Scarlet Letter Essay

Danny Wandeler

Taylor

Per. 6 AP Literature

20 January 2015

Read or Do Not Read: The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is novel that takes place in a Puritan colony in Massachusetts, following the story of Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. I would strongly recommend reading this novel because Hawthorne masterfully portrays the importance of nature in society, gives a different perspective of the way the Puritans lived their lives, and shows there is always an opportunity for redemption.

The themes and main idea are portrayed and are more apparent in the Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne’s use of nature. The theme of the relationship between sin and humanity and also the identity of humanity are extremely apparent through the use of the natural world and setting. Nature is also used to show the identity of characters in the novel. Nature is very important in the description and retelling of Hawthorne’s themes and main ideas. “But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him” (Hawthorne 56). Seeing how Hawthorne uses nature to exemplify the theme of ashes to glory, characters like Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale, and struggles of the characters helps the reader connect to the message and adds a deeper meaning to the novel.

By creating a new perspective on Puritan society in early America, Hawthorne makes the novel even more controversial and even more interesting read. By focusing on a feminine character in the community and by focusing on her sin rather than her benevolence and by making the authority figure a part of the controversy, Hawthorne makes the novel even more controversial and...