Several of the women begin to discuss Hester Prynne, and they soon vow that Hester would not have received such a light sentence for her crime if they had been the judges. The crowd in front of the jail is a mixture of men and women, all maintaining severe looks of disapproval. The narrator’s comment that the rose may serve as a "moral blossom" in the story is therefore a note that Hester's child will provide the moral of the story. That the rosebush is in full bloom, meanwhile, suggests that Hester is at the peak of her passion, referring to the fact that she has given birth as a result of her adulterous affair. But the rosebush is close enough to the town center to suggest that the passionate wilderness, in the form of Hester Prynne, has been creeping into Boston. This is where Dimmesdale can find freedom to confess in the dark, and it is where he and Hester can meet away from the eyes of those who would judge them. This is important, because it is only in the forest wilderness where the Puritans' laws fail to have any force. Hawthorne cleverly links the rosebush to the wilderness surrounding Boston, commenting that the bush may be a remnant of the former forest which covered the area. Roses appear several times in the course of the story, always symbolizing Hester's inability to control her passion and tame it so that she can assimilate to Puritan society. The rosebush itself is an obvious symbol of passion and the wilderness, and it makes its most famous reappearance later when Pearl announces that she was made not by a father and mother, or by God, but rather was plucked from the rosebush. This implies that Puritanical authoritarianism may be so rigid that it obliterates both freedom and beauty. Hawthorne claims that it is possible that the beautiful rosebush growing directly at the prison door sprang from her footsteps. She eventually was a founder of antinomian Rhode Island. Hutchinson was a religious but freewheeling woman who disagreed with Puritanical teachings, and as a result she was imprisoned in Boston and then banished. With the reference to Ann (actually Anne) Hutchinson, the prison also serves as a metaphor for the authority of the regime, which will not tolerate deviance from a prescribed set of standards, values, and morals. It seems it will take a superhuman force to somehow weaken the mores that control the society in which our story will take place. As a result, the door remains tightly shut and iron-clamped. But despite the evolution of society, the laws have not kept up. ![]() In the manner that Hawthorne describes it, the prison embodies the unyielding severity of puritan law: old, rusted, yet strong with an "iron-clamped oaken door." Puritan law is coated, in this account, in the rust of tradition and obsolete purpose. These images will recur in several settings and serve as metaphors for the underlying conflict. This opening chapter of the main narrative introduces several of the images and themes within the story to follow. had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison door." He then plucks one of the roses and offers it to the reader as a "moral blossom" to be found later in the story. The narrator remarks that it is possible that "this rosebush. ![]() Outside the building, next to the door, a rosebush stands in full bloom. already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front." The iron on the prison is rusting and creates an overall appearance of decay. The prison is described as a, "wooden jail. A large crowd of Puritans stands outside of the prison, waiting for the door to open.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |