Love and hate have seemingly battled each other since the dawn of humanity. But which one prevails in the end? In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses parallelism between symbols and characters, along with fulfilling of the rosebush motif to portray that stoicism can outlast both love and hate.
Hawthorne employed three different symbols throughout The Scarlet Letter: a rosebush, iron, and wood. This clever repetition acts as a double-edged blade within the story. In the first chapter, Hawthorne tells the reader of a rosebush resting on the edge of a prison door made of iron and wood. However, this is not the final time we hear of the rosebush, iron, and wood. These three symbols are again brought up in the Governor’s hall with “chairs …show more content…
When Hawthorne opened the book with the rosebush resting on the threshold of the iron and wood prison door; Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth were all alive and well. But, as the book came to a close, Hester is seen again at a threshold, but this time it is the threshold of her deteriorated iron and wood cottage. Hester is alive, while Dimmesdale and Chillingworth have both died. At this moment, Hawthorne has reached the fulfillment of the rosebush. As Dimmesdale confessed his love for Hester by revealing his sin, he perished, and as a result of that, Chillingworth had no one left to hate and thus he shriveled up and died as well. This in itself showed the similarity between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale’s hate and love, and empowered Hawthorne’s statement that the two emotions are “the same thing at the bottom.” The only one to survive the resolution of the book of these three characters is Hester. Just as Hawthorne prophesied in chapter one, “the rosebush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive” over the pines and oaks and the iron. The hateful iron and the soft loving wood could not withstand the stoicism of pure
Hawthorne employed three different symbols throughout The Scarlet Letter: a rosebush, iron, and wood. This clever repetition acts as a double-edged blade within the story. In the first chapter, Hawthorne tells the reader of a rosebush resting on the edge of a prison door made of iron and wood. However, this is not the final time we hear of the rosebush, iron, and wood. These three symbols are again brought up in the Governor’s hall with “chairs …show more content…
When Hawthorne opened the book with the rosebush resting on the threshold of the iron and wood prison door; Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth were all alive and well. But, as the book came to a close, Hester is seen again at a threshold, but this time it is the threshold of her deteriorated iron and wood cottage. Hester is alive, while Dimmesdale and Chillingworth have both died. At this moment, Hawthorne has reached the fulfillment of the rosebush. As Dimmesdale confessed his love for Hester by revealing his sin, he perished, and as a result of that, Chillingworth had no one left to hate and thus he shriveled up and died as well. This in itself showed the similarity between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale’s hate and love, and empowered Hawthorne’s statement that the two emotions are “the same thing at the bottom.” The only one to survive the resolution of the book of these three characters is Hester. Just as Hawthorne prophesied in chapter one, “the rosebush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive” over the pines and oaks and the iron. The hateful iron and the soft loving wood could not withstand the stoicism of pure