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Anti Transcendentalism In The Scarlet Letter

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Anti transcendentalist and author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, introduces his way of writing and beliefs through The Scarlet Letter. The novel takes place during Puritan time, in the 1600s and tells the story of Hester Prynne and her scarlet letter. Hawthorne uses numerous people and objects to symbolize the represented idea or quality within each character or item. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the wild rose bush, Hester’s cabin and Pearl to contribute to the theme of Good vs. Evil.
To begin, the wild rose bush is used to symbolize the beauty and pain it brings by its appearance and touch. Hawthorne first explains the setting of the novel, a puritan town with a graveyard and prison, and its purpose, that people will be punished and die there. By the prison is a wild rose bush which resembles beauty and pain. The beauty comes from the appearance of the roses but the thorns on the bush create the aspect and feeling of pain. Hawthorne explains, “... on the side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush… by strange chance, has been kept alive in history…” (Hawthorne 46). When describing the rose bush as wild, meaning it has been created by nature, this exhibits the evilness hidden within the bush. Hawthorne then continues by addressing how he wants the reader to portray his novel. He describes, “It may serve… some sweet moral blossom… or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow” (Hawthorne 46). While the novel …show more content…

Evil. The wild rose bush embodies beauty and pain and Hester’s Cabin represents the in between of good and evil. Pearl exemplifies how she was created and how it affected her and those who loved her. Each symbol connects itself to the theme of Good vs. Evil through the details of their deeper

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