FORESTS AS MORAL AND ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES: A SYMBOLIC AND ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE’S THE SCARLET LETTER AND YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN

Abstract

This paper examines how forests are used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter (1850) and Young Goodman Brown (1835) using both symbolic and ecocritical approaches for the analysis. During the symbolic stage, key passages are explored to reveal moral, psychological and social meanings in which the forests can be seen as mirrors of human inner struggles, ethical dilemmas as well as social pressures. The ecocritical stage examines the forest as an ecologically and ethically dynamic zone, the human-nature relations, the agency of the environment and the ethical dimensions inherent in the description of the natural world as a representation by Hawthorne. Combining these views, the paper shows that the forests of Hawthorne represent moral landscapes as well as ecological spaces and present a deep understanding of how human conscience, social norms and nature interact.