What Does The Forest Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne. The name strikes fear in the hearts of high school students everywhere because Hawthorne's 'wordy' novels, especially his 1849 The Scarlet Letter, have been at the top of English classes' required reading lists for years and will continue to be for years to come. In general, students have grown accustomed to superficial analyses of books, which encompasses reading and regurgitating 'literary facts' on multiple choice tests. However, when reading engaging, well-written, stylistic and ambiguous novels, such as The Scarlet Letter, one must go deeper and actually examine the novel and the elements that the author so effectively uses. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses a wide range of symbols, such as: aspects of nature,

Dimmesdale about their predicament, takes place in the forest. When reading the novel, it becomes increasingly apparent that there is a contrast between the forest and the town, as settings. The forest symbolizes a dark and mysterious place where impulses and urges reign and also where the goings-on are to be kept a secret. The forest is described as dismal, gloomy and full of shadows with an imposing, cloudy sky that is filled with threatening storms (p. 181). When Dimmesdale and Hester first see each other, Hawthorne describes them as being "in the world beyond the grave, of two spirits who had intimately connected in their former life, but now stood coldly shuddering, in mutual dead" (p. 181). Also in the forest, Hester undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves....[and] took off the formal cap that confined her hair (p.

At the holiday, Pearl asks about Dimmesdale, Hester hushes her because those are only things that happen in the forest and they are not to be spoken about in the town (p. 215). Also, Hawthorne uses the sunshine to signify warmth, love and acceptance. "'Mother,' said little Pearl, 'the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on you bosom" (p.175). As Pearl observes, the sun will not touch Hester, just as warmth and companionship will not because of the letter. Hawthorne uses water, as a component of nature, to symbolize the spirit of both Hester and of Pearl. The sea for Hester:

But the sea in those days heaved, swelled and foamed, very much at its own will, or subject only to the tempestuous wind, with hardly any attempts at regulation by human law (p. 219).

And a brook for Pearl: "Continually, indeed, as it stole onward, the streamlet kept up a babble, kind, quiet, soothing but melancholy" (p. 178). To sum up, one of the categories of symbols that Hawthorne uses is nature; three examples of this are the forest, sunshine and water.

The scarlet letter is obviously symbolic of Hester's sin but also of both her and Dimmesdale's pain. Because of the letter, she becomes isolated and alienated from the entire town and its