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What Does The Forest Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

660 Words3 Pages

In the eighteenth through twenty fourth chapters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, various elements and events are established that are crucial to the final moments taking place in the novel. These events and elements determine the destiny of the fictional family created by an act of adultery, between Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. One distinct aspect that Hawthorne uses to describe Hester Prynne and Pearl, is nature. The recurring characteristic that is used to compare nature to Hester and Pearl is sunshine. Sunshine is an adherent factor displayed most-commonly in the forest, as Hester, Pearl and Arthur Dimmesdale gather in the forest. In the forest, they can be a family, all together, ignoring the societal expectations …show more content…

Hawthorne uses literary devices such as, imagery to convey his message that Hester Prynne defied the boundaries of society’s civil law and has grown to accept natural law. In chapter nineteen, sunshine is used to explain Hester when she takes the Scarlet Letter “A”, off of her chest while in the forest with Dimmesdale and Pearl. As Hester begins to remove the Scarlet Letter off her chest, Hawthorne uses imagery by placing sunshine upon her face, and her hair, which makes a glowing effect upon he,r displaying to the reader that she is not defined by civil law but is ultimately defined by natural law. While Time passes, and it is time for Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale return to the town, Hester must return the Scarlet Letter back upon her chest, and while in the midst of placing it back on her chest, a gray cloud forms over the sun creating a gray shadow upon Hester’s face. This act of imagery placed by Hawthorne into the novel, symbolizes that the love between Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne was and continues to be an act of love in natural law, and not to society’s disturbing civil

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