The Scarlet Letter Essay -- Literary Analysis, Hawthorne

The aspect of personality in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter seems to have been characterized to readers with having a mixed blessing. Rather than illustrating Nature in the typical Puritanical manner of the 1600s, that Nature is downright repulsiveness, tying Nature to the Black Man, Hawthorne uses a different approach. Instead, Nature is fairly two-sided in that it portrays damaging as well as somewhat therapeutic powers. The text heralds the positive attributes of Nature that the Puritans overlook or fear. Conversely, the text shows that aspects of Nature that help mankind withal harm him. The duality of Nature mirrors the complex inner feelings and dual temper of the novels characters. Nature represents the paradoxical juxtaposition of both good and evil in man, by showing both good and evil attributes in itself. Ultimately, Nature reveals mans inherent inability to be pure.By presenting a number of aspects of Nature that are beneficial to man, the text manages to d iscount the one-sided Puritanical view of Nature as an outright evil figure out. Nature provides both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale with some feelings of switch and relief by giving each a sense of freedom from the oppression of society. For example, Hester, by living in a lonesome cottage, by the ocean shore, (166) a place representative of Nature, is able to invoke such thoughts dared to enter no other dwelling in New England (166). Her isolation from society amidst the liberating influence of Nature, releases her from the restrictions that determine what is acceptable to believe, allowing her mind to roam as freely as the wild Indian in his woods(203). Her estranged point of view, her fate and fortunes, in addition to her homely cottage by the se... ...he way her mother does is best. Also in her pursuit of truth, she fervently desires Dimmesdale to stand with her and Hester in the sunlight, unknowingly requesting that her father reveal the truth about the bond between th em all.Her quest for truth eventually leads her to pledge that she will grow up amid human joy and sorrow(251), ceasing to forever do battle with the world(251), and instead be a woman in it(251). The novel culminates its message of duality by showing the lawless child of nature embrace, in part, the morality of society. In order to live truth, Pearl moldiness hold on to her wild roots, while accepting a civilized future. She must free herself from the isolation of New England, but not give herself over to the complete lawlessness of the forest. She seems on the verge of living the message of the novel by accepting the duality of her nature.