... been driven out of Puritan civilization, the forest is the embodiment of a comfortable friend for her. The main purpose of the forest in The Scarlet Letter is to be a place where the truth can exist. Nature serves as an extreme contrast to Puritan values. The sins of the main characters of the book are sins against the Puritan way of life. Because nature is a place free of any constraints, it is a safe haven for all of these characters. Light and darkness ... battle each other in the quest ... ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... the rules of the town makes the townspeople uncomfortable with the thought of spending extensive time in the forest. Because the townspeople refuse to enter the forest due to their fear, it becomes the perfect meeting area for Hester and Dimmesdale. The segment "Had the forest still kept its gloom, it would have been bright in Hester's eyes, and bright in Arthur Dimmesdale's" means that even if the forest was not alive with color and light ... , it still would have been a refuge for Hester and Dimmesdale because it was not under the judgmental eye of their peers and church. The peace and...

• Word Count: 1003
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... off her scarlet letter and takes down her hair as a symbol of her freedom. As she does this, beams of sunlight light up the forest. The scarlet letter is a symbol of shame and punishment for Hester. The letter is originally intended to stand for Hester's sin of adultery. The "A" serves as a physical reminder of Hester's sin, but compared to the mental struggle she goes through every day it is insignificant. With or ... without the letter Hester would feel the same guilt, and she would still be ... ...

• Word Count: 361
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• Grade Level: High School

... the track or relieve the darkening close of tale of human frailty and sorrow" (P. 46). The rosebush represents the hope and pure understanding and acceptance of sin. The rosebush's thorns, which can be seen as sin, still allows that sin of thorns to blossom into "some sweet moral". Another natural symbol, the forest, "such was the sympathy of Nature - that wild heathen nature of the forest ... never subjugated by human law nor illuminated by higher truth with the bliss of these two spirits!"(P. 199). The forest represents the freedom that is given to those that have sinned ... The fores...

• Word Count: 276
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• Grade Level: High School

... . That view is not very different from Nathaniel Hawthorne's view on the forest in The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter does not see the forest in such a grim light as does The Crucible, but it does see the forest as a place where you express your true self, outside the boundaries of society. The forest is the first place that Hester and Dimmesdale hold hands in public. So, the forest is seen as a place for weird happenings, but ... The Crucible sees it in a much more "evil" way then The Scarlet Letter. Truth had many meanings ... ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... famous scaffold scene. Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are atop the scaffold when, "a light gleamed far and wide over all the muffled sky. It was doubtless caused by one of those meteors the minister, looking upward to the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter-the letter 'A'-marked out in lines of dull red light" (Hawthorn). This is God's condemnation of the two sinners, most especially Dimmesdale. Hester has already been ... Dimmesdale to run away with her). Because of this, God will not grace her with his smile of sunshine. Pearl on the other hand, who is young and pur...

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• Grade Level: High School

... to light, suggesting darkness as a state of hiding where the person will not accept life's experiences and holds back. Pearl's eyes are called a "small black mirror," meaning they are empty and filled with sin as they reflect Hester's sin. Hawthorne explains black weeds growing from a sinner's grave as evil coming out and dying. The Puritan's describe Satan as the Black Man in the forest. Black ... is used to symbolize the worst and most evil part of an object or person. Hawthorne employs white and light to oppose darkness as a state of self-containment. White most clearly symbolizes pu...

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... and beautiful woman, has an affair with an unknown man in her town while her husband is away. Her daughter Pearl becomes the most important aspect of her life after she is born and is the only thing that brings her any light or happiness. Although Hester feels immense regret for her actions, she becomes inspired by Pearl to do good and tries to ... constantly encouraging her mother to reunite with him. Pearl knows that her parents are each others support and stability, therefore pushes them together. When Hester, Arthur, and Pearl met in the forest, Pearl asks her mother if he [loves th...

• Word Count: 1245
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... pry apart all that is sacred to Dimmesdale and destroy it, murdering him from the inside out. After a period of time, the evil within Chillingworth can be seen through his appearance as well. As Hester stares into the eyes of Chillingworth, "There came a glare of red light out of his Vevoda 2 eyes; as if the old man's soul were on fire, and kept on smouldering duskily within his breast ... to be redeemed, Hester encourages him to have hope. Renewed and full of new found confidence, Dimmesdale says, "O Hester, thou are my better angels! I seem to have flung myself- sick, sin stained, and...

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• Grade Level: High School

... for herself or her child. She is right to a certain extent. Her life following her sin is a hard one, and the difficulty takes its toll on her. "All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, which might have been repulsive, had she possessed any friends or companions to ... have held it to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatized by the scarlet letter" (113). However, Hester Prynne "had habituated herself to such a latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to a clergyman. She wandered wit...

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... to her. She is a reminder of her sin and causes her great pains, but she is nonetheless a blessing. When Hester thinks about giving up Pearl gives her mother reasons to go on. When Pearl knows who her father is she is truly human. She always has a certain amount of light on her. She represents to goodness in life. The forest is symbolic in many ways ... , such as the fact that Hester and Dimmesdale can profess their love for each other. In the forest sin tempts them. It is also the place of the "black man." The forest is supposedly where the witches meet. Mistress Hibbins says its were p...

• Word Count: 371
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time-was that SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom.?p.51 The Forest:The forest has two main symbolic functions. It is the home of the Black Man but also a place of freedom. First, the forest can symbolize darkness and evil. It is a place where witches gather, and ... souls are signed away to the devil, and Dimmesdale canyield himself with deliberate choice...to what he knew ... night in the forest where Mistress Hibbens holds her witchcraft meetings, wher...

• Word Count: 1015
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• Grade Level: High School

... by eerie role of the sunshine in the forest. "The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate," . The sunshine seams almost grateful for Pearl presence, accepting her as an equal, and illuminating her beauty. Perhaps Hawthorn meant this as a biblical illusion to the light of Gods saving grace, and it's welcoming of even the most sinful person. Hawthorne describes another sign of acceptance as the "Great black forest became the playmate of the lonely infant ... ." . Suggesting Pearl's close association to evil. Eventually it is stated, "The truth seems to be, howe...

• Word Count: 1158
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• Has Bibliography
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... her to behave more politely, but in reply Pearl "paused to gather the prickly burrs from a tall burdock." She then began to "arrange them along the lines of the scarlet letter." After Dimmesdale's comment about her behavior, Pearl "threw one of the burrs at Mr. Dimmesdale." Dimmesdale "shrunk, with nervous dead, from the light missile." When Pearl saw how she effected him she "clapped her hands ... in the most extravagant ecstasy." Hawthorne is obviously showing how Pearl is there to remind ... Hester and Dimmesdale of their horrible sin, and to further escalate their pain and sufferin...

• Word Count: 421
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• Grade Level: High School

... peacefully. Hester and Pearl was relieved from their guilt. The theme within the story is unconfessed sins leads to the destroying of the soul. Hester who was dubbed with the guilt, openly admits it thus her soul was not destroyed, instead she gathers strength and courage to stimulate her soul which radiant with more light. In the other hand, Dimmesdale hid his secret from others which slowly ... corroded his soul, leading to sickness and guilt. Later when he confesses, he was released from the painful and died peacefully. Important Passage: "Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine doe...

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• Grade Level: High School

... , "let her cover her mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart." Hawthorne uses light imagery to describe Hester's hair as she walks out of the prison: She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam She was lady-like, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity ... on her chest does not have the same scandalous meaning. The author uses the scarlet letter as a symbol of the society's view of Hester. Hester is shunned by society at the beginning of the novel. The sin th...

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... , contained dark places that the cold light of reason alone could not break through. Relating directly to allegories is Hawthorne's use of symbolism in his stories. This is very evident in The Scarlet Letter where he uses setting and characterization to create an image of the various characters who each symbolize a different human trait. The Minister's Black Veil is the first of Hawthorne's stories in which the confrontation of a central symbol generates ... spectral adventure in the forest, he has received a paralyzing sense that the brotherhood and unity of man is only reachable throug...

• Word Count: 855
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate