In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, the forest and village serve to intensify the figurative differences between the two settings. The village, Puritanical in nature, is severe and unforgiving. Hester settles as far as she can from the center of town, and when she walks through the village, it is typically characterized as cold and harsh.
The forest, on the other hand, is natural, unruly, and wild. Puritans during this era equated the forest with Native Americans, who would emerge from the forest when interacting with the Puritans. Because of their intolerance, the forest therefore quickly became associated with evil and the Devil; this is Pearl is so consistently compared favorably with the forest, and why it is the site for some of Hester's most significant interactions with both Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.
No comments:
Post a Comment