The Rosebush In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne provides the biggest intimation in his fictional novel, The Scarlet Letter, to shape the path of the characters. He introduces Hester Prynne living in a faithful Puritan world that degrades her because of her misdeed. Hawthorne illustrates a brighter rosebush in a dark environment that guides characters from shame to redemption. Although the rosebush can be seen as an aspiration within the darkness through the eyes of the prisoners, its scarlet luminosity embodies a token of sin; yet, the vile thorns within the bush is the atrocity hidden by the beautiful rose in which Hester is pinned to her daughter, Pearl. She’s her mother's rosebush where the thorns resemble her wicked personality and roses mimic her eloquent clothing. …show more content…
Her appearance is crucial to Hawthorne because it exposes Pearl’s glamour to maintain the respect people have towards her mother. This elucidates the beauty of Pearl as she is observed as a “lovely and immortal flower” (79) that Hester is proud of. Her daughter provides her aspiration to prosper, just as the rosebush does to the prisoners. The prison entrance has a somber environment that's luminized by the rosebush in the beginning of the novel, ironically, it mirrors Hester’s impending life because her daughter is “an absolute circle of radiance around her on the darksome floor” (80). This “circle of radiance” evades Hester from the rest of the world where she is reminded and denounced by her sin, and blinded by the scarlet