scarlet
Puritans, or "the pure ones," were English Protestants in the 16th century who enforced strict laws, principles, discipline, and religion. They strongly believed in leading simple, ordinary, religious lives. Therefore, a Puritanistic society would not tolerate any complex matters of self- expression or allow any violations of laws that would upset their "pure" way of living. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses nature as a shelter from the strict mandates of the Puritan lifestyle. Flowers, particularly roses, are used to symbolize wild passion and freedom in the novel. One can see the majesty of nature through the beauty of flowers. The novel first starts off by describing the ugly, "weather-stained" prison door and flows into an eloquent description of an out of place rosebush growing alongside the prison. The rosebush is described as, "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" (43). This passage illustrates nature as a glimmer of hope for the prisoners who enter the door. The rosebush, a symbol of pa
The herbs and roots that grow in the forest can also be used to show a longing for liberty. The jailer, Master Backett, first introduces Roger Chillingworth in the book. The physician is described as, "A man of skill in all Christian modes of physical science, and likewise familiar with whatever the savage people could teach, in respect to medicinal herbs and roots that grew in the forest" (65). This quotation proves that Chillingworth, a respectable Puritan scholar, uses the wild herbs of the savages instead of the average physician's medicine. For instance, Chillingworth pretends to be a model Puritan, when really his practice with wild herbs shows a sparkle of mystery and unruliness of a common Puritan lifestyle. He is even found running to the forest for medicine. One example of this is when someone observed that, "he gathered herbs, and the blossoms of wild-flowers and dug up roots and plucked off twigs from the forest-trees, like one acquainted with hidden virtues in what was valueless to common eyes" (113). Chillingworth is found running off to the sheltered forest, where he can be himself, and not what society expects him to be. The word, "hidden," even implies what he does in the forest is secretive and peculiar, and not what the common Puritan eyes would expect. The forest itself is free, so Chillingworth can truly be himself. Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates nature as an escape for self- expression. Through passionate flowers, Hawthorne po
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 991
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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