Anti-Transcendentalism Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is a book written in the 1800’s by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is set in a puritan town in the 1600’s. The book follows a young woman named Hester Prynne and her struggles in life, due to one sin she committed, adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne is the nephew of John Hathorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne is an anti-transcendentalist. An anti-transcendentalist is someone who believes that people are mostly bead. They believe society is bad and the forest is good. Which is the opposite of what the townspeople in The Scarlet Letter. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the scarlet letter, burrs, and sunlight to contribute to the overall theme of guilt.

First, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter ro contribute to the theme of guilt. The main character, Hester Prynne, wears a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom as a token of

During the book, Hester and Pearl are on a walk, when Pearl stops and picks some burrs from the burdock that was growing next to a tombstone. Hawthorne explains, “...little Pearl paused to gather the prickly burrs from a tall burdock, which grew beside the tombstone. Taking a handful of these, she arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter...:” (Hawthorne 134). Pearl placed the burrs along the scarlet letter, because she new that it meant Hester’s guilt, she knew that it was a token of Hester’s sin. A few paragraphs later, Pearl, being her mischief self, throws a burr up at Dimmesdale. Hawthorne explains, “...with a bright, but naughty smile of mirth and intelligence, she threw one of the prickly burrs at Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. The sensitive clergyman shrunk, with nervous dread, from the light missile,” (Hawthorne 134). DImmesdale avoided the burr, because of his secret sin, that which then brings him guilt. He and Hester both have guilt that they can’t shake off. They share the burden of guilt upon their