Nature In The Scarlet Letter

In the classic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, nature is frequently used as imagery, symbolism, or a metaphor. The three most vital examples are: the rosebush in Chapter 1, the black weeds in Chapter 10, and the brook in Chapter 11. There are other ways that the author uses the environment to help explain characters’ feelings. Nature, in The Scarlet Letter, is used in place of various literary devices with the author using to represent an idea larger than what is initially portrayed . At the very end of the first chapter is a large example of a piece of nature in place of a metaphor. Now, this particular example is important because i it the author tells the reader how he wishes the rosebush to be interpreted. Hawthorne tells his audience
The quote above, along with the first quote, demonstrates how one part of nature can be used to symbolize the many different faces of nature. Hawthorne wants nature to be a representation of the whole range of human emotions and so tells the reader as such. In contrast to the emotions that the rosebush was supposed to give, the black plants in chapter 10 are meant to give the reader a sense of foreshadowing. The fact that these black plants are growing on top of a man’s grave is manipulated by Chillingworth to further torment Dimmesdale. Chillingworth says to Dimmesdale that is must be that the weeds “grew out of his heart, and typify, it must be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had sone better to confess during his lifetime” (Hawthorne 90). The idea that his sin will follow him even in death is devastating to Dimmesdale who fears that he will never be happy