Like those of Deacon Gookin and Goody Cloyse who are considered in the community to be very pious and highly spiritual people. Goodman Brown sees the Deacon and Goody making their way with various sinners in the form of dissolute men and miserable women saying, "It was strange to see that the good did not shrink from the wicked and that the sinners were not intimidated by the saints.” (Hawthorne 458). The path in the woods represents temptation and evil of which Brown is immediately aware as he states, "There may be an evil Indian behind every tree," and he adds, "What if the devil himself were at my side!" (Hawthorne 454). The staff carried by the dark figure is depicted by Brown as a serpent saying: "But the only thing about him which could be considered remarkable was his staff, which resembled a great black serpent, so curiously shaped. that you could almost see it writhing and squirming, like a living snake. » (Hawthorne 453). This may also lead the reader to believe that the dark figure is actually the devil because the snake is an archetype of the devil, or something like that. some kind of evil. The pink ribbons are mentioned again later in the story as they fall from the sky: "But something floated lightly in the air and caught on the branch of a tree. The young man grabbed it and saw a pink ribbon.