Transcendentalism In The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Weight of Truth Nathaniel Hawthorne is an accredited Dark Romantic writer, and in 1850 he writes one of the most “American” books on the shelf. Although, most claim he is a heavy Dark Romantic influence, in The Scarlet Letter his attractiveness toward the Transcendentalist movement - shine - through. The Transcendental movement embodied the spirit of hope and exuded emotion over logic. The fact that The Scarlet Letter is a romance, and not a novel is perhaps the easiest way to see that Hawthorne aimed for a symbolic view and not a literal one. Nature is the strongest evidence or symbol of Transcendentalism. In this novel, you can find many examples of nature leading to truth and hope. Light, the forest, and isolation from society are the best examples of how Transcendentalism take shape in the dealing of sin, acceptance, and truth. In the eyes of the Puritan society truth is assigned by God and your sins, but by breaking apart from this social construct Hester Prynne is able the find peace with her sin, therefore finding her truth and being able to better herself. After Hester is given the A, she moves into the forest to begin her isolation. When she is alone with Pearl, she is away from the constant eye of Puritan …show more content…
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne chooses to represents what society’s truth is with the presence of sunshine, natural light. The first example of this is the first major scene which is set in the sun, confronting Hester on the scaffold. Pearl is crying and the A is glittering, almost like an act of defiance, however Hester tries to cover it with her screaming baby. She is unwilling to confront her truth in the face of the crowd, with the sun beating down on her, but in the quiet dark of the forest, she meets the whole of her truth and is able to become her fullest self by ignoring the necessity of self punishment and opting for self