Scarlet Letter:Village&Forest

A detailed Summary of Scarlet Letter:Village&Forest

Settings in books have a great impact on the characters and events that develop in a novel. Setting is what makes up the characters, it is their surroundings that they encounter and interact with. Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to express certain points or themes to the reader by the use of setting. He chose the market place and the forest as settings used to symbolically develop his portrait of society and the characters in The Scarlet Letter. In this novel, a story unfolds of three people who are torn apart by sin, revenge, and guilt. The market place reveals to the reader a place of restraint and severe Puritan laws. The setting of the forest produces the impression of wildness, unrestraint, and passion.

The first of the two main settings is the Puritan town which includes the churches, prison, and the scaffold. The Puritan town portraits a picture of restraint and law; buildings in the town give this strict message. The churches give the impression of discipline and conformity to the reader. The Puritan law is based on their religion. The town provides a sense of strict moral values and obedience in agreement with the Puritan religion.

The prison that the city was built around ser

Deeper into the forest, there are powerful symbols inside, such as the sunlight. Pearl chases after sunlight along the forest path, Hester stretches out her hand to catch a ray, "As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished..." (221) The light found in the forest, represents the purity that Hester seeks. The movement of the light represents the denial of purity that Hester has faced and her constant denial of acceptance. Hester suggested that "...'we will sit down a little way within the wood, and rest ourselves.'" (222), her suggestion to go to the dark shows that she never expects to be accepted in society.

In closing, the two main settings in The Scarlet Letter give way to effectively develop the themes, events, and characters in the novel. Puritan society and its laws can be harsh to one's heart and mind. Hawthorne created the forest to give the characters a place to establish freedom and express their true thoughts and emotions. The forest is one of the most symbolized element in the novel. It is one element in the novel that can bring joy, sadness, freedom, and evil to the characters, but the forest can also bring truth and revelation. The two settings help develop a story that shows sin and passion in a religious society that is based on restraint and law. Two religious people in the community commit the sin of adultery, with one publicly punished and the other self-inflicted until the end.

A person may take refuge in the forest distant from the law that governs the Puritan settleme

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1017
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels