In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, the hole story is set in Salem Village and its surroundings. Goodman Brown, the main character, starts saying farewell to his lovely wife Faith, for he must travel for one night only.
He takes the road into a gloomy forest and is afraid of everything or anyone scary and devilish he might find. Goodman Brown finds who he was searching for to dismiss himself because he wanted to return home for his wife sake and because he and his family has been Christians since long ago. The man tries to convince him that he knows very well his descendants and most of the villagers and important people.
Confused, ashamed and afraid to be seen associating with that man, he hides when someone approaches, which he recognizes as an old woman considered respected and religious by all. She identifies the man as the devil and herself as a witch on her way to the devil’s evil forest ceremony.
Goodman Brown saw and heard most of the villagers and other known people going to the ceremony, including his beloved wife. He finally returns home in the next morning refusing to trust or believe in anyone including his wife. Everybody he passes seems evil to him. It get to be unclear if all of it was real or just a dream, but the rest of his life was full of gloom and fear.
All of the story, scenarios and situations can only be described as "mysterious, cryptic, and gloomy" (letter A).
