Unfortunately for those champions of this analysis, Hawthorne never opens that door. Yet, he does make enough allusions to dreams for one to earnestly consider this interpretation.  Early in the story, when Faith pleads with her husband to stay home because of her nightmares, there is foreshadowing of the influence of dreams.  Moreover, the greatest implication that it was all a dream is a question posed by the narrator; “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?”  (Hawthorne/p.945).  These inconsistencies wear the reader down into the shoes of Brown himself.David Levin relies on specter evidence to defend his argument, which says everything in the story, excluding the townspeople and the events witnessed by Brown in the forest, is to be taken literally.