[Since only one question is allowed at a time, yours has
been edited]
In this gothic tale of Nathaniel Hawthorne's,
the walk of Goodman to the forest with the old man of the serpentine staff is one of
traversing gloomy hollows in the road as they journey "so deep into the heathen
wilderness." Overhead is a "black mass of cloud" that sweeps swiftly northward. At
this point, the preternatural enters the description:
Aloft in the air, as if from the depth of the
cloud, came a confused and doubtful sound of voices. Once the listener fancied that he
could distinguish the accents of townspeople of his own, men, and women, both pious and
ungodly, many of whom he had met at the communion table, and had seen others rioting at
the tavern.
Yet, these voices
are so "indistinct" that Goodman Brown doubts if he has heard them or merly the "murmur
of the old forest, whispering without a
wind.
This conjoining of the real with the
preternatural alters the natural setting of the forest. Fluttering
through the air, the pink ribbons of Goodman's spouse, Faith, are seen and Goodman
cries, "My Faith is gone!" And, "maddened with despair," Goodman grabs his staff and
moves so quickly that he seems to fly along the forest path, rather than walk it.
Hawthorne writes that Goodman "flew among the black pines, brandishing his stagg with
frenzied gestures until he sees a red light before him, much like the burning of felled
trees in a clearing. He hears the "lull of the tempest" and the "weight of many voices"
that sing what seems to be a hymn. At this point, Goodman Brown perceives the black
mass. The pines are ablaze like giant candles, a rock arises like an altar, and in a
circle are people,
men of dissolute lives and women of spotted
fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even or horrid
crimes. It was strange to see that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were the
sinners abashed by the
saints.
Indeed, the forest is
much altered on the night that Goodman Brown watches the black mass as there are four
blazing pines that shoot up a flame as the voices mingle, and Goodman sees "obscurely
discovered shapes and visages of horror." Then, the fire on the rock blazes and forms a
glowing arch above its base, revealing a man who resembles a "grave divine," a priest.
He calls for the "converts" and the proselytes stand under the "canopy of fire." After
Goodman sees his wife and cries her name, he finds himself again "amid the calm night
and solitude" while a branch that had been on fire sprinkles him with cold dew, causing
him to wond if he simply dreamed "a wild dream of a
witch-meeting."
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