Fear And Evil In The Scarlet Letter
How do people deal with fear? People don’t usually tolerate fear like the Puritans they would not go near the forest because they knew that the Black Man was their. In The Scarlet Letter, The Forest was a place of passion and emotion, it’s outside of the town full of scary creatures such as the Black Man. The Puritans were terrified of the forest because it contrasted the strict ways of the Puritans by being isolated with the laws they establish which means it was lawless. Hester and Pearl were not even scared of The Forest they actually lived in The Forest.
For them The Forest was peaceful, since it was lawless they had freedom,that they could not find that in the Puritan society. The only reason why Hester could not find that freedom in the Puritan society was because of sin she committed and how she is publicly shamed by her whole town. Also Pearl is a seven year old girl that doesn't have friends since everyone knows her as the sinners daughter. But she was a very smart girl she wondered if the Black Man had left his brand on Dimmesdale's heart since he has been sick and holding his heart. Why do people think the Devil is evil? The Devil has been in this world forever. If you are Christian you believe that he is evil because of how he desire to be God instead of a servant of God and because of that God cast him out of heaven as a fallen angel. In The Scarlet Letter, the Black Man is a substitute for Satan. He is said to live in the dark forest surrounding the puritan town, always seeking the souls of unsuspecting sinners, that's why the Puritans never went near The Forest. The sin of one is the sin of all; therefore Hester has to be publicly shamed for her sin, in a similar way the Black Man of the forest violated the supposed purity of the town. The Puritans were terrified of him since he is the representation of the enemy for them.
The town people consider The Scarlet Letter “A” to be the Black Man mark. People have different emotions such as fear, beliefs such as thinking that the Devil is evil. People usually have fear when they are scared of something in this case the Puritans were scared of the Black Man. Hester and Pearl have been through a lot in the book because of the sin Hester committed but they still had strong beliefs which helped them out.
