Scarlet Letters Use Of Symbolism To Show Psychological Effects Of Sin :: essays research papers

     "The actgross and brief, and brings loathing after it." This was said by St. Augustine, regarding immorality. This is discovered to be very true by the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthornes story of a woman (Hester) who lives with the Puritans and commits adultery with the local subgenus Pastor (Dimmesdale). In his novel, Hawthorne shows that sin, known or unknown to the association, isolates a person from their community and from God. He shows us this by symbols in nature around the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest.First we see two symbols in the town that show how sin isolates people. In the first chapter we see a plant which stands come to the fore, "But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, coveredwith its delicate gems" (Hawthorne, 46). This rosebush is like Hester, for it in like manner stands out as wild and different. She wears her s carlet letter among the solemnly refined Puritans as this rosebush wears its scarlet blossoms amidst a small plot of grass and widows weeds. They both stand separate from their surroundings. Later in the book we hear a conversation between Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth (Hesters unknown husband). They are discussing the origin of a distant dark plant that Chillingworth discovered. "I found them growing on a grave which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial of the dead man, sustain these ugly weeds that drive home taken upon themselves to keep him in remembrance. They grew out of his heart, and typifysome hideous secret that was buried with him" (Hawthorne, 127). Here we have a special case of one who was not discovered by men to have sinned during their lifetime. However, having avoided punishment in life, this person has been isolated in death. This person tried to keep wrongdoing a secret, hiding it inwardly himself. Yet the sins committed could not be kept secret , evidenced by their final disclosure shortly after death. There remains null honorable to show where this person lies, but rather mutant weeds that grew out of the blackness of the persons heart. The final resting place of the wrongdoer has now been disjunct from other graves as the sins are manifested by natural powers.The adjacent area is symbols in the skies. Our first instance occurs during the second famous hold scene. Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are atop the scaffold when, "a light gleamed out-of-the-way(prenominal) and wide over all the muffled sky.