It is where Hester is forced to stand for three hours as punishment, where Dimmesdale, Pearl, and Hester stand in the night, and where Dimmesdale reveals himself and dies.
The second setting is the forest just outside of the town. It proves to be a kind of dramatic foil to the idealistic Puritan society.
The Puritans maintain a community that thrives on purity and lack of sin. The forest, on the other hand, is a symbol of lawlessness and desecration. It is shrouded in mystery and retains a dark and foreboding air. The Puritans abhor the forest because it stands as a perfect example of evil. However, the witches that live in the town view it very differently.
They appreciate the anonymity the forest provides them. Thus they are free to pay homage to the Black Man in secret. Their presence reiterates the fact that the forest is a symbol of darkness. Get Access. Better Essays. Read More. Good Essays. Analysis Of ' The Scarlet Letter '. Satisfactory Essays. Justification of Hester in The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter Words 2 Pages.
The Scarlet Letter. Her work is in great demand for clothing worn at official ceremonies and among the fashionable women of the town — for every occasion except a wedding.
Despite the popularity of her sewing, however, Hester is a social outcast. The target of vicious abuse by the community, she endures the abuse patiently. Ironically, she begins to believe that the scarlet A allows her to sense sinful and immoral feelings in other people. Chapter 5 serves the purposes of filling in background information about Hester and Pearl and beginning the development of Hester and the scarlet as two of the major symbols of the romance.
Society views her ". Despite Hester's apparent humility and her refusal to strike back at the community, she resents and inwardly rebels against the viciousness of her Puritan persecutors. She becomes a living symbol of sin to the townspeople, who view her not as an individual but as the embodiment of evil in the world. Twice in this chapter, Hawthorne alludes to the community's using Hester's errant behavior as a testament of immorality.
At the time, Boston was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which had been established after the first group of English settlers arrived in Plymouth in Boston was founded in , and by the s there were about 25 English settlers in the area. Many of these individuals had left England because they were dissatisfied with the Anglican Church and sought religious freedom for their dissenting beliefs.
Once they immigrated to the Colonies, Puritans were able to set up a society where they could make values like piety, modesty, and obedience central to the community. Hawthorne is quite specific about establishing the setting of the novel. Hawthorne includes fairly detailed descriptions of the physical surroundings in order to illustrate the theme of nature versus society. Every so often, sunshine flickers on the setting.
But Pearl reminds her mother that the sun will not shine on the sinful Hester; it does shine, however, when Hester passionately lets down her hair. The sun is the symbol of untroubled, guilt-free happiness, or perhaps the approval of God and nature.
It also seems to be, at times, the light of truth and grace. Darkness is always associated with Chillingworth. It is also part of the description of the jail in Chapter 1, the scene of sin and punishment. The Puritans in that scene wear gray hats, and the darkness of the jail is relieved by the sunshine of the outside. When Hester comes into the sunshine from the darkness, she must squint at the light of day, and her iniquity is placed for all to see.
Noon is the time of Dimmesdale's confession, and daylight is the symbol of exposure. Nighttime, however, is the symbol of concealment, and Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold at midnight, concealing his confession from the community. In the end, even the grave of Dimmesdale and Hester is in darkness.
Colors play a similar role to light and darkness. One of the predominant colors is red, seen in the roses, the letter, Pearl's clothing, the "scarlet woman," Chillingworth's eyes, and the streak of the meteor. At night and always with the physician, the letter is associated with darkness and evil; in the other associations, it is a part of nature, passion, lawlessness, and imagination. The context determines the meaning. Black and gray are colors associated with the Puritans, gloom, death, sin, and the narrow path of righteousness through the forest of sin.
Three chapters that contain a multitude of color images are Chapters 5, 11, and Even Hawthorne's settings are symbolic. The Puritan village with its marketplace and scaffold is a place of rigid rules, concern with sin and punishment, and self-examination. Public humiliation and penance are symbolized by the scaffold, the only place where Dimmesdale can go to atone for his guilt and escape his tormentor's clutches.
The collective community that watches, at beginning and end, is a symbol of the rigid Puritan point of view with unquestioning obedience to the law. The Church and State are ubiquitous forces to contend with in this colony, as Hester finds out to her dismay. They see Dimmesdale as a figure of public approval, Chillingworth, at least initially, as a man of learning to be revered, and Hester as the outcast. Predominant colors are black and gray, and the gloom of the community is omnipresent.
However, nearby is the forest, home of the Black Man but also a place of freedom. Here the sun shines on Pearl, and she absorbs and keeps it. The forest represents a natural world, governed by natural laws, as opposed to the artificial, Puritan community with its man-made laws.
In this world, Hester can take off her cap, let down her hair, and discuss plans with Dimmesdale to be together away from the rigid laws of the Puritans. As part of this forest, the brook provides "a boundary between two worlds. However, the forest is also a moral wilderness that Hester finds herself in once she is forced to wear the sign of her guilt.
The forest is also a symbolic place where witches gather, souls are signed away to the devil, and Dimmesdale can "yield himself with deliberate choice. Mistress Hibbins knows on sight those who would wander "in the forest" or, in other words, secretly do Satan's work.
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