Forests and Faith The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, written nearly 20 years after he wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” explores many of the same elements, themes, and struggles. In Chapter 20, “The Minister in the Maze,” Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale finds himself tortured by guilt and cannot reconcile his identity even years after his sin with a terrible state of mind and body. Goodman Brown is a man whose curiosity leads him to the woods to discover the truth about this so-called utopian life. Both stories revolve around the main character's internal struggle with morality, judgment, and the idea of a Puritan life. The fear of moral decay, in themselves and in society, shapes the individual's character journey in the story. They both experience …show more content…
People’s private lives are on display in the forest. The forest is an essential physical location and a symbol of mystery, darkness, evil, and change. Dimmesdale and Goodman Brown undergo immense changes after and during their time in the forest. They enter the forest for different reasons and with distinct goals. When Dimmesdale went through the forest on his way back to town, he felt trapped and imbodied in his sin. Where he is pictured as having “a subtle disease, that had long since begun to eat into the real substance of his character” (Hawthorne 197). When he then confides in Hester, and she tells him they will leave together with Pearl, he feels a massive weight lifted off his shoulders, and then the narrator then says, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true” (Hawthorne 197). Dimmsdale completely changes when leaving the forest. He could free himself from his shame and guilt, almost as if he had changed entirely now that he no longer has to carry this burden. Dimmesdale is full of energy, and not only does he act as if he is a different man, but he sees everything differently and as if he