Alienation In The Scarlet Letter
Free from the pressures of Puritan society, the forest as the setting of chapter 18 is a place that allows Hester to escape her sins and express herself. The one result of her sin has been her alienation from society. Through the themes of alienation, knowledge, and sin, the scarlet letter has allowed Hester to have an isolated point of view toward human institutions, which resulted in her ability to think for herself and have a better understanding of natural law. This powerful passage explains the result of Hester’s sin and how it affected her life as well as her thoughts. Hester Prynne had not been “merely estranged, but outlawed, from society”. She was forced out of the Puritan community and introduced to the abstract world of free thought
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The town is ruled by religion and law, while the forest is lawless. The narrator uses a metaphor to compare Hester's outcast state to a forest when he states, "She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest”. Additionally, Hester’s heart and mind are compared to the desert where she can roam free. This again demonstrates her separation from everyone else. In the same line there is another simile comparing Hester to an Indian roaming freely in his woods. Indian’s and the woods are away from town and this symbolizes that Hester is able to see new points of view and learn new ideas as acts as an outcast in her society. In addition, as the passage explains that the scarlet letter brought Hester much “Shame, Despair, [and] Solitude”, these nouns are personified as her teachers since they taught her to be strong and gain knowledge. The forest, always seemingly evil and dark, is transformed into a college of teaching; “These teachers, stern and wild ones, had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” This powerful statement summarizes Hester’s learning from the forest. Also, the narrator uses imagery when he mentioned that an Indian would feel “little reverence” for “the many forms of ritual punishment, the fireside around which families gathered, or the church in which they prayed.” Lastly, Hawthorne allows us to also picture the the symbol of the scarlet letter as being a passport for Hester into other regions, a symbol of other
The town is ruled by religion and law, while the forest is lawless. The narrator uses a metaphor to compare Hester's outcast state to a forest when he states, "She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest”. Additionally, Hester’s heart and mind are compared to the desert where she can roam free. This again demonstrates her separation from everyone else. In the same line there is another simile comparing Hester to an Indian roaming freely in his woods. Indian’s and the woods are away from town and this symbolizes that Hester is able to see new points of view and learn new ideas as acts as an outcast in her society. In addition, as the passage explains that the scarlet letter brought Hester much “Shame, Despair, [and] Solitude”, these nouns are personified as her teachers since they taught her to be strong and gain knowledge. The forest, always seemingly evil and dark, is transformed into a college of teaching; “These teachers, stern and wild ones, had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” This powerful statement summarizes Hester’s learning from the forest. Also, the narrator uses imagery when he mentioned that an Indian would feel “little reverence” for “the many forms of ritual punishment, the fireside around which families gathered, or the church in which they prayed.” Lastly, Hawthorne allows us to also picture the the symbol of the scarlet letter as being a passport for Hester into other regions, a symbol of other