What Does The Forest Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, symbolsim is constantly present in the actual scarlet letter “A” as it is viewed as a symbol of sin and the gradally changes its meanign, guilt is also a mejore symbol, and Pearl’s role in this novel is symbolic as well. The Scarlet Letter includes many profound and crucial symbols. these devices of symbolism are best portayed in the novel, most noticably through the letter “A” best exemplifies the changes in the symbolic meaning throughout the novel.

There are many forms of symbolism found in The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne, the author uses his many forms of symbolism to project a lesson or moral created throughout the story. Even each of the main characters has a different moral representation. Guilt, repentance, purity, and strength each are shown through the eyes of a different character. Pear, Hester Prynne, Chillingworth, and Reverend Dimmesdale are main characters that are used to show that you should “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!”(Hawthorne286)

The Forest is seen as a frontier, where anything can happen and anything can exist whether it’s good, freedom, individualism, or even evil. The town, however, is a civilized place where one must follow orders and laws, and a place where human Desires normally do not prosper. The town resembles the evil and the human possibilities meaning that Hester and Dimmesdale’s possibility of being together in the town is not very promising due to how strict and evil that place can be. Hester and Dimmesdale’s human desires however lead them to the forest where anything can exist including their desires to be together. “Thus they went onward, not boldly but step by step, into the themes that were brooding deepest in their hearts. So long estranged by fate and circumstances, they needed something slight and causal to run before, and throw open the doors of intercourse, so that their real thoughts might be led across the threshold”(Hawthorne 163). This statement reveals the nature of the meeting between Dimmesdale and Hester in the forest, and all the emotions that they have kept locked inside their hearts. They both know that this meeting could have only occurred in the Forest because their desires cannot be fulfilled in the Town.

It revolves around a forbidden act of passion that alters around a forever the lives of some people in small puritan community; Hester Prynne, an adulteress forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” at all times; the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a well-respected minister of the community; and Hester’s husband and daughter, Roger Chillingworth and Pearl. These several morally ambiguous characters played different pivotal roles, in fact, most characters presented can be evaluated as embodying both “good” and “evil” qualities. Dimmesdale is an especially ambiguous character. His moral and social prestige and contrasting roles as a reverend minister and adulterer granted a chance to him to play a crucial role throughout the story. Dimmesdale’s moral ambiguity comes from his lack of courage to be the “right person” and to do the “right

The woods represent freedom from the extremely uptight Puritan society in this novel as seen from the events involving Hester and Dimmesdale that have occurred there. Not only did the forest provide a safe space for Hester to live her life, it also helped Dimmesdale de-stress by expressing his true feelings. Through this romantic novel, Hawthorne has brought forth a lesson on the human condition by reasoning that freedom is crucial to a human in living a happy and fulfilling

The forest past the town represents nature. Here, Arthur openly comes to terms with his sinful behavior and repents in the nature. He feels free from the pressures and strict rules in the town. Pearl and Hester also act more freely in the forest. Hester takes her hair out of her cap and lets her hair down, where as in town it is pulled back and hidden because she is supposed to act more reserved.

If they choose not to forget the letter, they will begin to recall the things they have done and continue to suffer. The forest is a place ruled by nature, unlike the colony, which is ruled by strict laws. Here Dimmesdale and Hester can be more passionate towards one another. When they hold hands it shows that they still care for one another. They can do this without the judgement of the colony.

Why, you can hardly walk without tripping over one commandment or another. Come to me, and be masterless” (Hawthorne 186).  Truly, Hester takes advantage of this, as soon as Arthur Dimmesdale appears.  She openly talks with Dimmesdale about unmentionable subjects which seem inappropriate in any place other than the forest: “What we did...had a consecration of its own. We felt it so! We said to each other” (Hawthorne 194)!  This exclamation shocks Dimmesdale.  He tells Hester to stop and quiet down, but he eventually realizes that he is in an environment where he can express his emotions.  The thought of Hester and Dimmesdale in an intimate conversation in the confines of the society in which they live is incomprehensible.  Yet here, in the forest, they throw away all reluctance and act as themselves under the umbrella of security which exists there in the forest.

By living in the forest, Hester will truly be able to live her life freely, or by the way of her identity, instead of putting up a facade and not living by her true self. Just as the forest is a place that is difficult to interpret, Hester’s identity is one that is hard to understand by other people, emphasizing the uniqueness of her own character.

Symbolism has a intricate way of giving another meaning to a device. Usually a component of a book or novel, it can set up the way the reader perceives the story. In the book The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, uses a symbol of a forest in order to portray several key events and to display a few fundamental thoughts from certain characters. In this novel the forest represents hidden sin and the ramifications of evil. The symbol is significant to the work as a whole by reason that it illustrates hidden sin, which is the plot for the duration of the story.

The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a timeless classic with many symbolic meanings. Such as the forest which symbolizes much more than one might imagine. In this mysterious dark landscape Hester and Dimmesdale met once again and this time they let their guard down profess their love to one another and committed adultery here. Nathaniel Hawthorne, created a literary masterpiece. He took a landscape and made it a place of morally astray, and a place for natural innocence.

In the beginning of the novel, we learn that Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery. Hester’s punishment delivered to her by the town was public humiliation, as well as being forced to wear an embroidered letter “A” on her chest at all times, “the "A"

After receiving her punishment, Hester was able to move to a different town with a clean state but something - an indistinguishable force made her stay. This can be related to the concept of nature and the role it plays in human affairs. In order to learn the lessons that Hester needed to grow as a human being, she felt compelled to stay in her rather unpleasant situation. The role of nature is crucial for it humanizes the most callous of humans and reveals morsels of sacred truth to those who are ready to listen. In Hester’s case, her staying ultimately made her introspect her society and herself.

For instance, Mr. Dimmesdale goes out for walks through the forest, and it is also there that Hester and Pearl meet Dimmesdale and discuss their sin; Roger Chllingworth is also known to regularly go into the forest in search of plants and herbs for his medicinal and physician practices; also, Mistress Hibbins, of course, visits the forest quite often with the rest of the followers of the Black Man. Thus, the forest, especially in the view of the Puritan society, is associated with sin.

Of all the symbols in The Scarlet Letter, the forest is one of the most important. By providing an escape from the overbearing nature of puritan life, the forest allows characters to be presented in a different backdrop, it can serve as a place of both light and darkness, but above all, liberty. For every character that visits it, the forest is freedom, protection, and peace. Without it,