What is Faith?

“Young Goodman Brown”, by Hawthorne, is a thought-provoking short story that does not leave the reader’s mind for quite awhile after reading it. What is most haunting about this story is Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith. In the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown comments that his “wife was aptly named”, insinuating that faithfulness and loyalty are integral parts of her character. Readers automatically assume that this faithfulness is applicable to her marriage with Goodman Brown but, upon closer examination, it is seen that her faith could be applied to many different things.
If Goodman Brown truly believes that Faith was faithful to him, he would not have been so suspicious of her, and would have known that she had decided against joining the ‘witch clan’. There is a possibility that Goodman has reason to doubt Faith’s loyalty, as Faith may be investing her loyalty in the dark ‘religion’ which she was inducted into. This transferal of faith is only plausible, of course, if Goodman was accurate in his original “faithful” analysis of his wife’s character.
It is also possible, of course, that Brown’s lost faith in his wife is merely based on a figment of his imagination, and is self-induced. Brown’s lost faith, regardless of the validity of the mysterious nighttime excursion, nonetheless results in a divide between him and his wife, as he is ever after wary of her. When Brown loses his faith in his wife (and in humanity), he also loses Faith herself.
While it is possible that Brown may have imagined his wife’s lack of loyalty and faith towards him, it is also possible that Faith may have transferred her loyalties onto a different cause. This, however, seems less likely, as Brown died an elderly man, and Faith most likely would have poisoned him if she had been a “witch” (such a bitter, gloomy man could not possibly have been pleasant to live with).
Brown’s gloominess is not necessarily a result of his own brooding, though. The possibility remains that his depressed state of mind may be a result of Faith’s new witchery practices. Readers can not confidently ascertain whether Faith heard Brown’s words of caution or not, or whether Faith is truly a witch, or if the whole idea is merely a product of Brown’s imagination. And, it is the very ambiguity of this story that makes it so incredibly memorable.