Nathaniel Hawthorne's deliberate ambiguity in "Young Goodman Brown" persists throughout the narrative, compelling readers to ponder the story's reality.
How to explain
Beyond Brown's dream-like encounter, Hawthorne interlaces uncertainty in various instances. For instance, the credibility of the devil's appearance, the forest's supernatural aura, and the sudden vanishing of the sinister figures all blur reality.
Such ambiguity intensifies the theme of moral uncertainty and the fragility of faith. It challenges the boundary between truth and illusion, leaving readers to grapple with the unsettling notion that reality may be distorted, much like Brown's wavering belief in the goodness of humanity amidst the enigmatic and morally ambiguous events.