The forest offers a sanctuary from the harshness of everyday Puritan life. In the forest, many pivotal characters can bring forth hidden emotions and thoughts. The forest trail leads characters away from the Puritan settlement, and out into the dense and dark forest. This seems to be the only escape for the Puritans in the novel. This is the only place where the people can be free from Puritan law and code. It is here, in the forest that Dimmesdale can express his deep love for Hester and where she can do the same for him.

The forest is a place where freedom can be established. Her

Pearl was also wild like the forest, "The child could not be made amenable to the rules"(Hawthorne 93). She often threw flowers at her mothers "A". In the forest, Pearl would run wild, she would swing in-between trees and lay in the tall grass. She had "vigor and natural dexterity" (Hawthorne 92). The Puritan society was not the place for pearl. They were not ready for such a radical at this time, and she was a radical! Pearl and the forest go together hand in hand because they are both mysterious and wild.

The forest itself also represents evil. The Puritans believe that the forest and anything associated with it are evil. This would mean that the Black man, Mistress Hibbins and the witches all evil in Puritan eyes.

Puritan society can be harsh and can deteriorate one's inner self. Hawthorne created the forest to give characters a place to escape and express their true emotions and beliefs. The forest was a place where ideas and feeling could flow as endlessly as the babbling brook. The emotions expressed, as well as Pearl, were as wild as the forest. The forest played the most important role in the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It provided an umbrella of security for the characters, symbolized Pearl and was a symbol of evil in itself.

Throughout the novel, there is a constant reference to the Black man, who is better known to us as the devil. While in the forest, Pearl asks Hester, "Tell me a story...a story about the black man"(Hawthorne 177). Pearl goes on to inquire about the black man. Hester tells her that he is evil, that

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Approximate Word count = 1056
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)