How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #7
And there they stood, the only pair, as it seemed, who were yet hesitating on the verge of wickedness in this dark world. A basin was hollowed, naturally, in the rock. Did it contain water, reddened by the lurid light? or was it blood? or, perchance, a liquid flame? (68)
Here, ambiguous description creates an intensifying atmosphere of danger and menace. The stone basin first seems to contain water, then blood, then flame. (Talk about bad to worse.) The witches and devil-worshippers in "Young Goodman Brown" are never what they seem at first glance—and neither are their accessories.
Quote #8
Whether Faith obeyed he knew not. Hardly had he spoken when he found himself amid calm night and solitude, listening to a roar of the wind which died heavily away through the forest. He staggered against the rock, and felt it chill and damp; while a hanging twig, that had been all on fire, besprinkled his cheek with the coldest dew. (69-70)
And it's over. Whew. But instead of explaining whether the assembly was fantasy or reality, Hawthorne keeps Brown in the same place, changes mood and atmosphere, and keeps the reader guessing.
Quote #9
The next morning young Goodman Brown came slowly into the street of Salem village, staring around him like a bewildered man. The good old minister was taking a walk along the graveyard to get an appetite for breakfast and meditate his sermon, and bestowed a blessing, as he passed, on Goodman Brown. He shrank from the venerable saint as if to avoid an anathema.
Young Goodman Brown has begun to stand out as an anti-social figure. It is possible that the people of Salem really are good and innocent, and that everything Brown saw really was a dream—but he's apparently not taking any chances.