... as a book. Although Hawthorne wrote many novels, none of them were as successful as "The Scarlet Letter". It was set in Puritan Boston in the early years of a Massachusetts Bay Colony. Many things can affect what happens in a story and one of those things is setting. In the Scarlet Letter, there is the symbolic significance of various settings: the scaffold; the forest, which ironically becomes an oasis ... of freedom for Hester and Dimmesdale, though everyone else views it as the devil's territory. The scaffold in the town center symbolizes the harsh judgments in Puritan society. Purit...

• Word Count: 1003
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate