The Importance Of The Forest In The Scarlet Letter

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For many years, forest have provided covering and protection to anyone that ventures under its branches. Forests everywhere have not only become hide-a-ways for people looking to leave pressures of their lives, they also provide a serene environment for relaxation. Kids imaginations run wild in the woods and this can be seen in movies such as The Bridge to Terabithia. But it can also be portrayed as evil such as chilling thrillers like, Preservation. In The Scarlet Letter the Forest becomes a refuge to anyone seeking it, and a place of inhabited evil by others. The Puritans in The Scarlet Letter view the Forest as immoral and wicked. They fear it because they believe that devil, “the Black Man”, lives there. “How he haunts this forest, and carries a book with him-a big heavy book, with iron clasps; and how ugly this Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everybody who meets him here among the trees..”(Hawthorne 103). The Puritan’s society is the polar opposite of the Forest. It is controlled, governed by a democracy and religion. The Forest on the other hand, cannot be contained. It is ruled by no one and is mysterious and uninhabited. Therefore, making it the place in where the “Black Man” resides. …show more content…

Since it is ruled by no one, it is uncontrollable, therefore unpredictable. Being part of a controlled Puritan Society, the Forest provides almost becomes a mystical place Hester and Dimmesdale have all to themselves. It is here where Hester has enough courage to cast off the scarlet letter and instantly becomes happier. “ ..she undid the clasp the fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves.. O exquisite relief! She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom!”(Hawthorne 113). It is also the place where Dimmesdale confesses his still undying love to

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