Theme Of Romanticism In The Scarlet Letter

The settings in The Scarlet Letter are very important in displaying the themes of the novel. The settings in this novel are almost characters, for they are an important part in developing the story. The scaffold, the forest, the prison, and Hester’s cottage are settings that show sin and its consequences result in shame and suffering.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter expresses various themes of dark romanticism using symbolism. One of the more obvious symbols is that of the scaffold, which is present throughout the story. Upon in-depth exploration, I discovered this use of symbolism relates both literally and metaphorically to the dark romantic themes present in Hawthorne’s tale. First, let me discuss the scaffold and its constant presence in the story. The townspeople, Hester, and Dimmesdale use the scaffold on numerous occasions; most often, its use is to shame, harass, and isolate Hester Prynne so that she will confess the name of her child’s father. However, at times, the scaffold is used as a sanctuary and a confessional for others.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author presents three symbols that all reinforce the main idea of the novel. The main idea that reoccurred throughout the novel is that people don’t have to let their mistakes or circumstances determine who they are or what they become; it’s all in how one interprets life. Many symbols may seem as just an ordinary character or coincidental object to some readers, but the symbols have a deeper, underlying meaning. Although there are many symbols in this book, there are three that really help support the main idea: Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter, the meteor, and Hester’s daughter Pearl.

    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.

Not only symbolism but imagery too, has a critical role in the Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne is successfully able to describe in detail the prison when it is first described in the beginning of the novel. From the door that is “heavily timbered with oak” to the building with a “beetle-browed and gloomy front,” Hawthorne successfully describes the place of darkness and sin. Oddly enough, in front of the prison, there is a rose bush. The rose bush can be used to describe a concept of peace or

Nathaniel Hawthorne begins The Scarlet Letter by introducing a theme of sin through the use of two symbols. The prison is described as “the black flower of civilized society” (Hawthorne 46), which is the first symbol, and having “a wild rose-bush” (Hawthorne 46) on one side that showed “the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.” (Hawthorne 46). In The Market-Place, the community gathers around to watch Hester Prynne be punished. The first image of the society in this novel is harsh, as they want “the brand of a hot iron on

Romanticism is categorized as “a preference for simplicity and naturalness, a love of plain feelings and truth to common place reality, especially as found in natural scenes”. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an anti-transcendentalist and believed in the dark side of man, hence his dark romantic novel The Scarlet Letter. This allegorical novel depends heavily on symbol and character. The novel is chock full of symbolic dimension of images, characters, and descriptions. The Scarlet Letter defines the American Romanticist movement while using symbolic characters and places that give the book seemingly two different stories. The first story denotes the story going on in the book, including the characters. The other story has symbols that speak on

The Romantic era, occurring roughly from the early to mid 1800’s, was the period of reformation that shaped the society into one that valued latitude over order; this contrasted from the rigid, legalistic Puritan society that had been prevalent prior to the Romantic era. Through the newfound freedom of expression that was introduced during this period, many literary pieces that reflected these ideas began to surface. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and James Russell Lowell’s The First Snowfall exemplify the romantic element of reverence for nature through the depiction of a placating snowfall and the isolating outskirts of society; these enhance the themes of romanticism by suggesting that reverence for nature may liberate one from his/her nostalgic griefs and suppressed emotions.

According to Merriam-webster.com, Romanticism is “a style of art, literature, etc., during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that emphasized the imagination and emotions.” Writings such as short stories, folklore, and poems portray Romanticism characteristics. Some common characteristics include emphasis on nature and emotions. Moreover, Romanticism was especially powerful in places such as Britain, Germany, and France, and greatly affected other places such as Italy and Spain. However, Romanticism is not the only type of literature. During the Age of Reason, stress was placed upon reason and common sense rather than imagination. Romantic elements are especially shown throughout “The Raven”, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, and “The Devil and Tom Walker”. Many different characters in the previously

In the Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses the hurdles Hester Prynne, the protagonist, goes through due to her sinful nature with her child, the mocking Puritans, and the past always creeping up on her. Often these obstacles appear when she is in the forest, making it a very critical locality in the book. Nathaniel Hawthorne brilliantly uses symbolism to convey how the three main aspects of the forest—the stream, the logs, and the sunshine— all correlate to the Scarlet A that Hester wears on her chest.

The first chapter of Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne describes a rose-bush in front of an old wooden prison door. Telling the reader that the rose symbolize some sweet moral blossom to the condemned. I can surmise that the author is foreshadowing the events that will take place throughout the story. The second chapter begins with women gossiping about a young lady named Hester Prynne and the consequence the magistrates decided on. The woman calls her a hussy, another women declares that the magistrates should have put a brand on her forehead, believing that having her wear the A on the bodice of her gown wouldn’t be enough. The woman’s crudity towards Hester was suprising, knowing these same women probably talked to her before she perpetrated her crime,

     In Hawthorne's revered novel The Scarlet Letter, the use of Romanticism plays an important role in the development of his characters. He effectively demonstrates individualism in Hester to further our understanding of the difficulties of living in the stern, joyless world of Puritan New England.  It is all gloom and doom.  If the sun ever shines, one could hardly notice.  The entire place seems to be shrouded in black.  The people of this society were stern, and repressed natural human impulses and emotions than any society before or since.  But for this reason specifically, emotions began bubbling and eventually boiled over, passions a novelist

The Scarlet Letter takes place at the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 17th century, this is where the Puritans settled after leaving the New World because they wanted to “purify” the Church of England. The Puritans were a sect of Protestant Christians influenced by Calvinism, the idealized that salvation is predestined. They believed that religious behavior was a result of salvation, so with the Puritan communities so invested in purity sins were punished harshly and removed. Hawthorne sets the scene of the first chapter with a dark and gloomy effect, the dark nature of the prison established in the “vicinity of Cornhill”, by early settlers. The prison describe as an “ugly edifice” and “black flower of civilized society” with weeds growing in front of the shadowy structure where groups of Puritans dressed in there normal boring clothes have gathered. A rose bush stands beside the weeds, it foreshadows that brightness may be found along the track, or it eases the darkening close.

“It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening tale of human frailty and sorrow” (Hawthorne34). Here Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the beauty of a rose bush, and its curious but seemingly random placement in a worn out jail yard. The rose bush being a sort of light point and beauty in a surrounding area of punishment and despair is symbolic to the tale of THE SCARLET LETTER as a whole. Here an analogy can be formed: Hester Prynne is condemned to seclusion and public humiliation, all around her seems to be nothing but depression, as in the jail yard there seemed to be nothing but bare land and sadness from those within the jail, however, Hester found subtle high

The use of contrasting themes is evident throughout all works of literature. In every piece of prose of poetry that includes a hero’s journey, there must be a contrast of good and evil, of night and day. In specific regards to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the opposition of these two elements is very apparent in the main character’s, Hester Prynne’s, journey. Hester Prynne is Hawthorne’s heroine, she is Hawthorne's protagonist within the hero’s journey. Hawthorne employs the allegorical symbols of night and day in the hopes of presenting an exaggerated contrast to the readers. Through the symbols of night and day, the hero’s journey of Hester Prynne is made to fit the classical model.