any members of New England's clergy and government. Brown is given evidence of this assertion in the form of a series of visions, first of Goody Cloyse, a pious woman from the village, then of riders whose voices sound like those of the deacon and minister of the church. Badly shaken by these apparitions, Brown vows to "Yet stand firm against the devil" (61).
But his faith and resolve are further shaken when, in a subsequent vision he hears the voice of his own wife. In anguish and despair he cries, "My faith is gone. There is no good on earth, and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given" (62). The loss of faith, both figurative and literal, propels Brown deeper in the foreboding woods, where he encounters a witch-meeting attended by many of the pious citizens of Salem. At first he does not see his wife and feels a spark of hope, but he is led into the circle and there beholds the veiled form of his wife. As the two of them stand before the blazing fire he begs her to "look up to heaven and resist the Wic
...