The novel lends itself to many interpretations, of course, but the influence of Transcendentalism is certainly evident, primarily through the characters of Hester and Pearl. Emerson wrote in "Self-Reliance" that "[s]ociety everywhere is in conspiracy against [the individuality] of every one of its members" and that "[t]he virtue in most request is conformity." Hester represents the life of one who rebelled against her society and who only conformed, for a short period of time, out of necessity. Her spirit remained unbroken by the forces of the theocracy in which she lived. Pearl also lived an individual life, dressed in bright colors by her mother to distinguish her from those who wore the Puritan gray.
Another element of Transcendentalism is reflected in the symbolism of the novel's natural setting. For the Puritans, the forest was a place of darkness and evil where Satan himself reigned. For Hester, however, it was a place of beauty and freedom where truth could be realized. In the forest with Arthur and Pearl, away from her repressive society, she could be the person she really was, free to express her love and take pride openly in her beautiful child. Arthur himself, as soul sick and tormented as he was, found joy within the natural environment and dared to hope again that life would not always be one of pain and loneliness. Arthur's dream of happiness ends when he leaves the forest and returns to the settlement. The beauty, peace, and freedom experienced by Hester and Arthur in the forest seems consistent with Emerson's words in "Nature." He wrote that the woods was a place where "sanctity reign[s]," a place of "uncontained and immortal beauty."
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