Scarlet Letter: Transcendentalism

Of the varying identities people may have, transcendentalism is one that causes people to entirely change how they live their lives. For example, in Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris, who grew up privileged, gave away all of his possessions to live in nature. The transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century had a large impact on authors of the century. Among those, multiple authors from the century, including Hawthorne, Thoreau and Emerson were influenced especially in their writings. The basic transcendentalist beliefs are, the dislike of materialism, connection for nature, individualism and the quest for truth. In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses transcendentalist beliefs to influence Hester’s character. The influence of transcendentalism
For example, Hester desires a simplistic lifestyle show when the narrator describes her desires. “...she, however, incurred no risk of want, She possessed an art that sufficed, even in a land that afforded little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her thriving infant and herself” (Hawthorne 47). Hester shows a strong transcendentalistic influence because she doesn’t desire or have anything extra. She doesn't have the desire for materialistic items and rather focuses on the necessities for her and little Pearl. Hawthorne's purpose of portraying Hester this was was to emphasize that she could be happy and content without unnecessary goods, relating it back to transcendentalist ideas. Also, the narrator recounts Hester's character as her traits changed further, in the Scarlet Letter: “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness, as vast, as intricate, and shadowy as the untamed forest, amid the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide their fate…” (Hawthorne 112). Hawthorne expresses the transcendentalistic idea of individualism and nature when describing Hester. Hester finds her connection with nature and finds herself, without the rules or guidance of society, which shows her independence-an ideal of a transcendentalist. Through this, Hawthorne is able to share with the audience Hester’s beliefs as well as to address
As Hester develops throughout the novel, she seems to have more and more transcendentalist ideas. Portrayed through Hester’s actions, development and traits, the audience can easily tell that the novel has strong transcendentalist influences. Furthermore, looking at other characters, for example, Pearl-Hester’s daughter-and Dimmsdale find their true-selves in nature. Ultimately, the Scarlet Letter with its transcendentalist influence, has been and will continue to share transcendentalistic ideas with many generations of