The Rose-Bush In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel that takes place in a historical setting during the years 1642-1649. The book is about a young woman, Hester Prynne, and her struggles to overcome the humiliation and guilt she feels for committing adultery. Without close analyzation of the book, it may just seem that many parts are insignificant and don’t have any meaning to the plot of the story. With that said, the beginning of the book is very significant and helps foreshadow what happens later on in the book. Given these points, the rose-bush in The Scarlet Letter symbolizes Hester’s passion and family and helps contrast the community with nature. The rose-bush in the beginning of the story helps represent Hester's passion …show more content…
The town that Hester lives in has a prison and a cemetery, which are usually associated with sad and dark thoughts. The people in the town try to control the lives of the people by creating laws they think are correct. Once someone breaks those laws, they cannot be forgiven and must be punished. The author states, “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolise some sweet moral blossom”(42). The rose-bush at the front of the jail suggests that nature will feel sympathetic towards people who are being punished. Even though the people in the community can be looked down upon for even the smallest of sins, nature will always be forgiving. Overall, the community and nature are two opposites in the book which help to make the plot of the story more intriguing. As seen, the rose-bush in The Scarlet Letter is a very important part to Hester’s life and helps to demonstrate the difference between the thoughts of the community and nature. Although The Scarlet Letter can be a difficult book to understand and read, most parts of the story have a bigger picture and must be analyzed to reveal the true meaning behind it. Just like the rose-bush could be seen as just a plant that has no significance, it obviously symbolizes something bigger in the
What Does Pearl A Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter
452 Words | 2 PagesThroughout the book The Scarlet Letter, there are many cases of symbolism. One of the most prominent ones is the scarlet A on Hesters chest. The A was a symbol for adultery. Pearl was a symbol of the sin that Hester committed. Pearl is also a symbol of the sun between Hester and whatever his face is.
Figurative Language In Scarlet Letter
867 Words | 4 PagesIn the novel the scarlet letter, the scarlet letter is shown through the use of imagery and figurative language to demonstrate that judgment through society as well as sin is bad while the scarlet is a symbol of sin wrapped in good and beauty. Hester is able to take something that was meant to be a punishment for a crime she committed and turn it into something absolutely stunning. Hawthorne portrayed Pearl
Essay On The Scaffold In The Scarlet Letter
1344 Words | 6 PagesThe Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is not only the start of her predicament, but it is also the end of the once seemingly perfect Reverend Dimmesdale’s own guilt. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.
Archetypes In Scarlet Letter
1099 Words | 5 PagesHester, similar to Dimmesdale, suffers from the wounds that cannot be easily healed but realizes that her sacrifice is necessary to redeem and pay for her sins, as symbolized
Diction In The Scarlet Letter
635 Words | 3 PagesHawthorne notes that the rose bush, with it’s “fragrance and fragile beauty,” in the presence of unsightly vegetation, a gloomy old prison, with people wandering about in depressing garments. Not only does this make the reader picture the beauty of the rose in contrast to ugliness of the environment, but Hawthorne also alludes to the idea of a rose bush in this conforming, bland society as a whole. Furthermore; near the very end of the passage, Hawthorne makes a last significant allusion to the rose bush- “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet… of human frailty and sorrow.” This last reference to the rose bush significantly reinforces the idea of the rose bush as the drink to nurture the independent ideas of society while starving the conformity that is exhibited throughout the story.
Motifs In Scarlet Letter
980 Words | 4 PagesIn addition, weeds symbolize secrecy and impurity of society. For example, when Chillingworth and Dimmesdale converse about “the powers of nature call[ing] so earnestly for the confession of sin, that these black weeds have sprung up out of a buried heart, to make manifest an unspoken crime” (118; ch. 10), it illustrates the idea of weeds stuffing the heart with sin and guilt. In contrast, flowers symbolize purity and righteousness. For example, when Hester and Pearl visit the governor’s house, “Pearl, seeing the rose-bushes, began to cry for a red rose…” (96; ch. 7).
Essay On Anne Hutchinson Allusion
784 Words | 4 PagesNathaniel Hawthorne brought Anne into the story to represent a historical figure, help foreshadow the way Hester was going to be treated throughout the story. She was brought in during the same time that Hawthorne was using the rose bush as a metaphor. “This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it,—or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door.” “Nicole Masters’s Blog” Both Anne and Hester went behind the churches back, and got caught.
Shame Symbolism In Scarlet Letter
480 Words | 2 PagesThe scarlet letter itself becomes an even weightier symbol in these chapters. Whereas at first it represented Hester's adultery and her needlework skills, it now takes on two more meanings. First, the letter begins
Chapter 16 Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter
509 Words | 3 Pages“Pearl took some eelgrass, and … imitated, on her own bosom, the decoration… on her mother’s : A letter “A”, but freshly green, instead of scarlet!”, a quote pulled from Chapter 15, is another attempt by Hawthorne to convey the contrasting ideal of Pearl’s innocence and purity to Hester’s sin. The green of this imitated scarlet letter worn by Pearl is associated with nature and purity, while the scarlet of Hester’s original letter is typically associated with passion and
Juxtaposition In The Scarlet Letter
426 Words | 2 PagesThroughout the passage from The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester’s baby, Pearl, to illuminate the theme of beauty in a dark place. Once released from prison, Hester, an adulterer, becomes a public spectacle. Through this hard time, Hester has her daughter Pearl to soothe her and to bring her strength and hope for a better future. By using vivid imagery and juxtaposition, Hawthorne depicts Pearl as Hester’s happiness, light, and beauty during a sad and lonely time. While in Prison, Hester is all alone and depressed.
Rhetorical Elements In Scarlet Letter
680 Words | 3 Pages“Unveiling at once the lack of understanding they had. Finding out about Hester and Pearl, the village at once "scorned them in their hearts, and...reviled them with their tongues" The tone that is used allows us to infer from the harsh words that he has a negative attitude toward the Puritans. Hawthorne’s negativity toward the Puritans is shown in the tone he talks about Hester. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester is portrayed as a rose in the thorns because she tries to keep the Puritan lifestyle and persistently prays for her enemies. Hawthorne continues to applaud Hester for her lifestyle she is trying to live eventhough it was the Puritans that made her go through a life of embarresment and suffering. "
Reading Response To Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'
1146 Words | 5 PagesAmanda Vicente The Scarlet Letter Reading Response AP English Language Period J 16 August 2016 Journal Entry 1: Chapters 1-2 In The Scarlet Letter, the author sets a mood from the beginning of the book. The setting is old and beat up in front of an aged wooden prison with judgmental Puritans ready to tear a women apart. The Puritans are hypocrites and the author portrays that in the story.
What Does The Deep Red Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter
940 Words | 4 PagesHawthorne uses symbolism throughout the Scarlet letter to display the sin and indecency people see Hester as. The detail represents ,the deep beauty Hester has inside although most people do not see her as a beutiful women. The deep red is a representation of adultery which shows her being an oncast from society. The symbol of the letter “A” is repetitive throughout the novel and grows with Hester and overcomes this with time as people start to see her as a person again and not just a adulterer. Hester acknowledges her sin in her puritan faith but swears to secrecy on the father of Pearl.
The Symbolism Of 'A' In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
959 Words | 4 PagesReceiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.
Theme Of Adultery In The Scarlet Letter
813 Words | 4 PagesAdultery, Able, Angel. The Scarlet Letter is about a woman who can take a symbol that means one thing and changes it to mean the complete opposite. In this novel a woman named Hester Prynne had committed a sin of adultery and is forced to wear the letter “A” on her chest in remembrance of her sin. The story takes place in the mid 17th century in a Puritan town of Boston. The rest of the story is based upon trying to find out who the father of Hester 's baby is.
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