Natural Freedom In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Forest Of The Free

Hester is released from prison and finds a cottage in the woods, near the outskirts of the city, to set up her new life. Hawthorne comments on the fact that she does not avail herself of the opportunity to escape to a new life without shame in some other city. He remarks that often people are irresistibly drawn to live near the place where a great has occurred. He further comments that even if that is not the reason, Hester may have been inclined to remain in Boston because her secret lover still lived there.

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows multiple connections between characters and nature. As the story progresses nature becomes more prevalent in the characters and continues to establish certain characteristics for each character. This established connection provides a view into the depths of human nature that each character portrays.

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very important and symbolic role.  Hawthorne uses nature to convey the mood of a scene, to describe characters, and to link the natural elements with human nature.  Many of the passages that have to do with nature accomplish more than one of these ideas.  All throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line. The deep symbolism conveyed by certain aspects of nature helps the reader gain a deeper understanding of the plight and inner emotions of the characters in the novel.

Her decision to stay in the town is a form of self-penance which Hester uses to punish herself. Hester’s home is far from the town, but in close proximity to the woods. The woods symbolize her closeness to freedom from her exile, but she is tied to the place of her sin. She believed that New England “should be the place of her earthly punishment (Hawthorne 74).” However, she does meet with Reverend Dimmesdale in the woods, which closely connects both of them to the “Black Man, who haunts the forest”, who is the Devil and the ultimate symbol of evil (Hawthorne 72). She is also described as living in a “moral wilderness”, meaning that her exile from society caused her to develop her own ideas outside of the established ones of the

To begin with, the author first highlights the alien and wild mental state of Hester through multiple similes. Lines 11 to 13 describe Hester in a metaphorical wilderness where she “wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest. . .” This simile elaborates

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne often demonstrates the frailty of humans. Nature is often described as beautiful, while the Puritan society and human nature are viewed in a harsh light. Hawthorne illustrates that human nature is flawed and judgmental through use of figurative language, critical diction, and symbolism.

Hester brings up this idea because she has had time away from the town and had no one to guide her on this path that she took. She does not think about how townspeople are going to perceive her and Dimmesdale leaving simultaneously. Hester very much resembles the forest because the forest cannot be tamed. The forest grows how it wants and only stops when others force it to. Hester will only gain guidance when the town forces her to listen to them. The forest also knows to show who Hester and Dimmesdale are inside: “Such was the sympathy of Nature-that wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjugated by human law, nor illuminated by higher truth- with the bliss of these two spirits!” (139). The forest shows the truth about the townspeople. The forest was always dark around Hester when she had her letter on because of her sin. Hester removes her letter once she and Dimmesdale confirm that they are going to go to Europe. Once Hester removes her scarlet letter, the whole forest lights up. Hester has removed the symbol of her wrongdoing because it no longer is a part of her. Seven years has past and no one in the town remembers what the A stands for anymore. They believe that it means able because Hester has dedicated her life to making clothes for the townspeople. She never commits her transgression again and works to make her life good. The forest reflects who the townspeople are and shows their true self once they realise

In nearly everything she does, as a young child, she finds immense pleasure. However, the forest is also a safe place. the unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might, under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes all fastened upon her, and concentrated on her bosom. Her existence came from what Puritanism deems “evil”. Hester demonstrates human naturalness by obeying her instinctual urges and having a relationship with Reverend Dimmesdale.

Although the forest represent darkness and fear for most puritans, for Hester the forest represents solace and peace. When in the forest Hester is able to be free from the prejudice surround her and her daughter. The town’s people do not dare enter the forest, for they believe it to be evil, but Hester enjoys her time alone where she can find solace with Pearl. The “mystery of the primeval forest (Hawthorne, 16)” represents a sort of paradox within Hester’s life. Hester is meant to feel shame for the rest of her time being in Boston, but the forest serves a location in which she is able to feel free from pain and humiliation.

This is shown when the forest is first described with “The trees impending over it had flung down great branches, from time to time, which choked up the current and compelled it to form eddies and black depths at some points” (Hawthorne 140). The trees create a darkness that chokes out the light and happiness of the rest of the woods, acting as the opposite of what sunlight is. That means that the forest as a whole is where sin is hidden and repressed due to the darkness that it creates, which is why people like Dimmesdale come here for comfort. When Hester removes the scarlet letter, “The objects that had made a shadow hitherto embodied brightness now. The course of the little brook might be traced by its merry gleam afar into the wood’s heart of mystery, which had become a mystery of joy” (Hawthorne 158). After someone such as Hester finally “steps out of the darkness” and acknowledges their sin, which in Hester’s case would be the removal of the letter, only then does the darkness truly dissipate. The forest, which acts as a place of hidden sin, now becomes a place of joy and happiness as the sunlight engulfs the woods, only further showing the acknowledgment of sin in a greater

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the author delves deep into the psychology of characters in anguish because of a moment the reader never sees. Set in a spiritual Puritan colony, the inner turmoil of right and wrong and truth and deception shape the characters’ very being. In exploring their tumultuous spirits, an emphasis is cast upon a certain mysterious natural phenomena: shadows. The text explores how the metaphorical shadows in one’s heart can shape their personality and dispositions.

     In Hawthorne's revered novel The Scarlet Letter, the use of Romanticism plays an important role in the development of his characters. He effectively demonstrates individualism in Hester to further our understanding of the difficulties of living in the stern, joyless world of Puritan New England.  It is all gloom and doom.  If the sun ever shines, one could hardly notice.  The entire place seems to be shrouded in black.  The people of this society were stern, and repressed natural human impulses and emotions than any society before or since.  But for this reason specifically, emotions began bubbling and eventually boiled over, passions a novelist

The forest, to many of the townspeople, is the wilderness in which no laws or enforcement are applied. It is a vast unknown. Hawthorne even compares the living state of Hester to the forest. “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest.” (Chapter 18, Page 299).The forest is used to describe a place of serenity and ironically safety.

to fully absorb what it was like to live in a society run under such simple yet draconian Puritan

Although Puritanism, Romanticism and Transcendentalism do not coexist peacefully, these almost worldview kind of people groups are deeply embedded into three fictional characters from the book, The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This enthralling and rich classic which takes place in Boston Massachusetts during the time of Puritanism gives the reader not only a taste of the Puritans and their staunch attitude, but also of a less common way of thinking and behaving which is expressed through a certain character in the book. The three main characters in this book are all diversely different but are bound tightly together by a long kept secret and discovering their methods of thinking and acting upon