like the people in town, listen to Hester and Pearl and welcome them, sins and all. On the edge of the forest, Hester and Pearl see the town and know that they do not belong. Their knowledge of the truth is dangerous to the townspeople. Therefore, they choose to live in their own world, free from the perception of the town. Hester is weary of the town; warning Pearl "We must not always talk in the market place of what happens to us in the forest (225)". Throughout the novel, the scaffold and forest show up in the book and represent many different things. Their primary function, however, is to provide a driving wedge between those who recognize reality, like Hester and Pearl, and those who only see what they want to see. The article also illustrates this fact. These people, blindly guided by public perception hide themselves in lies and never confront the truth when it is presented. Even while the dying reverend confesses his sin on the scaffold, the townspeople deny " . . . his dying words acknowledged, nor even remotely implied . . . the slightest connection, on his part, with the guilt for which Hester Prynne [had committed] . . . (241)". Hawthorne’s point is clear: there are those who embrace the truth, and those who avoid it at all costs....
