The Forest In Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American author, is the master of major symbolism in American writing. He is a Romantic writer and used his novel The Scarlet Letter to criticize the Puritan religion. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a major American work filled with detailed characters and rich symbolism. From the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans were terrified of the forest; Although the narrator always associated the forest and nature in general with kindness and love Throughout the novel, the theme of the forest continues to crop up. In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, the forest was know for being a scary, dark place; a place where women would go to practice witchcraft and the infamous home of the black man, the devil.
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This, I believe is how Hester dealt with her guilt and how Arthur ultimately died. Hester's sin was public while Arthur's was private. In Hester's case, the shame was only momentary. While it never truly went away, overtime the shame, guilt, and sin were all pushed onto the back burner and stayed there only occasionally resurfacing. Even though Hester had her ever constant reminders of the letter A and the child that came from the sin, she still managed to stay strong and rebel against the intended meaning of the letter A; Changing it from Adulterer to Able. One could argue that it is only a matter of personality. Hester was brave and strong while Dimmesdale was cowardly and weak. Hester, it seems, was able to deal with the guilt, while Arthur was self-loathing and continued to carve or brand his own letter A into his skin. In my opinion, you can see it both ways. Yes Dimmesdale is self-loathing, weak, and cowardice, and that might just be his personality, although the private guilt may be responsible for all of his horrible traits. You could also argue that his personality is what caused his private suffering. Had he revealed that he was the man that sinned with Hester, he may not have basically killed himself in the end. His personality however prohibits him from making that leap and admitting to the public that he was Pearl's father and Hester's fellow
This, I believe is how Hester dealt with her guilt and how Arthur ultimately died. Hester's sin was public while Arthur's was private. In Hester's case, the shame was only momentary. While it never truly went away, overtime the shame, guilt, and sin were all pushed onto the back burner and stayed there only occasionally resurfacing. Even though Hester had her ever constant reminders of the letter A and the child that came from the sin, she still managed to stay strong and rebel against the intended meaning of the letter A; Changing it from Adulterer to Able. One could argue that it is only a matter of personality. Hester was brave and strong while Dimmesdale was cowardly and weak. Hester, it seems, was able to deal with the guilt, while Arthur was self-loathing and continued to carve or brand his own letter A into his skin. In my opinion, you can see it both ways. Yes Dimmesdale is self-loathing, weak, and cowardice, and that might just be his personality, although the private guilt may be responsible for all of his horrible traits. You could also argue that his personality is what caused his private suffering. Had he revealed that he was the man that sinned with Hester, he may not have basically killed himself in the end. His personality however prohibits him from making that leap and admitting to the public that he was Pearl's father and Hester's fellow