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Themes in the scarlet letter
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The Untamed Forest
“She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness, as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest” (Hawthorne 165 ). The forest should be looked at as somewhat of a moral compass, not in its own right, but in the fact that the Puritans used this belief in the forest, that it was haunted by the Black Man, to shy away from sin, stay close to their biblical foundation, and all the while, satisfy their superstitions. In simplest terms, the forest in The Scarlet Letter not only serves as a tangible symbol of coverage, but also as an archetype; a repeated symbol the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses throughout the book to represent how Hester and Mr. Dimmesdale tried to keep their sin hidden.
In the
When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest, they discuss their true feelings about their experiences since Hester was branded with the scarlet letter. Hawthorne describes how, “No golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark forest” (192). The rare presence of light in this otherwise dark situation symbolizes the relief both Hester and Dimmesdale feel after sharing the truth about Dimmesdale’s torturous guilt and Hester’s marriage to Chillingworth. In every scene previous to this one, the forest is associated with witchcraft, evil, darkness, and secrets. This prior association is contrasted by the shedding of sunshine on the sinful pair after releasing the last of their secrets. This scene is a turning point in the novel and shows how despite Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin and the consequences they’ve had to suffer for it, they are able to find some peace in the fact that they have confided in each other and fully admitted their
being a witch. This is a very evil thing in the eyes of the Puritans.
The Scarlet Letter is a tale of constant trial and punishment. For Hester Prynne, there is no escape from the shame and belittlement she has been forced to endure within puritan society. However, like the puritans who had escaped prosecution by migrating from England to the New World, characters in The Scarlet Letter can escape the prosecution of puritan society by visiting the forest. It is a symbolic realm that embodies freedom and privacy, and the only sanctuary for those who seek liberty to express their true nature, whether it be through acts of love, or heresy. The forest as a symbol of escape from puritan society is persistent throughout the novel through its use by the witches and the Black Man, Dimmesdale and Hester?s interactions there, and Pearl?s union with nature there.
During this puritan time in the 1600s. Nathaniel Hawthorne who is an anti-transcendentalist speaks about sin. But not just any sin, secret sin in this novel “The Scarlet Letter.” Hawthorne expresses many themes and symbols in many strange and mysterious ways. Hawthorne is a very dark and devious man. The scarlet letter A that is embroidered on Hester’s bosom symbolizes adultery. Adultery is the sin that she has committed. Hester had a whole husband and made a baby with a man that wasn’t the husband. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of Hester’s Cabin, Leeches, and Dimmesdale to contribute to the overall theme of Good Vs. Evil.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's work, The Scarlet Letter, focuses on the small Puritan community of Boston during the seventeenth century. In the center of the town is a " . . .weather darkened scaffold. . . (234)" where sinners are made to face the condemning public. The accused experience strange phenomena while on the scaffold - some become braver, some meeker. And whether the public is looking at them or not, they become their true selves on the scaffold. In essence, everything that is real and true occurs on the scaffold, and everything that is illusion or hypocrisy occurs everywhere else.
Clearly, during the forest scene, Hawthorne is giving the reader a sense of how unnatural this family that came from a single adulterous act is. It sheds light on Hawthorne’s romantic views because it shows how an unnatural family is detestable. In a much more broad sense, it gives the reader a glimpse of Hawthorne’s own personal theology. He firmly believes in severe consequences for sin and it shows in his novel.
They see the forest as a place only for the Devil and his minions. Yet, while the Puritans see it as an evil place, it is used as a good place for the ones who the Puritans consider as being evil, or unworthy of being in their sacred community. It is this ever present community embodied again as a forest. The forest is accepting of all of the misfits and outcasts of the mainstream society. “The environment affords Pearl safe surroundings in which to roam and play… [and] is where two lovers are allowed to be alone for the first time in seven years without the frowning disapproval or condemnation of their human peers” (Daniel
The Symbolic Use of Nature in The Scarlet Letter In Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very important and symbolic role. Hawthorne uses nature to convey the mood of a scene, to describe characters, and to link the natural elements with human nature. Many of the passages that have to do with nature accomplish more than one of these ideas. All throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line.
The forest is generally sought out as a place where no good happens in many stories such as Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. It is no different in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. It is where many mysterious things reside in the wilderness. The town in the book can contrast the forest as a sanction where people are are immune from the darkness. They differ, but they also aid in conveying the bigger themes of the story. Some people might see the forest as a “happy place” for Hester and Pearl, but it should really be looked upon as a place of sin when comparing it to its foil, the town, which in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter contrasts to aid in the themes of the nature of evi, civilization versus wilderness, and identity
Hester refused to sign her name in the black mans book on that night. She
Hawthorne was a talented and skilled writer, who was greatly influenced by the the community in which he lived. Instead of giving in to society dashing his hopes of becoming a successful writer, he wrote about Hester to express himself and explain his conflicts with the crooked, oppressive society and beliefs of the time. He discusses the problems in a way that every reader can relate to and sympathize with the characters. He skillfully transforms a symbol of shame and sin into a symbol of maternity and nurturance. The Scarlet Letter is truly a symbol of believing in people's capabilities. It is a symbol of resistance to society if all it causes people to do is reject their identities and who they really are.
The first chapter sets the scene for the novel: Boston, during the seventeenth century. During this period, religion is the foundation for both the laws and the society. We are introduced to the town's cemetery and nearby prison. Next to the prison grows a wild rosebush. We can think of the wild rosebush as representing the beauty of nature, and the prison as the symbol of societies need to tame nature.
Hawthorne shows this when he writes about a forest that has intriguing qualities. “ ‘See!’ answered Hester, smiling. ‘Now I can stretch out my hand, and grasp some of it.’ As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished” (Hawthorne 176). When Hester and Pearl were in the forest near their home, Pearl claimed that the sunshine would not touch her mother because of her scarlet letter. The sunlight, considered to be a symbol of purity, would not touch something impure. The forest was also where Hester found peace, because she was not judged by her scarlet letter there. Dimmesdale and she could also show their love for each other in the forest without anyone’s knowledge. The sun and forest are examples of how romantics gave nature supernatural and human
“She had wandered, without rules or guidance, in a moral wilderness: as vas, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest” (180). Nature plays an essential part in this American Romance novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. The forest is a prominent factor symbolizing many ideas about nature’s relationship with man, as an individual and a society. The narrator does so by simply narrating about events and characters before, during and after the forest scenes. The narrator also displays the people’s feelings towards the forest and nature in general. The forest as a symbol helps the book develop the literary devices of theme, mood, and irony in The Scarlet Letter.
“Nature is not so helpless…it can rid itself of every last wrong.” This quote by Emerson illustrates a fundamental idea in Transcendentalism, that is that within nature there can be found an almost Devine Justice and that this Justice reverberates within the self, whether or not Emerson meant Natures Justice to be humanly observable, this directly contradicts with on of the clearest concepts Nathanial Hawthorn communicated in The Scarlet Letter. He described on page 431 the “wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth”. This says quite a lot about his character Hester and her development. Hester Prynne transcended Puritan society; she defined her own self and found an internal sense of morality,