Symbolism: Rosebush and other plants Nanor Mooradian Mrs. Halajian 11 AP Language 24 January 2008

Roses symbolize… They are a symbol of elegance and convey a message of love, appreciation, sympathy, or congratulations. Each color symbolizes a different meaning. –Red rose: romance, love, beauty, and courage. –Pink rose: grace, gentleness, and gratitude. –White rose: truth and innocence. It is a symbol of hope and joy. A rose bush with thorns symbolizes flawed and mortal humanity.

Plants symbolize… Life Fertility A new beginning Beauty of nature Growth Innocence

According to the Bible roses symbolize… Jesus' blood and the suffering he went through during the crucifixion. The rose as the queen of flowers was a privileged symbol for Virgin Mary, Queen of heaven and earth. The rosary is related to the rose. Monks' rosaries were originally made with hardened rose petals. Rose was extremely important in Middle Ages. They were believed to purify. They were used to clean and freshen clothes.

According to The Scarlet Letter roses symbolize… Birth Love Hope Beauty Life Death Eternity

The Prison Door But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, 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 his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him. (Ch. I, pg. 41) - In the deepest recesses of life, there is hope. - Desperate climate of prison is overcome by the beauty of nature. - Life is regained when it is assumed lost. - The power of nature revives. - Regardless of where it appears, at the prison gate or elsewhere, a rose is a rose, beautiful always. - The magic of life.

The Prison Door (2) This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it… (Ch. I, pg. 42) - It is a lesson to be strong and patient. - It is a symbol of endurance. - It is a message of hope that will survive time.

Pearl We have as yet hardly spoken of the infant; that little creature, whose innocent life had sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of rank luxuriance of a guilty passion. (Ch. VI, pg. 74) - An untold, yet very important, tale. - The blossoming birth of a child. - The gift of nature. - A life springing from sin.

The Governors Hall Pearl seeing the rose-bushes, began to cry for a red rose and would not be pacified. (Ch. VII, pg. 88) -Childish behavior. -Lacking attention. -Innocent craving. -Desire to have. -Need for compassion. -Coveted beauty. -The power of nature.

The Elf-Child and the Minister I am mothers child, answered the scarlet vision, and my name is Pearl! Pearl? – Ruby, rather! – or Coral! – or Red Rose, at the very least, judging from thy hue! (Ch. VIII, pg. 91) - I am a jewel. -If not white, red or coral. -If not a jewel, at least a flower. -I am part of nature. -I am feminine and soft. -I am loved. -I have a warm heart. -I am alive.

The Elf-Child and the Minister (2) The child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses, that grew by the prison door. This fantasy was probably suggested by the near proximity of the Governors red roses, as Pearl stood outside of the window; together with her recollection of the prison rose- bush, which she had passed in coming hither. (Ch. VIII, pg. 93) -She is surrounded by life. -The beauty of nature follows her. -A fragile flower is innocently unprotected, just like her. -The roses remind her to be strong. -She follows the path of nature to be protected.

Another View of Hester The links that united her to the rest of human kind – links of flowers, or silk, or gold, or whatever the material – had all been broken. Here was the iron link of mutual crime, which neither he nor she could break. Like all other ties, it brought with it its obligations. (Ch. XIII, pg. 132) -The flowers that she loved, could no longer hold her. -She was beyond any attachments. -The realty could not be escaped. -The beauty did not have the same texture. -Her crime was unforgiving. -The punishment was inevitable. -Her destiny had been determined. -A sin had been committed and guilt was acknowledged. -She had to abandon hope and withdraw from life. -She had become detached from the human kind.

Hester and the Physician Ye that have wronged me are not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion; neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a fiends office from his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it may! Now go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with yonder man. (Ch. XIV, pg. 144) -Life has treated her differently. -Yet she belongs to the nature. -She is still a rose, but of a darker shade. -She accepts her sin. -She acknowledges goodness of others. -She expects some respect, to be left alone in her life of sin. -She encourages all to do as they may. -She does not expect mercy or pity. -In her deepest pain and sorrow, she will blossom.

The Pastor and His Parishioner And now, rather than have had this grievous wrong to confess, she would gladly have lain down on the forest-leaves, and died there, at Arthur Dimmesdales feet. (Ch. XVII, pg. 160) - Pride is larger than shame. - Courage is the answer. - Cowardice is unacceptable. - Living with shame is not the way. - She accepts her guilt. - She has the courage to live with her sin. - She does not escape her fault. - She faces her enemy, only death. - She longs to return to nature, in the bed of forest leaves. - She does not have to wait and suffer more. - She belongs to her love.

The New England Holiday The dress, so proper was it to little Pearl, seemed an effluence, or inevitable development and outward manifestation of her character, no more to be separated from her than the many-hued brilliancy from a butterflys wing, or the painted glory from the leaf of a bright flower. (Ch. XXI, pg.187) - Pearl is dressed just right. - She is so beautiful and innocent. - Her dress is so befitting that it is inseparable. - Much like the leaf of a bright flower, Pearls dress is so proper.

How Hester Prynne and the rose- bush are similar Both beautiful regardless of there sin or were they belong. The rose-bush was able to survive in the stern old wilderness, and Hester was able to survive the wilderness of the Puritan society. The rose petals shine from the rose bush as the letter A shines off Hesters chest. Rose bush covered in delicate gems as Hester walks around with her gem, the scarlet letter.