In order to answer this question, you need to focus on how
the night he spent in the woods, whether it was just a dream or based on reality,
changed Goodman Brown, and marked the end of his young, carefree days. Consider what the
final paragraph tells us about how he was
transformed:
A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a
distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful
dream.
Having seen the evil
side of every person that he has known and respected, from his pastor to his dear wife,
Faith, Goodman Brown is now unable to accept and process this truth. The universal
sinfulness of humanity that his dream demonstrated has crushed Goodman Brown, and turned
him into a man who is unable to extract any enjoyment out of life whatsover. It is this
central lesson that the night in the woods taught him that made him hopeless and
depressed, and resulted in his "dying hour" being characterised by only
"gloom."
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