After some skepticism, Goodman Brown sees his childhood catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, and overhears voices of his deacon and minister on their way to the witches" communion. After an attempt to pray to God he realizes Faith is at the communion as one of the converts and tries to save her before their baptism. .
After Brown awakes from his dream, he begins to show is arrogance when he takes a child away from Goody Cloyse as if he were taking the child away from fiend. His anger and arrogance is also displayed when he sees Faith, who is overjoyed to see him return. Instead of greeting her, Brown ".looked sternly and sadly into her face" and continued on his way. .
The nature of Goodman Brown's arrogance stemmed his own self denial and his inability to look at himself. He failed to realize that he, too, was in the forest to experience the evil communion. Instead of resolving his own faults, he chose to cast judgments on others, while considering himself to be righteous. The notion that everyone had the potential to do evil devastated Goodman Brown, and ultimately destroyed his life. He unjustly focused on the potential to do evil instead of realizing the good. Consequently, Goodman Brown became a victim of his own arrogance. He was never able to realize the evil in himself and chose to isolate himself from his family and eventually died a lonely and depressed man. .
The characteristic of arrogance was also discussed in Flannery O" Connor's "Good Country People", but the arrogance that the main character, Helga, possesses is drastically different than the arrogance demonstrated by Goodman Brown.
The arrogance that is discussed in "Good Country People" is ironically displayed through a thirty- two year old handicapped woman named Joy Hopewell. Joy, who later changes her name to Hulga, is said to be a large blond woman who had an artificial leg. She lost her leg in a hunting accident when she was younger and continues suffer from a chronic heart condition.