The symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in "A Forest Walk" parallels the present state of the life of Hester Prynne, and foreshadows events to come.

When Hester and Pearl first enter the woods, they take a narrow path surrounded by impenetrable black woods on all sides. "The road, after the two wayfarers had crossed from the Peninsula to the mainland, was no other than a foot-path. It straggled onward into the mystery of the primeval forest. This hemmed it in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and disclosed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above..." (Hawthorne 125). Through the thickness of the forest, Hester scarcely sees imperfect images of the sky above. Hester views the forest as an image representative of the moral wilderness that envelops her life. The darkness of the forest and the narrowness of the path that Hester walks...