1. Consider the significance of the names of the title character and his wife. How are the names symbolic?
Young Goodman Brown and his wife Faith, have both symbolic names. Brown's name symbolizes youth and the good nature of humankind. Brown character is a "young man" in the story, and his youth suggests that he is still naive and innocent and he can easily be corrupted by the evil in the world. Faith's name, as Hawthorne wrote, "Faith, as the wife was aptly named", commend that Brown's wife symbolizes the hope and the innocence found in a young wife. Brown's faith in the goodness in life is symbolized through his marriage to Faith. Faith symbolize, hope and the absolute confidence in the goodness in the world, the honest and truthful belief in something.

2. List what you think each of these symbols stands for: the woods (setting), the time of day, Faith's pink ribbons, the Traveler's staff.

The woods can be Brown's own mind, a place created by his subconscious, dark as the forest, where he questions his truths, his love for faith, and his beliefs on human kind. It is simply fascinating, how the forest closes behind him, taking from him the option of going back to his beliefs, once he had become unsure about them. The forest can also be the place, not where he questions but face the truth. We all tend to try to embellish the world around us, so that it meets our needs. Brown may find himself in a conflict between the idealized world he once idealized, and the world obscure and bitter as it can be.

Hawthorne uses the time of day to help influence the theme in the story. “Young Goodman Brown came forth, at sunset…” because his journey was one that needed to be done “’twixt [sunset] and sunrise.” Night is usually when people are alone, reflecting about their actions, choices and life. It is a perfect scenario for Brown's internal conflicts.

Pink is a color that is symbolic of innocence and ingenuousness. In Hawthorne's story the pink ribbons that Faith wears at the beginning of the narrative represent the ingenuousness of Brown, who does not understand the terrible consequence of the journey he is about to embark. While in the forest, Brown sees the pink ribbons of Faith fall to the ground, which symbolizes Brown's loss of faith. The color pink of the ribbons is also full of symbols unlike the white, which represents pure innocence; pink is composed by red, which represents passion, fire, blood and even evil, in combination with white. The innocence once represented by the pink ribbons, is lost at the moment it touches the ground.

3. What does Goodman Brown’s decision to go into the forest suggest about his character? Considering this, what is ironic about his reaction to seeing all the other townsfolk – and especially his wife – at the gathering in the woods with the devil?

Since Brown is a metaphor of the human nature and weakness versus socially imposed virtues, his decision to go to the forest suggests, that the idea Goodman has o himself as being virtuous man with a good nature is not very true. He is likely he to be corrupted, like any other human. He is slowly discovering that he, like everyone else has a dark side, holding his deepest secrets, still unknown by him.
His reaction to seeing all the other townsfolk, including his wife at the gathering in the woods with the devil is ironic because although he was shocked to see those people there, he had no problem at all being there himself; this is just a clue of the gaps in his character.