What is your answer to this question? "Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?"

However, an
argument could be made that the scene is too contrived to be real.  The whole town is out in the
forest on the one night that Goodman Brown decides to travel through it?  The pink ribbons he
has just seen on his wife just happen to be laying in sight?  There are many elements of this
"journey" that are coincidental and mystical to suggest that it is a dream.  In which
case, one could fault thefor having such serious doubts about his neighbors.  You could also
fault him for placing people too high on a pedastal, expecting them to always be pious and
true.  If Goodman Brown were to accept that to be human is to sin and repent, then he might not
have turned his back so drastically on society, and might in turn have been able to lead and
happier and fuller life.