Moreover, it is Brown’s references to his wife,
Faith, that leads even the most amateur eye to recognize
her allegorical value.
As soon as Brown has left his Faith
on the path of his evil journey he thinks of his wife, “Poor
little Faith!”; and turns to self deprecation, “What a
wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!”
(Hawthorne/p937).
In these lines, the duality of Faith’s
allegorical substance is evident.
It is Brown’s self-
condemnation that buffs out the questionable dullness in
the armored idea of Faith as an allegorical character.
First
of all, the reader must ask why Brown denounces himself
as a “wretch”.
He explains that he is a “wretch” because
he “[left] her on such an errand”.
Is the reader to assume
that Brown feels like he should have taken his wife to a
meeting with the devil?
Of course not.
Instead, he
should have brought his
faith
with him on his evil
journey.