Essay On The Importance Of Setting In The Scarlet Letter

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In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the setting plays an important role in the novel. The novel is a Romanticist text but set during Puritan time which leads to a different view of the forest setting between the two different literary movements. The Puritans believe the forest to be a place of evil and home to the Devil. The Romanticists believe the forest to be where man can go to reconnect to nature. The setting between the first and second scaffold scene differ creating two entirely different scenes. The first scaffold scene reveals the layers of the people in the community. The Setting in the second scaffold scene allows for the occurrence of certain events. The setting plays an important role in the development of the novel. The puritans view the forest as a place of evil. The Puritan see the forest setting as the Devil's home and a place where God has not touched. The …show more content…

Hester goes into the forest to reconnect herself with nature. When in the forest the sunshine comes down on her “filling [her] heart so full of radiance” and joy “such was the sympathy of nature. (Hawthorne 139). Romantics see the forest setting as a place where people reconnect to nature. When Hester takes off the A and her Puritan headdress she is no longer a Puration and that is when the forest opens up and sunshine pours down on her. The sunshine is “pouring a very flood into the obscure forest.” (Hawthorne 139) and on to Hester. When she does remove the A and the Puritan clothing she becomes more of a Romanticist than a Puritan that is why the sun comes down on her because it switch from a Puritan forest setting to a Romantic forest setting. The Romanticists see the forest in a positive connotation and a place of good. The Puritans see the forest as evil and the Romantics see the forest as good. The setting of the first scaffold scene allows for a view of the layers of the

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