In "The Scarlet Letter," it can be seen that the forest is hell because the sinful are the ones who get kicked out of the city. Another way that somebody could perceive this is that when someone sins they get knocked out of heaven, and will go to hell when they die. Also, hell is not a desirable place that people would want to go to, and neither is the forest. Everybody wants to retain their place in the city, so they follow all of the rules and laws as to not get kicked out. And the same thing goes with heaven, they follow all of God's rules so they will go to heaven when they die and not hell. So, the forest can also be interpreted as hell because both places are not desirable places, and both are places you go when you get kicked out of either heaven, or the city. Another world that can be seen that was created is the city. The city can be seen as their own little world because they tend to stay within the city limits. They avoid those whom they have out casted to the forest. Also, when Hester is trying to find a place to live and finds a place on the outskirts of the city. It says that her cottage was hidden from the city, but is not quite in the forest. This is clearly showing a division of worlds because it shows that there is a middle ground that is separating the two worlds, and also creating a world of its own.
Heaven can be a term used to represent the world of the city. The reason that heaven can be used to represent the city is because, first off it is the place that everybody wants to be. That is the same with heaven, everybody wants to go there when they die and nobody wants to go to hell. Which is the forest, where nobody wants to go, which is the same with hell. Also, in order to stay in heaven you must not sin, or break any laws in the case of staying in the city. So, if someone were to sin, they would not have a place in heaven, and if you were to break a law in the city, you would be out casted basically to the forest.
