complex world of both good and evil. And, "his dying hour is gloom" because Goodman Brown finds nothing for which he can merit salvation.

The moral of this allegory is predicated upon the experiences of Young Goodman Brown and the psychology of sin: He who looks for evil where there is none finds little but misery for himself.

There are several different answers to your question.  Here's the one I like best.

As you read the story, you'll notice that almost nothing is certain.  Hawthorne uses ambiguity is almost all cases when something strange is happening.  Here are some examples:

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

This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light.

So saying, he threw it down at her feet, where, perhaps, it assumed life, being one of the rods which its owner had formerly lent to the Egyptian magi. Of this fact, however, Goodman Brown could not take cognizance.

When we get to the end of the story, we discover that we don't even know if ANY of it happened; in fact, it is suggested that Brown fell asleep in the woods and that the whole experience was a dream.

So if it happened it might not have happened, and it might not have happened at all :)

What is important is that Brown exits the woods with NO sense of ambiguity, with the conviction of all those he trusted since his youth are hypcrites and sinners.  Of course they're sinners, but hypocrites?  Only to Brown whose holds people up to an impossible measuring stick.

"The enemy of the good is the perfect."