Of course, Hester takes advantage of this situation when she meets with Dimmesdale in the forest. ... In the forest, all cares are thrown away, and Dimmesdale makes a cry for help to Hester, a sinner in the Puritan society, but a lover to Dimmesdale, that he is able to express in the forest. ... The forest also brings out the natural side of whomever is occupying it at that time. ... To Hawthorne, the forest was beautiful and natural, and a place where Pearl could be herself. ... A fox, startled from his sleep by her light footstep on the leaves, looked inquisitively at Pearl, as doubt...

• Word Count: 2041
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

He shows us this by symbols in nature around the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest. ... Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are atop the scaffold when, "a light gleamed far and wide over all the muffled sky. It was doubtless caused by one of those meteors the minister, looking upward to the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter-the letter 'A'-marked out in lines of dull red light" (Hawthorn). ... Last to be discussed are the natural symbols that we encounter in the forest. When Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, all the sorr...

• Word Count: 1118
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

It includes all that is pure; where light is the dominating force. Although Hibbins always invites the characters to see "The Black Man," the forest is the only place where Hester can let down her hair and display her pride. The brook within the forest symbolizes a "boundary between two worlds" (p. 191). ... The symbolism of the forest outlines Hawthorne's interest in dichotomy, the belief that everything in the world has two sides; where one is unable to exist without the presence of the other. ...

• Word Count: 1296
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Her own daughter Pearl does not acknowledge Hester when she takes the symbol off her dress as she sits and converses with Arthur Dimmesdale in the forest. ... The townspeople watched her minister to the sick and less fortunate and began to see her in a different light. ...

• Word Count: 1295
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School