How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Romanticism In The Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet Letter Essay The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an intriguing novel that uses romanticism and symbolism to depict a natural setting throughout the book in various ways. Also, the novel’s many representations create a specific theme in the novel, which is man and the natural world. Additionally, The Scarlet Letter uses romanticism as a way of describing sin. Romanticism is a literary movement of the late 1700’s which poets created an effect of individualism, an emotional ecstasy, and an admiration for the natural world. Hawthorne creates a specific theme by using symbolism to represent nature as well as sin. One symbol used for the effect of nature is the rose bush in chapter one, The Prison Door. The prison is full of…show more content…
The rosebush reminds all of the characters that are in prison that beauty still exist. As the story progresses the rose petals comfort the characters that not everything is dark and evil. One of Hawthorne's biggest uses of nature and natural setting is the town and the forest. The town represents religion and law enforced by the Puritans. Also, the town represents resentment because Hester Prynne sinned and was being scorned by the whole town. To the people of the town the forest is foreign and is home to Indians and mystical creatures. The forest is represented as dark and mysterious like Hester. Hester throughout the book comes off as a mysterious complex character. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester’s daughter Pearl is represented as a complex character and a symbol. Pearl represents beauty and nature. Hester’s affair with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale results in being shunned by the whole town her sin left her abashed. Also, Pearl represents nature as a way of life and that she was an outcome from the love and passion that Hester and Dimmesdale share. “All these giant trees and boulders of granite seemed intent on making a mystery of the course of this small brook; fearing, perhaps, that, with its never-ceasing loquacity, it should whisper tales out of the heart of the old forest whence it flowed, or mirror its revelations on the smooth surface of the pool. Continually, indeed, as it stole onward the streamlet kept up a babble, kind, quiet,
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