When the devil does appear, Goodman Brown seems almost to have been expecting him. It's interesting to note that the devil's appearance is unmistakably akin to himself. One could ascertain the devil is simply a reflection of him; the self he has been unwilling to face. .
He is so confident of his own virtue that any sinful thought or action is seen as a failure to God. The devil soon tells him to turn back lest his faith be harmed, but Brown unshaken, refuses. This symbolizes his pride and believed moral superiority. He thinks he is better than everyone else in that he alone can conquer any evil, because he alone is without sin. Goodman Brown's unwillingness to face that there is a darkness in all is childish and lacking reason. The passage to adulthood is to accept one's sheer lack of the capability to be perfection incarnate. "Having refused to look at evil, he is left in a state of moral uncertainty that is worse, in a way, than evil itself" (Adams 165).
At Brown's confrontation with the devil, the devil says to him that he is late. Goodman excuses his lateness by replying, "Faith kept me back awhile" (Hawthorne 261). This passage shows literally and figuratively, Brown left his unquestionable "Faith" in God behind when he entered the forest of darkness. Brown also says to the devil that he "kept covenant" (261) by showing up. Perhaps he made a subconscious pact to meet with the devil, his darkness. At the ceremony, the devil says to Goodman, "Ye deemed them holier than yourselves, and shrank from your own sin, contrasting it with their lives of righteousness and prayerful aspirations heavenward" (Hawthorne 268). This passage reveals that Brown had an unwitting knowledge of his own failure of perception. .
There are many rich biblical symbols in Hawthorne's tale. When Brown meets with the devil, the devil gives him a staff in the shape of a "great black snake" (261) to help him walk further.