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Doubts enter Brown's mind on page 15, as he looks "up at the sky" (which of course is pitch black in the deep forest at night) and doubts whether there is a heaven. But he cries out that he will "stand firm" - so readers know he still hopes to be strong and resist what is happening to him. But this night is not about resistance: "The cry of grief, rage, and terror" went out from him as he believes his lovely wife's pink ribbon indicates that the Devil has taken her. "Come devil; for to thee is this world given."

The story - like Goodman Brown's heart and conscience - is filled with opposites and contrasts; Brown is "maddened with despair" yet he "laughed loud and long"; there is a scream, then laughter; the night is black, yet a pink ribbon flutters down out of the darkness. There...
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