The Scarlet Letter Theme Symbols

Nathaniel Hawthorne chose the market place and the forest as settings used to symbolically develop his portrait of society and the characters in The Scarlet Letter. In this novel a story unfolds of three people who are torn apart by sin, revenge, and guilt. The market place reveals to the reader a place of restraint and severe Puritan laws. The setting of the forest yields the impressions of wild unrestraint and passion. The market place …

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