Scarlet Letter

In this book all the good stuff goes down in the woods. Nature is almost like a character in the world of The Scarlet Letter. It is often personified as listening, commenting on, and interacting with other characters. The society itself (Puritan Boston society) is like an island surrounded by nature. The town is bordered on one side by a huge expanse of woods, home to Native Americans (the Wampanoag tribes). On the other side lies the big blue Atlantic Ocean. From the beginning of this story, our narrator tells us that nature is “kind” and generous, contrasting heavily with the cold and strict ways of Puritan society.

[Mistress Hibbons:] “Wilt thou go with us tonight? There will be a merry company in the forest; and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester Prynne should make one.” (8.39) |
We learn pretty quickly that the forest is a place of naughtiness – that is, it’s where the witches go to hang out with the Black Man (a.k.a. the Devil). Mistress Hibbons is often trying to convince and recruit people to go with her to the forest at night. This might be a good time to go research witchcraft in America and the Salem Witch Trials. What kind of person might be drawn to the idea of witchcraft in this time? Why do you think Miss Hibbons is so excited to have Hester Prynne on board? It straggled onward into the mystery of the primevil forest. This hemmed it in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and imposed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above, that, to Hester’s mind, it imaged not amiss the moral wilderness in which she had so long been wandering. (16.3) |
Our narrator is not shy in telling us that the woods mirror the internal “wilderness” Hester has been wandering around in all these years. The woods in The Scarlet Letter seem to be a place of both safety and violence, of freedom and confinement, and of clarity and confusion. What are we to make of these woods? What exactly goes down in them? All these giant trees and boulders of granite seemed intent on making a mystery of the course of this small brook; fearing, perhaps, that, with its never-ceasing loquacity, it should whisper tales out of the heart of the heart of the old forest whence it flowed, or mirror its revelations on the smooth surface of the pool. (16.23) |
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Talk about personification. Here, trees are trying to keep secrets and a brook is trying to tell a secret. The woods are alive! With the sound of music – just kidding. But really, how can we not think of the forest as a magical place when everything in it seems to be talking, listening, and taking note of Hester and Dimmesdale’s conversation? And what kind of secrets does this forest have, exactly? In his Indian captivity, moreover, he had gained much knowledge of the properties of native herbs and roots; nor did he conceal from his patients, that these simple medicines, Nature’s boon to the untutored savage, had quite as large a share of his own confidence as the European pharmacopoeia, which so many learned doctors had spent centuries in elaborating. (9.2) |
Chillingworth’s medical practice is almost entirely built upon his knowledge of the healing powers of nature. What does this say about it? It seems pretty significant that he is able to keep Dimmesdale alive using the flora and fauna of the local woods. Nature, which our narrator describes from the get-go as being “kind,” is harnessed by an evil man in order to heal others (and to ensure that Dimmesdale survives and continues to loath himself).
The forest is quite significant in the novel. The forest represents a free world and a dark world where no Puritan law exists. Hawthorne uses the forest to provide a "shelter" for members of society in need of a refuge from daily Puritan life. The forest itself is the embodiment of freedom. Nobody watches in the woods to report misbehavior, thus it is here that individuals may do as they wish.

3- The forest is the sole area where Pearl can play openly and freely and Hester can remove her letter. It is an area opposed to the strict Puritan community and laws. It, however, is also a place where the witches come and sign their souls to the devil. Therefore, the forest can also symbolize freedom as well as darkness and evil.
The only time that the characters do not feel agony is when they are in the forest. The forest provides the freedom that they need. Hawthorne uses nature as a symbol of freedom from the town's straitlaced ways. The forest is a sanctuary for Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl. It gives them a chance to be themselves and be true. In other circumstances, the forest would be a dark place to be but for the characters, it is a place of life without the scarlet letter or shame.