Scarlet Letter and symbolism?

Question

For English, I have to(with a partner) talk about some of the symbolism in the Scarlet Letter for a literary circle that my class is doing tomorrow. We are supposed to discuss the functions of the settings within the book. We both thought this was a really hard one(especially compared to the other groups' topics-just my luck) and we only had literally 2 or 3 minutes at the end of class and didn't come up with much. So we both are thinking about it tonight and we'll combine our ideas tomorrow, but neither of us had any idea what the locations symbolize. If anyone knows something about the roles that the forest, the light/dark, time of day, town/market, the governor's mansion, or Hester's home, etc play throughout the book, I would really appreciate your help. Thanks. :)

Answer 1

Almost everything in Hawthorne, and especially in SL, drips with symbolism. Think about what happens in the different locations--what good, what bad. And just about any good critical book on Hawthorne (I assume you're near a library) will go into detail--he's been pretty heavily studied for the last 150 or so. If you can't get to the library, start with some of the critical excerpts at this NH site: http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/