Flowers In Scarlet Letter

For many people, nature provides an escape from certain constrictions created by society. Flowers and plants offer a forgiving environment as a source of comfort and protection for individuals oppressed by the confinements of the world around them. The Puritan society of Massachusetts, centered around the strict ideals of religious values, attempted to purify its society of sin through harsh punishments, especially when committed by women. The dark, strict Puritan community forced many individuals to search for a place of peaceful solitude to reflect on their thoughts apart from the pressures of their society, which different aspects of nature offered them. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, many of the characters surround …show more content…
Disregarding the society centered around harsh punishment and strict laws, Pearl’s valuable connection with flowers demonstrates how the constricting structure of Puritan society hinders her development. One of Pearl’s unusual mannerisms included “[amusing] herself with gathering handfuls of wild flowers, and flinging them...at her mother’s bosom, dancing...whenever she hit the scarlet letter” (89). Pearl’s action of throwing flowers, symbols of forgiveness and freedom, at the scarlet letter allows Hawthorne to reveal a criticism to Hester’s harsh punishment. Since Pearl’s entire existence conflicts with Puritan ideals, her opposition and curiosity surrounding the scarlet letter highlights the Puritan beliefs regarding sin and punishment. Serving as symbols of Pearl’s defiance of the society around her, flowers portray the beauty of Pearl’s own little world as superior to her gloomy, dark surroundings. Hawthorne strengthens this argument through Pearl’s announcement that she “had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison-door,” which previously represented freedom and frivolity at the introduction to the grim Puritan community (102). Even though Pearl was conceived through adultery and is perceived as an unforgivable sin by all Puritans, her natural beauty still shines through the strict Puritan society, just as the rose bush did with the rigid prison door. As she states that she comes from a flower bush, Pearl embraces her association with a world separate from the Puritan lifestyle, which depicts the Puritan values as detrimental to a healthy development. After Pearl grows up and moves away from the small Puritan community, the narrator remarks that although Pearl’s location and status of her wellbeing are unknown, “she must now [be] in the flush and bloom of early