Explanation:
Faith explains why she does not want her husband, Goodman Brown, to leave her overnight. Being alone makes her afraid and sends her troubling dreams. “This night . . . of all nights” may indicate Halloween, a particularly frightening night for those who believe in the Devil. However, Faith seems to fear her own imagination. Faith’s fear of dreaming foreshadows Brown’s experience in the woods: a possible dream that makes him fear himself, seeing himself as tainted with sin. Faith’s troubling dreams may be similar, since all members of their community obsess about the dangers of sin.
She talks of dreams, too. Methought as she spoke, there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done to-night. But no, no; ’twould kill her to think it.
