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Scarlet Letter's Use of Symbolism to Show Psychological Effects of Sin

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Scarlet Letter's Use of Symbolism to Show Psychological Effects of Sin
"The act…gross and brief, and brings loathing after it." This was

said by St. Augustine, regarding immorality. This is discovered to be very

true by the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's

story of a woman (Hester) who lives with the Puritans and commits adultery

with the local minister (Dimmesdale). In his novel, Hawthorne shows that

sin, known or unknown to the community, isolates a person from their

community and from God. He shows us this by symbols in nature around

the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest.

First we see two symbols in the town that show how sin isolates people.

In the first chapter we see a plant which stands out, "But on one side of the

portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered…

with its delicate gems" (Hawthorne, 46). This rosebush is like Hester, for it

too stands out as wild and different. She wears her scarlet letter among the

solemnly dressed Puritans as this rosebush wears its scarlet blossoms

amidst a small plot of grass and weeds. They both stand separate from their

surroundings. Later in the book we hear a conversation between

Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth (Hester's unknown husband). They are

discussing the origin of a strange dark plant that Chillingworth discovered. "I

found them growing on a grave which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial

of the dead man, save these ugly weeds that have taken upon themselves to

keep him in remembrance. They grew out of his heart, and typify…some

hideous secret that was buried with him…" (Hawthorne, 127). Here we have

a special case of one who was not discovered by men to have sinned during

their lifetime. However, having avoided punishment in life, this person has

been isolated in death. This person tried to keep wrongdoing a secret, hiding

it within himself. Yet the sins committed could not be kept secret,

evidenced by their final

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