Symbolism Of The Rosebush In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Another symbol that Hawthorne uses is the wild rosebush next to the prison in chapter one. The rosebush symbolizes how even through strict civilization, something wild can grow. “This rosebush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history.” The rosebush was there before the Puritans, and it would be there after the Puritans. The rosebush can mirror the Puritan lifestyle, and it can also contrast it. Rosebushes have sharp thorns which hurt, just as the Puritan society is unforgiving and harsh. Everything in the Puritan life was organized and planned, starting with the cemetery and prison which were built before anything else. There was nothing “wild” about the Puritans. Nathaniel Hawthorne applies standard to extended sentences