"The act…gross and brief, and brings loathing after it." This was

said by St. Augustine, regarding immorality. This is discovered to be very

true by the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's

story of a woman (Hester) who lives with the Puritans and commits adultery

with the local minister (Dimmesdale). In his novel, Hawthorne shows that

sin, known or unknown to the community, isolates a person from their

community and from God. He shows us this by symbols in nature around

the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest.

First we see two symbols in the town that show how sin isolates people.

In the first chapter we see a plant which stands out, "But on one side of the

portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered…

with its delicate gems" (Hawthorne). This rosebush is like Hester, for it

too stands out as wild and different. She wears her scarlet letter among the

solemnly dressed Puritans as this rosebush wears its scarlet blossoms

amidst a small plot of grass and weeds. They both stand separate from their

surroundings. Later in the book we hear a conversatio

catch it'…Pearl…did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the

their lifetime. However, having avoided punishment in life, this person has

evidenced by their final disclosure shortly after death. There remains nothing

shows that she is doomed to her shame. She cannot be assimilated into

found them growing on a grave which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial

Some topics in this essay:
Hester Dimmesdale, Chillingworth Hester's, God Hester, Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Dimmesdale Hester, St Augustine, Hester Pearl, Paul Ephesians, scarlet letter, Effects Sin, Hawthorn God's, natural symbols, effects sin, st augustine, wears scarlet, dimmesdale hester,