What is the significance of the forest in "The Scarlet Letter" and how is the forest related to the black man and to Dimmesdale's moral confusion?

In "The Scarlet Letter", the forest has a dual symbolic meaning. This is not unusual in Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories because he believed in the duality of meaning--in other words symbols can have more that one meaning. First, the forest is characterized as a dark place, home of the "black man of the forest" or the devil. Mistress Hibbins tries to get Hester to come to the forest and meet the black man after she almost loses custody of Pearl. However, the forest is also characterized as a place of freedom, where Hester is free to take off the scarlet letter and she and Dimmesdale meet secretly and plan their escape from Boston. By running away with Hester, this would compromise Dimmesdale's morals even more. He is already torn about not revealing his sin and to run away without public penance would seem to him to be even more damning. But in the forest, he feels free to agree to exactly that.