How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use The Wild Rosebush In The Scarlet Letter

As human beings, we can feel as if there is much more evil in our world than good, but that's not always the case. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an anti-transcendentalist author in the 1800s who wrote The Scarlet Letter, a book that takes place in the 1600s in a puritan town. The story’s protagonist Hester Prynne commits the sin of adultery and has to live with the symbol of her sin for the rest of her life, her daughter Pearl the product of her sin, and the Scarlet Letter she must always wear. The book takes you through the struggles Hester has to face as she admits and faces punishment for her sin. The story also shows the side of the character Dimmesdale who also committed the sin of adultery with Hester and does not admit it. This book is an

The story begins at the door of a prison. When the puritans first arrived in their new town, they prioritized punishment for sin and one of the first things they did was build a prison. Outside this prison is growing a wild rosebush. Hawthorne narrates, “But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems…” (Hawthorne 46). This quote explains that the rosebush’s “delicate gems” are the good things that may come out of the story compared to the thorns on a rose that symbolize the bad and evil in a story. Hawthorne continues “This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history…survived out of the stern old wilderness…” (Hawthorne 46). This proves that the rosebush being wild and natural is a symbol of the natural good and bad in a story. Hawthorne chose to start out the story with the symbol of the wild rosebush to tell us how the story would play out. Every rose has its thorns and that can show that Hawthorne is trying to explain that every story has it’s good and

The scarlet letter “A” stands for adultery which is the terrible sin Hester Prynne - the protagonist of the story - commits. As her punishment, she has to wear the scarlet letter on her chest for the rest of her life. No matter where she goes and who she meets everybody will only see her for the evil and sin she has done. It is meant to be worn as a symbol of shame, punishment, sin, and evil. Hawthorne narrates, “On the breast of her gown in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne 59). Hester Prynne is the protagonist of the story. She commits the sin of adultery and her punishment was to wear the scarlet letter “A” on her chest for the rest of her life. The color scarlet of her letter represents a sexual sin. This is her punishment of shame because wherever she goes everybody will see her for her sin and her evil and not anything else. Even with Hester facing all this shame and punishment from the public she wears her scarlet letter with confidence and almost like she is proud of it. She accepts her punishment and doesn’t complain. After a couple years of bearing the punishment, the townspeople look at Hester a bit differently. Hawthorne explains, “Such helpfulness was found in her, - so much power to do, and power, to sympathize, - that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A