The interesting aspect of nature in this important chapter
is the way in which sunlight is shown to shun Hester Prynne, as opposed to Pearl, her
daughter. Note how this curious phenomenon is described in the
text:
The
sportive sunlight--feebly sportive, at best, in the predominant pensiveness of teh day
and scene--withdrew itself as they came nigh, and left the spots where it had danced the
drearier because they had hoped to find them
bright.
The role of nature is
incredibly important and symbolic in this case. It is ironic that Hester comes to the
forest with the intention of revealing truth to Dimmesdale about the identity of
Chillingworth. However, the way in which the sunlight appears to be avoiding Hester
indicates that this is not the case. If we equate the meaning of sunlight with truth,
then this strange behaviour on the part of the sunlight seems to point towards the way
in which Hester herself is ignoring or intentionally avoiding the "truth" that she
overtly wants to convey to Dimmesdale. If you read on, the next few chapters clearly
show that this is the case.
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