hat will allude to this obvious fact. At one point Hester begs for Dimmesdale’s forgiveness and he grants it to her. I don’t think he grants it to her because of his religious beliefs but because he loves Hester. I also don’t believe that Hester would be so worried about Dimmesdale’s forgiveness if she did not love him. “ ‘Though shalt forgive me! Though shalt forgive… Will though yet forgive me?…’ (Hester) ‘I freely forgive thee.’ (Dimmesdale)” (pg. 179) This is evidently love. Of course there is no possible way that these young people could confess their love in public, they will barely allude to it in private.It is quite clear that the two lovers can express their future plans in the confinement of the forest. The ultimate plan is for the two characters to up and leave the town of Boston. “Let us not look back. The past is gone! Wherefore should we linger upon it now!” (pg. 185) This is a clear example of how free the two are to talk about their future plans to leave. In no other section of Boston would either of the two dared to speak about such a thing. “She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom.” (pg. 185) Concise statement which states quite clearly that just talking about their future plans made them feel many times more free than before, a luxury only available in the forest. The forest was Hester and Dimmesdale’s sanctuary throughout the novel because they could freely communicate their love, their sin, and their future plans. If these characters did not have the forest the outcome of the story would have been completely different and the entire plot would be deviant from the intended. Isn’t it weird that something as wild as the forest can, through confinements of society, become a comforting, tranquil shelter?...
