Chillingworth is a symbol of evil in the book, and darkness is associated with this evil. Pearl in an elf-like outburst says, "Come Mother! Come away, or yonder old black man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already" (100). This obvious description of Chillingworth as the "Black Man" shows that he is dark, signifying his wickedness. Hester's transformation from dullness to beauty is seen in the opposition of dark and light, Pearl's association with light captures her moral state of seeking the truth, and Chillingworth represents the dark side of that truth. .
Hawthorne uses vegetation as an emblem for deception and guilt as well as growth. The first instance is the symbolism of the rosebush being close to the prison at the beginning of the novel. Hawthorne implies that the roses of the rosebush are there:.
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 (35). .
The rosebush is there to symbolize nature's identification with the wild and passionate character of criminals like Hester, whom Puritan society condemns. Hawthorne even suggests that Pearl was plucked from the rosebush, referring to her wild nature and the fact that she exists "outside" of the Puritan code. Dimmesdale's emotionally depressed state is captured in an image of "his grave, he questioned with himself whether the grass would ever grow on it, because an accursed thing must there be buried" (106). Here, grass represents goodness and life, and because of his own sin, he does not believe that nature will reflect his positive accomplishments when he dies. Dead foliage also helps to represent the mindset of Hester. When Hester took the scarlet letter and, "threw it to a distance," it landed "among the withered leaves" (152). At this point in the book, her sin was dying away beside the withering leaves.