"The edge of wilderness was close by. The American continent stretched endlessly west, and it was full of mystery for them."
This quote from the Crucible relates to The Scarlet Letter because Hester and Pearl lived away from the village, in a very isolated area. From the view of the villagers, Hester's home was closer to the wild and isolated. In the Crucible it said "it was full of mystery", it could mean that a lot of things were unknown so people might not want to go explore it, same as for the villagers not wanting to go visit Hester for any reason.
During the Puritan society, people tends to like together in the town and help each others with their own professions. Hence, they usually refer the place far from the town as mysterious. In both The Scarlet Letter and Crucible state that forests are ominous and place outside village is mysterious and dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThe wilderness towards the west is full of mystery for the characters in the Crucible, the townspeople in Scarlet Letter might also think Hester who lived beside the forest is full of mystery. They do not know about Hester's exact past, do not know who she committed adultery with nor do they know about Hester's future plans.
ReplyDeleteIf you live in an isolated area you will have relatively limited tunnels of getting informations upon the outside world, so that the child thats has been raised in such isolated areas will usually become an outcast among the society.
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