What is your answer to this question? "Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?"

This is a personal opinion type of question. It is never conclusively stated in the story whether it was a dream or a reality. The outcome is tragic, Young Goodman Brown lives the rest of his life a bitter, angry man who turns his back on his religion, his wife, and his community. Even to his dying day he is never able to forgive.

My students seem to come to the conclusion that it was to vivid to just be a dream. They look at the details and decide that the devil would further torture Brown in never letting him no the truth of the matter.