Moral Wilderness Scarlet Letter

Contrasts of a Moral Wilderness
In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, symbolism is employed in order to convey his message that man and nature are alike in that they both possess riotous and unruly characteristics, and are born with pure and benevolent instincts. The symbols of the rose-bush, the babbling brook, and the forest all share the idea that nature is benign. In the novel, Hester Prynne undergoes the ultimate test of faith; to herself, her family, and the man who shares her guilt and sin. Hawthorne juxtaposes man in the solicitous, natural world versus man in the immorality of the Puritan world, in order to emphasize nature’s sympathizing qualities.
The recurring symbol of the rose-bush is a key factor that nature is righteous.

It symbolizes the severe isolation and strictness of Puritan civilization and its morals. In the eyes of the Puritan’s, the forest is seen as gloomy and mysterious. The forest hides secrets of the sins of man and is portrayed in a negative light, [transition to quote] “…in a moral wilderness; a vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest…” (174). Hawthorne describes a “moral wilderness" in which all ideas considered morally right in the eyes of the Puritans, are absent in the forest (174). This reflects how Puritans view the forest; lacking in righteousness. The forest is also described as being “untamed,” linking it to lawlessness and disorder, which carries a negative connotation (174). This is a metaphor of nature’s uncommon benign qualities in Puritan ideals. Nature is cast out from Puritan society because it is unfamiliar, and is therefore associated with malignity and distrust. To Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale, the forest is benevolent and accepting. Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin is restricting, but they are able to periodically free themselves of their guilt while in the forest. After Hester takes the scarlet letter off, Dimmesdale is able to associate himself with his little Pearl and “all at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees (177)”. As Hester and Dimmesdale free themselves from the cumbersome guilt of their sins, they are also liberated from Puritan society and the dark gloom from the Puritan portrayal of the forest. Simultaneously, their removal of guilt “[gladdens] each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold” (177). This refers to rebirth and forgiveness, whereas the green leaf symbolizes Pearl and her youth and innocence. The “yellow fallen