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What Is Nature's Role In The Scarlet Letter

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In the novel The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a significant role in the story and creates many supernatural like instances through nature. Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, gives nature a supernatural role, and it helps move the story along and also helps the reader better understand using the imagery of nature. He uses the forest, the sun, the darkness, a rosebush, and a river bed to create imagery in nature, which makes the book have more supernatural effects in it. He also gives nature a role in the story and it helps distinguish things that have been done by people and what people will do in the future. Nature’s role in the story is very significant and without nature's role, the story would not have the same flow or same effect on the reader that the story has with nature being in it and with it having supernatural effects. …show more content…

It plays a huge role in the story because it represents sin. It represents how people hide the sins that they have committed throughout their lives. An example of how the darkness is portrayed is when Hester and Pearl walk around at night and see Dimmesdale up on the scaffold, which is where people who have commited sins must stand so the rest of the community can see them and recognize them for committing their sin. Dimmesdale was seen confessing his sins, due to the fact that no one was outside because everyone in the community was already asleep. Another example of nature playing a role of darkness is when Hester and Pearl are in the forest and wherever Hester walks the sun goes away and darkness is filled in her area. The darkness covers Hester because she is regarded as a sinner. Due to the fact that she commited the sin of adultery, she is forced to wear a scarlet letter so the community is aware of her sin. The element of darkness is used widely throughout the novel, and it is used to create effect in the

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According to Foster, “Geography brings ideas, psychology, history, and dynamism. It’s enough to make you read….” (Foster 182). This tool perfectly applied in The Scarlet Letter because it shows why geography matters and how it makes the story. The setting of the story is in Puritan community and is acutely religious.

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In The Scarlet Letter, the forest is a prominent symbol used throughout the book to represent freedom from society. The forest is where Dimmesdale and Hester chose to meet because it is secluded from the rest of the Puritan civilization. During their meeting, they discuss that they want to run away to Europe together to escape their current living situations. This is an example of how the forest is being used to represent freedom from society. It is where Hester and Dimmesdale feel they are free to speak about whatever they want, even plans of running away together, because they cannot be seen by their fellow townsmen.

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Though Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter two hundred years after the Puritan era, an insight into their community is still seen. Though some characters embody the Puritan era, others are the opposite. Pearl’s strong bond with nature connects her to Romanticism and individualistic spirit disconnects her from Puritanism, and Hester, like her daughter, does not reflect the Puritan era through her indulgence in clothing and emotional characteristics. Pearl’s bond with nature connects her to Romanticism. Pearl’s connection with nature is demonstrated when she is described to be as wild as a bird (Hawthorne 139).

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Hawthorne writes, “It was only the darkened house that could contain her” (148). Alluding to the fact that Hester feels out of place everywhere but in her darkened home, this reference is one of a dark theme. It shows that the other towns-people did not show emotion towards her which causes her behaviors to change. Soon after you can find “The effect of the symbol—or, rather, of the position in respect to society that was indicated by it—on the mind of Hester Prynne herself, was powerful and peculiar” (Hawthorne 149).

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Hester also has to face the judgement of the children in the town. The townspeople use Hester for her talent, but they are never able to see past the scarlet letter visible on her chest. They eventually start to see that the scarlet letter on her chest stands for able. The townspeople never really look past Hester's sin. Hester has to suffer publicly for her sin.

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Symbolism Within The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne created symbolism throughout The Scarlet Letter in order to develop the theme throughout Hester’s life. Hester is portrayed as a sheltered soul, shunned from society due to her adulterous acts. The red A and her daughter, Pearl, are symbols of Hester’s shame which she bares proudly despite society's harsh judgements. Hawthorne is able to use symbolism to develop themes, characters, and analogies in the Scarlet Letter.

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The Scarlet Letter was Hester’s forced punishment and is a reminder to the whole community of Hester’s sin of adultery. As Hester’s character grows in strength she realizes that “if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom” (59). Hester expresses how everyone sins and if everyone was punished the way she was, many people would have to wear a letter of their own. The punishment of wearing the “A” gave Hester the freedom of not having to hide her sins from others. However, the people with hidden sins have to protect their reputation which causes a lack of freedom.

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Naturally Dreadful Nature is the basic characteristic into which something or someone is naturally presented. These characteristics are used in this novel as the scars into which no one is able to escape. Nature in The Scarlet Letter was used as a representation of many ideas and beliefs the puritan society tried to suppress. These representations came throughout the development of the novel as Hester’s escapement and can even be argued that Hawthorne used nature to show the violent and demonic sides of the puritan’s angst. As the story begins, the tension between the colonist and the unknown adulterer grow with the signs of mockery.

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In the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne there are a variety things that play an important role in the understanding of the story. One of the things that was very symbolic in the book was nature. The forest and the wilderness were linking natural elements together with human nature. Hawthorne was able to describe people physically and emotionally through this sense of nature. This is clear when he describes the lone rose-bush which symbolizes Hester and her sorrow, “If thou hadst a sorrow of thine own, the brook might tell of thee”.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the Puritan society of the 17th century in the novel The Scarlet Letter. He creates a story about a woman named Hester who is bound by sin to a scarlet letter “A”, for adultery. He uses symbolism to contribute to the overall theme of sin. Some symbols used include: the scarlet letter itself, a meteor, and the black blossom.

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Hester can feel the sensation of being treated more traditionally. With out the scarlet letter she will be able to forget about doing that certain sin. The voices of sin and torture can keep reminding her when she’s wearing it. Hester can feel free with

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Many authors use symbolism in literature, but Nathaniel Hawthorne seems to outdo the rest because he is tremendous at inserting symbolism throughout his novels. Hawthorne uses symbolism to allow the reader to interpret the story in many ways, as well as to show meaning towards the words in the book. Symbolism is a device in literature where an object represents an idea. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, he masters the use of symbolism through nature, the scaffold, and Hester’s stigma.

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These concepts of daylight versus darkness are linked to two of the book’s themes. Night is a time where things can be covered up. Day is when nothing can hide even the most secret evils because it is exposed in the daylight. The scarlet letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful identity to Hester.

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Throughout the history of literature, forests or woods were used to symbolise a lost in morals or spirituality. The devil or The Black man was used to symbolise corruption or evil. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses forests and The Black Man to embody the spiritual and moral struggles of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth in his novel The Scarlet Letter. The first time Roger Chillingworth appears to the readers, is during the first scaffold scene. He was deformed and hunchbacked.

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