Essay --

Behind the People The way an author writes can help you decide whether a character is good or bad, smart or stupid, or liked or hated. In the late 1840s, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes, â€Å"She thought of the dim forest, with its little dell of solitude, and love, and anguish, and the mossy tree-trunk† (187). The question gathered from the Scarlet Letter is as follows: Can authors give settings the same personified traits authors give characters? While the captivating characters of The Scarlet Letter play an important part of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, society and nature represent equally as vital role- society is portrayed as evil, whereas nature is portrayed as good. The town, in which Hester is first imprisoned and then held in front of the residents of the community, exemplifies the evilness that puritan society holds. Hawthorn notes that â€Å"the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes† (41). The first paragraph of the story itself tells of the prison doors’ strong and intimidating purpose. Surrounded by the people of the Puritan Society is the scaffold. A public humiliation place where sinners are forced to climb upon, Hester is seen standing on the scaffold in every scene it appears in. Standing alone on the scaffold, the first time it is mentioned, is Hester and Pearl. Dimmesdale watches her stand in shame with the other fathers who sit in judgment of Hester. The scaffold separates Dimmesdale and Hester from one another. hen Dimmesdale asks Hester to speak of the man who has sinned with her, Hester, even though she must go through this suffering alone, refuses the name of he who has sinned, for fear of having Dimmesdale live a life of scorn and scrutiny with her upon the scaffold. Another exampl... ... (159) when she took off the sinful letter. Preferring the forest as a meeting place between Dimmesdale and herself, the forest behaves as a form of protection against society. Hester and Dimmesdale are able to speak freely of their sins, and their plans to run away together, while in the puritan society, Dimmesdale is unable to speak about his relationship with Hester and Pearl. Although Hester spent an equal amount in both society and nature, she tended to favor nature because of its protective and free atmosphere. Hester is relatable more to nature than society because of her free-willed spirit, and her will to survive against the puritan society. The good characteristics of nature are much like that of Hester, while society is more evil like Chillingworth. Because of this, the settings in The Scarlet Letter can be personified and given human characteristics.