What is Brown's motive for going into the forest, what does he expect to find, and how does he expect the rest of his life to be? Nathaniel...

's purpose
is to go just one time on what he
repeatedly calls an "evil" or "wicked"
mission in the woods to participate in
a Satanic ritual or "witch-meeting."

He expects he might
find "a devilish Indian" lurking behind each tree or the
devil himself at
this elbow. He expects to be among strangers. Therefore, he is very surprised

to see himself amid the town's most religious and seemingly pious people, including the
deacon,
Goody Cloyse, and even his dear wife Faith as he arrives at the
meeting.

Brown is disillusioned by realizingor perhaps
dreaming, as Hawthorne brings up the idea
that the witch-meeting was all a
dreamthat so many of his neighbors, people he thought were good
Christians,
are actually evil. This turns him into a stern, fearful, and gloomy person
whose
religious faith is lost as well as his trust in
others.