In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, religion dominates society as the main element of life and work but nature can be seen attacking religion in many ways. Religion in the novel is a prominent factor in the feelings of society towards Hester. Nature, on the other hand, sympathizes with the main character and such, giving hope and God’s light. These two factors go up against each other as religion attacks and nature heals throughout The Scarlet Letter.
Nature in the novel can be seen as a passive element as it sympathizes with the main characters. At the beginning of the novel, nature is presented as a rose bush next to the prison. This symbolizes hope towards the prisoners as it is the only life that is living on the plot of the prison and it is the only thing they see before entering and after leaving prison. Later in the story, as Hester and Pearl visit the Governor’s mansion, Pearl is seen violently screaming at roses outside the mansion. “Pearl seeing the rose bushes, began to cry for a red rose, and would not be pacified” (Hawthorne 98). This depicts her want for a rose, her want for hope. Nature further interrupts the story in the secluded meeting between Hester and Dimmesdale. During this meeting, Hester has the courage to pull off the scarlet letter A and throw it on the ground. Nature pities Hester for her experiences with the scarlet letter in society with “a flood of sunlight” (Hawthorne 179). Another use of nature in the novel is with the alchemist, Roger Chillingworth, with his herbal medicine, that he learned from the Native Americans when he was captured on arrival. Overall, nature assists any characters in the novel and mainly grants them hope and freedom from the struggles of society and religion.
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Religion in society is a very important factor as it affects relationships, status and etc. The Scarlet Letter prominently centers around religion as the main character, Hester, is affected by such. She is caught being an adulterer and is subjected to societal punishment with the lifelong sentence of wearing a scarlet letter “A”. Hester is at the head of the community conversation and sees herself used as a “living sermon against sin” (Hawthorne 59). Further, religion alters the views of Hester on Pearl, as at some point, she thought she was a demon-child, mainly because of “some of her odd attributes” (Hawthorne 90). Due to her hardships within society, Hester chose to live on the outskirts of Boston, making a living by making various items using her embroidery skills. She is well renowned for this except for wedding dresses as no one in the town wants to buy a dress from her for a religious event. Basically, religion and Puritan values base daily life in 19th century Boston, with strict consequences if any of the values are broken, as did Hester.
In the novel, religion and nature combat each other in many ways, changing the interactions of characters, the feelings of society, and other ideas. In the prison, situated in Boston, “a wild rose-bush...fragrance and fragile beauty,” is seen to greet prisoners with the feeling of hope (Hawthorne 46). This is ironic as prison represents, “the black flower of civilized society,” which is basically society’s moral and religious views, combating nature’s rose bush, which gives a sense of hope to the prisoners as they enter and leave (Hawthorne 46). Hart has similar views, stating, “Hawthorne contrasts the beauty of nature with the community prison to identify Puritan societal corruption.” Furthermore, along with the black rose representing the values of society, the Black Man, is shown to represent the views of nature among Bostonians. Depicted as a form of evil, he is usually referred to in conjunction with the forest. This places society’s views of the forest to be mostly negative, as that area is uncontrolled and without Puritan values. Another event in which nature sympathizes with going against religion is when Hester and Pearl meet up with Dimmesdale in the forest. With the action of Hester throwing the scarlet letter on the forest floor, nature thus reacts by filling the forest with sunlight, forgiving Hester of her sin. Furthermore, Paula Mas Ferrer states, “She escapes from the discomfort of society through nature. Pearl is an elf child and [her] natural habitat is the forest. She is neither good nor evil,” depicting that nature can easily thwart societal values (3). The split between religion and societal values and nature can be simply stated as, a “gloomy and energetic religious sect, pioneers in a virgin land, with the wolf and the Indian at their doors” (J. Hawthorne).
Boston, during the time of writing, was very much under the influence of prominent Puritan leaders and Puritan values. This led to a strict justice system and a strict social network among Bostonians. In The Scarlet Letter, the strict punishments and social outcasting can be seen clearly with Hester and Pearl. In contrast, nature forgiving and pitying the protagonists can also be seen. With two opposing influences, Hester has a hard time in Boston, especially with her child Pearl.
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