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The Freedom Of The Forest In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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The Freedom of the Forest The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne focuses on the Puritan culture of Plymouth, Massachusetts during the 1600s. In this story, the main character, Hester Prynne, wears an embroidered “A” on her chest to proclaim her sin of adultery. Her crime shadows her every move and keeps her from living a fulfilling life as the town judges her for her past actions. Her only escape came when she goes to her house in the forest on the edge of town. This forest symbolizes three different sides of freedom – spiritual freedom, social freedom, subjugated freedom – freedom that she endures without the burden of society’s discrimination. Historically, the Puritan belief system places strict rules on its followers that suffocate Hester’s spiritual being. The forest …show more content…

Hester ranks at the bottom of the class ladder because her sin can be seen by every person that looks at her, yet Dimmesdale is still regarded as one of the best ministers of his time and tops the ladder (Hawthorne, 2003). Even though they committed the exact same sin, the town only looks down on Hester. The letter labels her as the town whore who deserves to be treated as filth. In contrast, when she’s in the forest, the social classes disappear; she wanders freely. Now, Dimmesdale and Hester have the same standing, which gives them the opportunity to act like they once did before the letter. Sin doesn’t divide the two until Dimmesdale remembers the letter carved into his chest (Hawthorne, 2003). He pulls away from Hester as if he’s afraid the townspeople will see them and make the connection that he’s the father of Hester’s child. He yearns to be with Hester, but he cannot get over the thought of losing his position as minister. The class system created by society controls their relationship – a relationship repressed by male figures and disunity of

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commits a mortal sin by having an affair with a married woman, Hester Prynne. As a man of the cloth in Puritan society, Dimmesdale is expected to be the embodiment of the town’s values. He becomes captive to a self-imposed guilt that manifests from affair and his fear that he won’t meet the town’s high expectations of him. In an attempt to mitigate this guilt, Dimmesdale acts “piously” and accepts Chillingworth’s torture, causing him to suffer privately, unlike Hester who repented in the eyes of the townspeople. When Dimmesdale finally reveals his sin to the townspeople, he is able to free himself from his guilt.

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As two main characters in The Scarlet Letter, which is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester and Dimmesdale are committed adultery, therefore, the scarlet letter is patched on Hester’s chest. Accordingly, Hester and Dimmesdale have some similarities and differences. Both of the characters have the same sin, love each other, love Pearl , and indeed, they have been changed by their sin. On the other hand, the way that Hester and Dimmesdale deal with their sin is totally different, and it brings them to different ending as well. Hester and Dimmesdale love each other deeply, even though they have changed totally since their identical sin has revealed.

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The driving maxim of the story, “The Scarlet Letter,” is that recognising and dealing with our weaknesses makes us stronger. Hester Prynne embraces her scarlet letter and her child, the symbols of her sin, and in turn it allows her to grow and be embraced by the townspeople. Reverend Dimmesdale, however, keeps his sin concealed within him, his guilt consumes him and only made him weaken throughout the years to the point of his death. The town as a whole is portrayed to be a negative place, and only becomes better, seeming when they embrace the town adulterer, Hester, not as a sin, but as an able member of the community.

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The above symbols vary from person to person and from time to time in Hester’s settlement. These symbolisms are not unusual attributes for people to associate with a forest today, depending on one’s mindset and personal experiences. The pristine quiet of the woods is largely underappreciated at the present time. Perhaps Hester was onto something when she strolled through the trees to find peace of mind and sift through her thoughts effectively. One can do so today to temporarily avoid the noise, the bustle, and the prying fingers of modern

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, he explores the prodigy of love, crime, and revenge. It revolves around a sinful act of passion that impacts Hester Prynne, an adulteress forced to wear a scarlet letter “A”on her bosom; Reverend Dimmesdale, a respected minister in the puritans community; their daughter, Pearl; and Roger Chillingworth, Hester 's husband. Most of the characters portrayed can be analyzed as embodying both “good” and “evil” qualities. Dimmesdale is especially viewed as an ambiguous character. Dimmesdale’s moral ambiguity comes from his internal conflict between his devotion to the church and the guilt he feels for not receiving blame for his sinful act of co-adultery with Hester.

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Both Dimmesdale and Hester commited the same sin of adultery, resulting in Pearl. However, because Hester confessed the sin early on, she had the rest of her life to try and change the purpose of her scarlet A to mean something more than just sin. Which she succeeds in, the people refused to interpret the scarlet letter for sin and instead for “Able.” Soon after, the people had almost forgotten what the original meaning of the scarlet letter was. On the contrary Dimmesdale doesn’t confess his sin and lives a terrible life of self-harming and guilt.

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the forest symbolizes privacy, freedom and allows an opportunity for Hester to uncover her true identity. However, in Puritan Boston, the setting of the story, Hester is faced with humiliation and punishment on a daily basis. Hester is shunned for committing adultery, and having a child out of wedlock. In the forest, there is sunshine, and Hester is able to rip off the scarlet letter and literally, and figuratively ‘let her hair down.’ This escape allows Hester to be unconcerned with what the judgemental townspeople will think or say.

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“She [Hester] decided, moreover, that he [Dimmesdale] had a right to her utmost aid.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 193) Hester needs to help Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale needs her help because his hidden sin made him weak; Hester can help because her revealed sin strengthens her. Her Scarlet Letter started out as a “spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” but turned into a symbol of her helpfulness, the A meaning “Able” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 60, 196).

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Imagine living in a place where one small sin could define who you are for the rest of your life. That is what happened in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. The novel is set in a seventeenth-century Puritan community in Boston, Massachusetts. A young woman by the name of Hester Prynne commits a small act of adultery and is shamed for the rest of her life, by wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her breast. The book is centered around the theme of justice and judgement.

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Adultery was such a terrible sin to be committed in mid-seventeenth century, especially within the puritan community. Hester wanted to protect the father of her child because she knew that if everyone found out Dimmesdale was the other part taker in this crime then, they both would have been killed but Dimmesdale, being the minister, helped and saved her by letting her off easy, thus wearing the scarlet as her punishment. When she first realizes what the letter is capable of, she does not like it and is ashamed for herself. The townspeople would treat her very differently as well as talk rudely about her. In chapter twenty one, the narrator states, “Her face, so long familiar to the townspeople, showed the marble quietude which they were accustomed to behold there.

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Because of the effects that Dimmesdale’s sin had on those living in his society, his sin is the greatest of all those presented in the novel, as illustrated by Hawthorne through Dimmesdale’s interactions with others. Because, unlike Hester, Dimmesdale hides his sin from the

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Hawthorne depicts the forest as a place of happiness and freedom from the Puritan society for Dimmesdale and Hester to escape from reality where only natural law rules apply. Hester Prynne and Minister Dimmesdale seek refuge and shelter from the Puritan society and judgment in the forest being as far away from society as possible (TSL 169). The forest allows Dimmesdale and Hester the freedom to express their feelings and emotions openly to each other and to plan their future together. The forest frees Hester and Dimmesdale from the corrupted strict Puritans’ law. In this world, Hester can relax and discuss her future with Dimmesdale away from Puritan law, values, and judgment.

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Books are being Censored and We need to stop it! Throughout our years on earth, Literature has grown as a subject and matter happening in our society, some that have some controversy and are later banned by governments, etc. I think that banned books should be open to the public to due to the freedom of our country allowing us to do read what we want, it is not right for the government to censor our learning, and Everyone should be able to choose and know what they are going to read, but have the choice to read it anywhere. Banned books should be open to the public to due to the freedom of our country allowing us to do read what we want. For Example, “Five appendixes comprise the last half of the volume and present the following: discussions

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Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her.

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