Identity In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You,” the American writer, cartoonist, animator, and book publisher, Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, once stated. Much like how Dr. Seuss encourages the theme of being original, and keeping the identity of oneself, so does Nathaniel Hawthorne in the novel The Scarlet Letter. In the historical fiction, Hester Prynne, must publicly wear a scarlet “A” to represent “adultery” because she has a child, Pearl, with a man other than her husband. On the contrary, a preacher named Dimmesdale, hides the fact that he is Pearl’s father to the public. Hawthorne uses symbolism of a rosebush, the character Dimmesdale, and the archetype of a forest to further
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The Scarlet Letter begins with the description of a prison door and a reference to a rosebush located just outside the prison door; “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 1). Hawthorne uses the rosebush outside of the prison door to symbolize Hester, and the rest of mankind. The roses represent each individual person, and the thorns symbolize the fact that each individual has imperfections, and makes mistakes. The placement of the rosebush next to the prison signifies the ultimate forgiveness in nature. This particularly applies to the character Hester in the sense that she has made mistakes, and is condemned in society, however she still has integrity, and in doing so is able receive ultimate forgiveness, and happiness within herself. Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the rosebush to prove his message that salvation is earned when one is honest about who he/she
The Scarlet Letter begins with the description of a prison door and a reference to a rosebush located just outside the prison door; “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 1). Hawthorne uses the rosebush outside of the prison door to symbolize Hester, and the rest of mankind. The roses represent each individual person, and the thorns symbolize the fact that each individual has imperfections, and makes mistakes. The placement of the rosebush next to the prison signifies the ultimate forgiveness in nature. This particularly applies to the character Hester in the sense that she has made mistakes, and is condemned in society, however she still has integrity, and in doing so is able receive ultimate forgiveness, and happiness within herself. Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the rosebush to prove his message that salvation is earned when one is honest about who he/she