An Analysis of the Forest Scene

If one were to possess an imprecise stance on an issue, that person would be suspect to change their perceptions. This theory of ever-changing perception is present in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter; specifically in the forest scene where Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale meet. Hawthorne's irresolute feelings of Puritanism coincide with Hester's changing fortune. When Hawthorne believes in Puritanism, Hester is downhearted, and when Hawthorne disagrees with Puritanism and is a romantic, Hester is …

…than Puritan in a 17th Century Puritan community were considered heretical. A sinner is irrefutably chastised for their transgressions no matter what their intentions were. When the Puritan author Nathaniel Hawthorne probed one such transgression, he found that his orthodox ideology did not acquiesce to the new wave of social reform. Hawthorne transmits this change of dogma through his character Hester Prynne. Hester is metaphorically Hawthorne's moral barometer in that her feelings reflect his beliefs.