Monday, November 4, 2013
The Scarlet Letter Chapter One
The rose bush that grows in front of the prison symbolizes beauty, kindness, and forgiveness. Hawthorne wrote, "...which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to this doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and he kind him." This is saying that as a prisoner is walking into prison, he/she gets a last glimpse of forgiveness and kindness before they go to what some describe as hell. This also sets up the theme of forgiveness for the rest of the story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good. Forgiveness is an important theme. Now, the question is what kind of forgiveness is Hawthorne suggesting. This idea is developed throughout the rest of the novel. Also, compare the rose to the the jail door.
ReplyDelete