How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne's Use Of Nature In The Scarlet Letter

Understanding the underlying meaning of symbols in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novels is a major key to actually understanding what is occurring in the story itself. There is a multitude of symbols pay attention to in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Out of all these symbols,however, Sunlight stood out. Sunlight plays a tremendous part in showing the emotion in characters, mood of the current situation, and foreshadowing major events that are soon to take place.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He published his first novel Fanshawe, in 1828. However, he is widely known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, can be analyzed from historical, psychological and feminist critical perspectives by examining his life from the past, as well as his reflections while writing The Scarlet Letter. In order to understand the book properly, it’s necessary to use these three perspectives.

    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 deep symbolism conveyed by certain aspects of nature helps the reader gain a deeper understanding of the plight and inner emotions of the characters in the novel.

In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne utilizes the forest as the embodiment of freedom for members of the Puritan society in need of a refuge from the daily Puritan life. The forest itself is a free world with no Puritan laws. Nobody watches in the woods to report misbehavior, thus it is here that individuals may do as they wish.

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne's work, The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very symbolic role. Throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line. One example of this is with the character of Pearl. Pearl is very different than all the other characters due to her special relationship with Nature. Hawthorne personifies Nature as sympathetic towards sins against the puritan way of life. Hester's sin causes Nature to accept Pearl.

Danish author Hans Christian Andersen once said, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” A person should be able to find beauty in nature to truly live their life. Nature gives symbols for how life happens. Every spring trees comeback to life and every winter trees “die”. Sunshine gives warmth and life to the plants. By being free to live however they please, plants are given the truth of how life truly is. People have to find nature and believe in the power of nature to explore life. Just as Hans Christian Andersen believes one should find nature, Nathaniel Hawthorne believes nature should be shown in The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, nature uncovers the truth about

The forest in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, represents an array of personas. Both rumors and scandal surround the forest, causing a biased view of this secluded location within the Puritan community. Yet, Hawthorne designates the forest as a place of truth, independence, and joy to those with secrets.

The man-made world seems to be engrossed in itself and has no intelligence of the natural world that it is assembled over. However, whether humans acknowledge it or not, they are dependant on the physical world’s knowledge. Architecture and roadways are constructed over the natural earth in an attempt to isolate it from their “civil” community. The societies they create are liberated of pandemonium and sinister spirits that lurk in the uncertainties of the unknown world. Although, it occasionally peeks out and uncovers the bitter reality that the man-made world is corrupt. This phenomenon that comes with the natural world, is camouflaged to most because they are completely submerged in false deception and sins of the artificial world. Nevertheless, outcasts that are forced away from the contaminated world are welcomed by the untouched world. These fugitives are insightful of the honesty and purity that the human world has concealed with their sins. In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is isolated from society because she is a product of adultery. Her state of outcast allows her access to the organic world, man-made world, and the truth they both bear. Pearls appearance in the forest, actions on the beach, and her knowledge of the truth at the governor's mansion are classic signs of how she demonstrates her supernatural connection to the natural world in all different environments, due to her state of isolation. All of these occurrences portray her inner power to illustrate unwanted

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a novel set in an early 17th century American Puritanical colony, highlights the struggle between societal conformation and moral independence. Matthieson quite accurately contends that Hawthorne intentionally conveyed the novel’s fundamental themes through their association with distinct locations around the Massachusetts Bay Colony; expression of such themes are most evident in places such as the marketplace, the scaffold, and the forest. The marketplace and the scaffold are similar in that they both often serve as focal points of Puritanical pressures, but the forest provides reprieve from these tensions. The forest symbolizes freedom that is forbidden by society due to the fact that it is described

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a writer in the 1800s, an anti-transcendentalist, and the great-nephew of John Hathorne, a judge in the Salem Witch Trials. Hawthorne is obsessed with Puritanism and, due to being obsessed, bases all his writings on Puritan towns. All of his stories take place in New England in the 1600s, before the Salem Witch Trials; The Scarlet Letter is one of these stories. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the Wild Rosebush, Hester’s Cabin, and the sunlight and the forest to contribute to the overall theme of imperfection.

For centuries, humans have related nature to their lives in any way, shape, or form as a way of coping with or understanding their current situations. No matter how intricate or complex human nature is, we, as humans, still use nature and the colors presented in nature to explain events or fears. Within the novel The Scarlet Letter, flowers, the land on which the cabin lies, clothing and their colors, the woods, and the comet are used to further explain situations in which characters find themselves in. Flowers within the town and the homes of the town reveal the truth behind certain places and people. The land of the cabin is paralleled to Hester herself and the world in which she finds herself. The colors of their dresses and

Transcendentalist philosopher Emerson once noted that “the universe is composed of Nature and the soul” (qtd. in Perkins 591). The vitality of nature’s power is one of the fundamental pillars of Transcendentalism. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter mirrors this concept, nature playing a vital role in the story from cover to cover. From the influence of the nature (specifically the forest, flowers, and sunlight), on the plot, there is a common theme shown throughout the novel. Hawthorne implemented these elements in The Scarlet Letter to emphasize how nature is a ways of shining light on the truth.

What does it mean to have an influence on someone? Influences are able to impact our traits, growth, and/or behavior, lasting for long periods of time (maybe even an entire lifetime). They can be good or bad and come from anyone. In most cases, the only origin for every single terrible influence is society. Since we all start out clean, we have to learn different emotions and habits from our parents.

The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a timeless classic with many symbolic meanings. Such as the forest which symbolizes much more than one might imagine. In this mysterious dark landscape Hester and Dimmesdale met once again and this time they let their guard down profess their love to one another and committed adultery here. Nathaniel Hawthorne, created a literary masterpiece. He took a landscape and made it a place of morally astray, and a place for natural innocence.

In literature, one of the most effective devices to creatively engage the reader and enhance mental visualization is through deliberate symbolism. Nathanial Hawthorne weaves vivid, elaborate colors into the plot of his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, to explicate the symbolic themes in the novel. These various hues are prevalent in the descriptive imagery used to designate the scenery. Because colors can evoke or portray emotions and ideas, Hawthorne’s utilization of these nuances greatly contributes to the reader’s experience. In an attempt to add a visual dimension to The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne enriches the literary symbols such as the scarlet “A”, forest, and sunshine with the use of color.