Hester Prynne 2

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne lives in seclusion with her daughter Pearl. Hester has been shunned from Puritan society and now lives in the shelter of the wilderness. The clear contrast between Puritan society and life in the wilderness intensify the all too similar fight between light and darkness and ultimately can lead to the truth. Puritan society, ruled by a set of strict rules, is essentially in the dark and …

…bounds of their laws to be open to the light and the truth. The Puritan society, plunged deep into darkness seems in sheer contrast with the bright, sunlight-filled, earnest truth of the forest. Hester, having been able to experience life in both places, finds truth in the forest. In comparison, the Puritans, never allowing themselves to see beyond their rules, will never experience the revelation of truth and light one experiences, free in the forest.