The Forest as a a Symbol in The Scarlet Letter

Forests have always been an area beyond civilization, beyond the rules. Nothing is certain in the woods. They are wild places where man is not in charge of his surroundings and where the wanderer can lose himself, either for his redemption or his doom. The forest is the raw spirit of the wilderness, where man can also show his own rawest nature. Of the many symbols used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter, the forest is one of the strongest because of its age-old use in myths and fables. In Hawthorne’s novel, the forest means different things to different characters. To the upstanding and pious members of the puritan settlement, the forest is a frightening place where witches meet and the devil prowls. But to Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale, who both aren’t able to be themselves within puritan society, the forest offers a refuge where they can be true with each other. Finally, to Hester and Dimmesdale’s daughter Pearl, the forest is a place where her elfin nature is most obvious. Hawthorne uses the forest as a symbol in the three main ways it has been used in the past, as a terrifying place of darkness and foreboding, as a sunlit e

Since ancient times, the forest has been a mysterious and fascinating place. It is quite alien to human travelers, and with its slowly moving shades of green, its solitude, and the unknown creatures inhabiting it, it is easy to understand how it could be seen as another world. In many early tales and myths, the hero seeks wisdom in the forest, either from nature or from a magical person living in the heart of it. Some primitive tribes thought of the trees as wise elders, and would seek their guidance. However, whatever knowledge and good the forest could bring, it could also bring destruction. Large predators such as bears and wolves call the forest home, and humans have also filled the woods with terrifying beasts from their own imaginations. What could be an inviting sunlit glade during the day could, in the dark, become a black horror full of vengeful spirits and ravenous monsters. In literature, forests have been used as symbols for both of these perceptions. The forest is nature at her most raw form, existing outside of the rules of humankind, and caring nothing for what people make it out to be. When one enters the forest, he is invited also to have that same disregard for the rules and restrictions of civilization. Thus man can also express his deepest and truest nature.

In puritan society, rules and structure were essential. Anything unrestrained or wild was looked down on and shunned as the works of the devil. God had set everything in order, and his order had to be obeyed. Because the forest is a wild place, it is regarded as something to be avoided at all costs by the puritans in The Scarlet Letter. It is a known haunt of witches and demons, as Mistress Hibbins describes when she invites Hester to join them, “’Wilt thou go with us tonight? There will be a merry company in the forest; and I well nigh promised the Black man that comely Hester Prynne should make one.’”(107;ch.8). In its dark and wild depths, the forest it thought to hold everything that counters the puritan ideals. It is the home of the natives, who the puritans think of a frightening savages and heathens. The forests are as wild as the people who inhabit them, and the puritan’s don’t want anything to do with either. The devil himself, the archenemy of God, is also commonly spoke of as walking in the woods bordering the settlement. Little Pearl hears an old woman tell her about his journeys, “’Oh a story about the Black Man…how he haunts this forest and carries a book with him, a big, heavy book, with iron cla

Some topics in this essay:
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