As soon as that objective was achieved the whole theatrics was withdrawn. On the contrary it could well be nothing but his subconscious that expressed his own desire to see the world according to that perspective in which all the nice people embracing high standards of morality are all but faux. But it could be safe to assume that the whole episode in the forest was the figment of his imagination and his brain concocted everything during the sleep. Towards the end of the story we see that this event had profound effect on his later life and he was never able to recover out of the mental trauma he faced there in the forest that night. He spent the life of skeptic could never trust anyone in his life and because of his dysfunctional behavior he passed away unnoticed "... For his dying hour was gloom" (Hawthorne) The writer exquisitely handled the symbolic allegory and it's because of this symbolism that story remains relevant even today as the perpetual struggle between good and...

Even in today's world there are many Young Goodman Browns who are innocent enough to be lured by the mystical darkness of forest; the world, and they end up being manipulated by the devil and his associates many of them like the protagonist of the story are never able to adjust properly afterwards and their lives are never the same again but some do and continue this vicious cycle of witch meetings and luring more Young Goodman Browns in the darkness of forest.
References

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." 1835. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Lexington: Heath, 1944. 2129-38.

Turner, Arlin. Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography. New York: Oxford UP, 1980.

Easterly, Joan Elizabeth. "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown.'" Studies in Short Fiction 28 (Summer 1991): 339-343.

Fogle, Richard Harter. Hawthorne's Fiction: The Light and…