the scarlet letter symbolism essay

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Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  • The Custom-House
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  • Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography
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  • The Puritan Setting of The Scarlet Letter
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Critical Essays Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter

Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most prolific symbolists in American literature, and a study of his symbols is necessary to understanding his novels. Generally speaking, a symbol is something used to stand for something else. In literature, a symbol is most often a concrete object used to represent an idea more abstract and broader in scope and meaning — often a moral, religious, or philosophical concept or value. Symbols can range from the most obvious substitution of one thing for another, to creations as massive, complex, and perplexing as Melville's white whale in Moby Dick.

An allegory in literature is a story where characters, objects, and events have a hidden meaning and are used to present some universal lesson. Hawthorne has a perfect atmosphere for the symbols in The Scarlet Letter because the Puritans saw the world through allegory. For them, simple patterns, like the meteor streaking through the sky, became religious or moral interpretations for human events. Objects, such as the scaffold, were ritualistic symbols for such concepts as sin and penitence.

Whereas the Puritans translated such rituals into moral and repressive exercises, Hawthorne turns their interpretations around in The Scarlet Letter. The Puritan community sees Hester as a fallen woman, Dimmesdale as a saint, and would have seen the disguised Chillingworth as a victim — a husband betrayed. Instead, Hawthorne ultimately presents Hester as a woman who represents a sensitive human being with a heart and emotions; Dimmesdale as a minister who is not very saint-like in private but, instead, morally weak and unable to confess his hidden sin; and Chillingworth as a husband who is the worst possible offender of humanity and single-mindedly pursuing an evil goal.

Hawthorne's embodiment of these characters is denied by the Puritan mentality: At the end of the novel, even watching and hearing Dimmesdale's confession, many members of the Puritan community still deny what they saw. Thus, using his characters as symbols, Hawthorne discloses the grim underside of Puritanism that lurks beneath the public piety.

Some of Hawthorne's symbols change their meaning, depending on the context, and some are static. Examples of static symbols are the Reverend Mr. Wilson, who represents the Church, or Governor Bellingham, who represents the State. But many of Hawthorne's symbols change — particularly his characters — depending on their treatment by the community and their reactions to their sins. His characters, the scarlet A, light and darkness, color imagery, and the settings of forest and village serve symbolic purposes.

Hester is the public sinner who demonstrates the effect of punishment on sensitivity and human nature. She is seen as a fallen woman, a culprit who deserves the ignominy of her immoral choice. She struggles with her recognition of the letter's symbolism just as people struggle with their moral choices. The paradox is that the Puritans stigmatize her with the mark of sin and, in so doing, reduce her to a dull, lifeless woman whose characteristic color is gray and whose vitality and femininity are suppressed.

Over the seven years of her punishment, Hester's inner struggle changes from a victim of Puritan branding to a decisive woman in tune with human nature. When she meets Dimmesdale in the forest in Chapter 18, Hawthorne says, "The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread."

In time, even the Puritan community sees the letter as meaning "Able" or "Angel." Her sensitivity with society's victims turns her symbolic meaning from a person whose life was originally twisted and repressed to a strong and sensitive woman with respect for the humanity of others. In her final years, "the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too." Since her character is strongly tied to the scarlet letter, Hester represents the public sinner who changes and learns from her own sorrow to understand the humanity of others. Often human beings who suffer great loss and life-changing experiences become survivors with an increased understanding and sympathy for the human losses of others. Hester is such a symbol.

Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is the secret sinner whose public and private faces are opposites. Even as the beadle — an obvious symbol of the righteous Colony of Massachusetts — proclaims that the settlement is a place where "iniquity is dragged out into the sunshine," the colony, along with the Reverend Mr. Wilson, is in awe of Dimmesdale's goodness and sanctity. Inside the good minister, however, is a storm raging between holiness and self-torture. He is unable to reveal his sin.

At worst, Dimmesdale is a symbol of hypocrisy and self-centered intellectualism; he knows what is right but has not the courage to make himself do the public act. When Hester tells him that the ship for Europe leaves in four days, he is delighted with the timing. He will be able to give his Election Sermon and "fulfill his public duties" before escaping. At best, his public piety is a disdainful act when he worries that his congregation will see his features in Pearl's face.

Dimmesdale's inner struggle is intense, and he struggles to do the right thing. He realizes the scaffold is the place to confess and also his shelter from his tormenter, Chillingworth. Yet, the very thing that makes Dimmesdale a symbol of the secret sinner is also what redeems him. Sin and its acknowledgment humanize Dimmesdale. When he leaves the forest and realizes the extent of the devil's grip on his soul, he passionately writes his sermon and makes his decision to confess. As a symbol, he represents the secret sinner who fights the good fight in his soul and eventually wins.

Pearl is the strongest of these allegorical images because she is nearly all symbol, little reality. Dimmesdale sees Pearl as the "freedom of a broken law"; Hester sees her as "the living hieroglyphic" of their sin; and the community sees her as the result of the devil's work. She is the scarlet letter in the flesh, a reminder of Hester's sin. As Hester tells the pious community leaders in Chapter 8, ". . . she is my happiness! — she is my torture . . . See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a million-fold the power of retribution for my sin?"

Pearl is also the imagination of the artist, an idea so powerful that the Puritans could not even conceive of it, let alone understand it, except in terms of transgression. She is natural law unleashed, the freedom of the unrestrained wilderness, the result of repressed passion. When Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, Pearl is reluctant to come across the brook to see them because they represent the Puritan society in which she has no happy role. Here in the forest, she is free and in harmony with nature. Her image in the brook is a common symbol of Hawthorne's. He often uses a mirror to symbolize the imagination of the artist; Pearl is a product of that imagination. When Dimmesdale confesses his sin in the light of the sun, Pearl is free to become a human being. All along, Hester felt there was this redeemable nature in her daughter, and here she sees her faith rewarded. Pearl can now feel human grief and sorrow, as Hester can, and she becomes a sin redeemed.

Chillingworth is consistently a symbol of cold reason and intellect unencumbered by human compassion. While Dimmesdale has intellect but lacks will, Chillingworth has both. He is fiendish, evil, and intent on revenge. In his first appearance in the novel, he is compared to a snake, an obvious allusion to the Garden of Eden. Chillingworth becomes the essence of evil when he sees the scarlet letter on Dimmesdale's breast in Chapter 10, where there is "no need to ask how Satan comports himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom."

Eventually, his evil is so pervasive that Chillingworth awakens the distrust of the Puritan community and the recognition of Pearl. As time goes by and Dimmesdale becomes more frail under the constant torture of Chillingworth, the community worries that their minister is losing a battle with the devil himself. Even Pearl recognizes that Chillingworth is a creature of the Black Man and warns her mother to stay away from him. Chillingworth loses his reason to live when Dimmesdale eludes him at the scaffold in the final scenes of the novel. "All his strength and energy — all his vital and intellectual force — seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight." As a symbol, Chillingworth's job is done.

The Scarlet A

Besides the characters, the most obvious symbol is the scarlet letter itself, which has various meanings depending on its context. It is a sign of adultery, penance, and penitence. It brings about Hester's suffering and loneliness and also provides her rejuvenation. In the book, it first appears as an actual material object in The Custom House preface. Then it becomes an elaborately gold-embroidered A over Hester's heart and is magnified in the armor breast-plate at Governor Bellingham's mansion. Here Hester is hidden by the gigantic, magnified symbol just as her life and feelings are hidden behind the sign of her sin.

Still later, the letter is an immense red A in the sky, a green A of eel-grass arranged by Pearl, the A on Hester's dress decorated by Pearl with prickly burrs, an A on Dimmesdale's chest seen by some spectators at the Election Day procession, and, finally, represented by the epitaph "On a field, sable, the letter A, gules" (gules being the heraldic term for "red") on the tombstone Hester and Dimmesdale share.

In all these examples, the meaning of the symbol depends on the context and sometimes the interpreter. For example, in the second scaffold scene, the community sees the scarlet A in the sky as a sign that the dying Governor Winthrop has become an angel; Dimmesdale, however, sees it as a sign of his own secret sin. The community initially sees the letter on Hester's bosom as a mark of just punishment and a symbol to deter others from sin. Hester is a Fallen Woman with a symbol of her guilt. Later, when she becomes a frequent visitor in homes of pain and sorrow, the A is seen to represent "Able" or "Angel." It has rejuvenated Hester and changed her meaning in the eyes of the community.

Light and Color

Light and darkness, sunshine and shadows, noon and midnight, are all manifestations of the same images. Likewise, colors — such as red, gray, and black — play a role in the symbolic nature of the background and scenery. But, similar to the characters, the context determines what role the light or colors play. The Scarlet Letter 's first chapter ends with an admonition to "relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow" with "some sweet moral blossom." These opposites are found throughout the novel and often set the tone and define which side of good and evil envelop the characters.

In Chapter 16, Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest with a "gray expanse of cloud" and a narrow path hemmed in by the black and dense forest. The feelings of the lovers, weighed down by guilt, are reflected in the darkness of nature. Every so often, sunshine flickers on the setting. But Pearl reminds her mother that the sun will not shine on the sinful Hester; it does shine, however, when Hester passionately lets down her hair. The sun is the symbol of untroubled, guilt-free happiness, or perhaps the approval of God and nature. It also seems to be, at times, the light of truth and grace.

Darkness is always associated with Chillingworth. It is also part of the description of the jail in Chapter 1, the scene of sin and punishment. The Puritans in that scene wear gray hats, and the darkness of the jail is relieved by the sunshine of the outside. When Hester comes into the sunshine from the darkness, she must squint at the light of day, and her iniquity is placed for all to see. Noon is the time of Dimmesdale's confession, and daylight is the symbol of exposure. Nighttime, however, is the symbol of concealment, and Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold at midnight, concealing his confession from the community. In the end, even the grave of Dimmesdale and Hester is in darkness. "So sombre is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow . . ." The light, of course, is the scarlet letter, shining out of the darkness of the Puritanic gloom.

Colors play a similar role to light and darkness. One of the predominant colors is red, seen in the roses, the letter, Pearl's clothing, the "scarlet woman," Chillingworth's eyes, and the streak of the meteor. At night and always with the physician, the letter is associated with darkness and evil; in the other associations, it is a part of nature, passion, lawlessness, and imagination. The context determines the meaning. Black and gray are colors associated with the Puritans, gloom, death, sin, and the narrow path of righteousness through the forest of sin. Three chapters that contain a multitude of color images are Chapters 5, 11, and 12.

Even Hawthorne's settings are symbolic. The Puritan village with its marketplace and scaffold is a place of rigid rules, concern with sin and punishment, and self-examination. Public humiliation and penance are symbolized by the scaffold, the only place where Dimmesdale can go to atone for his guilt and escape his tormentor's clutches. The collective community that watches, at beginning and end, is a symbol of the rigid Puritan point of view with unquestioning obedience to the law. The Church and State are ubiquitous forces to contend with in this colony, as Hester finds out to her dismay. They see Dimmesdale as a figure of public approval, Chillingworth, at least initially, as a man of learning to be revered, and Hester as the outcast. Predominant colors are black and gray, and the gloom of the community is omnipresent.

However, nearby is the forest, home of the Black Man but also a place of freedom. Here the sun shines on Pearl, and she absorbs and keeps it. The forest represents a natural world, governed by natural laws, as opposed to the artificial, Puritan community with its man-made laws. In this world, Hester can take off her cap, let down her hair, and discuss plans with Dimmesdale to be together away from the rigid laws of the Puritans. As part of this forest, the brook provides "a boundary between two worlds." Pearl refuses to cross this boundary into the Puritan world when Hester beckons to her. However, the forest is also a moral wilderness that Hester finds herself in once she is forced to wear the sign of her guilt.

The forest is also a symbolic place where witches gather, souls are signed away to the devil, and Dimmesdale can "yield himself with deliberate choice . . . to what he knew was deadly sin." In these instances, the forest is a symbol of the world of darkness and evil. Mistress Hibbins knows on sight those who would wander "in the forest" or, in other words, secretly do Satan's work. When Dimmesdale leaves the forest with his escape plan in mind, he is tempted to sin on numerous occasions during his journey back to the village. The forest, then, is a symbol of man's temptation.

Every chapter in The Scarlet Letter has symbols displayed through characterization, setting, colors, and light. Perhaps the most dramatic chapters using these techniques are the chapters comprising the three scaffold scenes and the meeting in the forest between Hester and Dimmesdale. Hawthorne's ability to introduce these symbols and change them through the context of his story is but one of the reasons The Scarlet Letter is considered his masterpiece and a peerless example of the romance novel.

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The Scarlet Letter Symbolism

Symbolism refers to symbols writers use to convey specific meanings. Different symbols refer to different things depending on the readers’ circumstances. Writers use symbols to convey different meanings to their readers in their literary pieces. Nathaniel Hawthorne has also used various symbols in The Scarlet Letter , his phenomenal novel written about shaming and social stigmatizing during the early Puritanism. Some of the major symbols used in this novel have been discussed below.

Symbolism  in The Scarlet Letter

In this novel, the prison door’s description captures the reader’s attention immediately when he or she starts reading it. The prison door is a symbol of punishment given to the culprits and jail inmates for their crimes. Different parts of the prison door such as iron spikes and bars remind the cruel methods used by the Puritanical magistrates to punish criminals and the innocent people as well. The prison door, thus, reminds that punishment given to Hester Prynne but was later released to be ostracized to live in the forest.

The Rose Bush

The rose bush is a bush of wild roses, which also appears in the first chapter. Exactly like a rose bush, Hester Prynne also can look beautiful as well as wild in her nature, and even survive against all the odds. However, as it appears in two different places, it could mean two different things. In the first, it perhaps symbolizes Hester Prynne, and later when it appears in the house of the governor, it symbolizes Pearl and her vibrant life.

  • The Scarlet Letter

The letter of “A” written in scarlet color and placed around the neck of Hester becomes a symbol of sin, especially adultery. However, it is fascinating to note that the same letter becomes a symbol of innocence, penance and angelic character of Hester by the end of the story . This symbol also shows how objects transform their symbolic meanings based on lifestyle, circumstances, and choices .

Although red color is, mostly, associated with sex, infatuation, passion, violence, and life of sin, it is also associated with true love and purity of heart. In the novel, this color is associated with red roses which means energy, while at one place, it also shows lost passion and sincere love, as the scarlet letter and crimson color of cheeks show love and passion.

The scaffold has been used at three places in the novel. Once, it is used in the second chapter where Hester is made to stand and humiliated for her sin of adultery. Here, it is a symbol of sin and crime. It is again used in the twelfth chapter where it is shown as a symbol of confession and hope, but nobody hears Dimmesdale’s confession. It again appears in the 23rd chapter where it is a symbol of freedom from long-lasting guilt and secret, as Dimmesdale confesses everything before dying.

Shadow and Light

Two significant seasonal phenomena appear intermittently in the novel. They are sunlight and shadow. For instance, when the question of Pearl’s future appears before the jury, Dimmesdale is in the shadow of the garden . It means it is a symbol of cover. However, when the novel nears its end, there is sunlight on Hester and Dimmesdale, which represents their true love and peace. It also shows the love, forgiveness, and grace of God upon them.

Symbolically, a forest has two contradictory meanings. It means natural love as well as wilderness . As far as its use in the novel is concerned, the forest is a terrifying place, an abode of Satan, as is considered during the Puritanism, and Hester is left in the forest. However, by the end of the novel, it proves a place where a person becomes mature and also does his penance to shed off his sinful past. For example, when Hester and Dimmesdale meet by the end to plan their escape, they meet at the forest. At this stage, it becomes a place of refuge for them. In fact, the forest has also changed its symbolical meanings with time.

The Character of Pearl

Pearl’s character is very interesting in the novel as it represents a child’s innocence and also the dual behavior inherited by her father, Dimmesdale, and mother, Hester Prynne. Her wild nature represents the wild and passionate nature of her mother. She is also a symbol of the price Hester has paid for her passionate love affair. Her worth as the only child and the sole solace of Hester increases, which shows why she has been named as Pearl in the story.

Dimmesdale and Chillingworth

Dimmesdale’s name suggests that he will have to face the decline or bad luck in his career. He is, in fact, a symbol of a person doomed to fail. The same is the case of Chillingworth. Chilling means icy cold. When he sees Hester Prynne facing the jury of the governor and the pastor at the beginning of the novel, he doesn’t show compassion. Instead of helping his wife, he turns cold-hearted and abandons her. He tries to find out the birth father of Pearl and continues to ploy against Dimmesdale. His name is a symbol of a loveless person.

The Black Man

A Black Man appears twice in the storyline of this novel. It happens in the fourth chapter first when Hester sees Chillingworth who is smiling at her. She compares him to the Black Man who haunts the forest. By this, she means the Satan or evil that always keep chasing people to coax them to do sinful acts. Chillingworth suspects that Pearl’s father is Dimmesdale, and warns Hester that he will find the truth. Although it happens again when Pearl has a conversation with her mother about the identity of the Black Man and the relationship with the Scarlet Letter, she does not reveal details to Pearl. However, it is clear that this Black Man is Chillingworth, who indirectly tortures, Dimmesdale, forcing him to accept his identity as Pearl’s father.

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the scarlet letter symbolism essay

The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel hawthorne, everything you need for every book you read., red and black.

Red symbolizes the glow of Hester's passion. Black represents the devil and sin. Chillingworth , for instance, refers to their shared fate as a "black flower." The inscription on the tombstone Hester and Dimmesdale share… read analysis of Red and Black

Red and Black Symbol Icon

The Puritans mean for the scarlet letter to be a symbol of Hester 's shame. But the narrator describes the letter as a "mystic symbol" that means many things. The letter does represent Hester Prynne's… read analysis of The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter Symbol Icon

Pearl is a living symbol, the physical embodiment of Hester and Dimmesdale 's sin. In Chapter 19, the narrator even calls Pearl a "living hieroglyphic." Yet Pearl, from her name to her comfort with nature… read analysis of Pearl

Pearl Symbol Icon

The Scarlet Letter- An analysis of symbolism

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is generally considered to be the first American symbolic novel. A symbol is something which is used to represent something broader in meaning. The most obvious symbol in the novel is the actual scarlet “A” which both the criticism and I agree upon. This “A” is the literal symbol of the sin of adultery. The letter A then appears in many different forms throughout the novel. The gold-embroidered A on Hester Prynne’s fascinates Pearl Prynne . It is magnified in the armor breast plate at Governor Bellingham’s mansion which is so extreme that it seems to hide and cover Hester.

On the night of Arthur Dimmesdale vigil, he sees a red A in the sky. And finally, the letter is revealed on Dimmsdale’s chest in front of the whole village. The A also takes on many meanings. It has the original meaning as well as different meanings to various characters. To Hester, the A means humiliation. The A to Dimmesdale is a reminder of his own contrition. To Pearl, the A is peculiarity and Roger Chillingworth sees the A as a journey for retaliation. Other then adultery, the A can also stand for “Angel” and “Able”.

Angel, for it appears in the sky after Governor Winthrop’s death. Able, for Hester has won the respect of the Puritans even if she has sinned terribly. Hawthorne uses the prison building to describe crime and punishment in contrast with the tombstone at the end of the novel. This statement suggests the crime and punishment will eventually lead to the death of the malefactor. One positive symbol is the rosebush outside the prison. I feel it represents a sweet person hidden in the encasements of a dark prison, a true diamond in the rough.

The symbol for Puritanism, according to one critic, is when Hawthorne uses the beadle. I can see how the Puritans are compared to minor parish officials in the Church of England by the way the society follows their lead. The Puritan children are taught to scorn Hester for her adultery. In the Puritan rule this is an austere iniquity, so they dominate the judicial side of her punishment. The Puritan world and the natural world are also contrasted continuously throughout the novel. The rest of the symbolism is showed through the setting and the characters .

The setting influences the overall mood of the book, while the characters write the novel and make it what it is. The entire atmosphere is gray. The skies and clothing of the people of the town are always dark. This darkness symbolizes concealment and secrets. Darkness usually always represents a world of evil. The brightness of the day, however, is the symbol of exposure, where everything is seen. As color is brought in, happiness is added. The sun is bright with joy and has a life free of guilt. Pearl, as she runs in the forest, obtains and absorbs this sunshine.

The sun is incapable of touching Hester because of her peccadillo on her breast. The scaffold is mentioned numerously throughout the novel for a substantial reason. The scaffold is not only a symbol of Puritan code but becomes a symbol for a corroboration of personal sin. It is the place where Dimmesdale knows he must go for requital, the only place he can escape from Chillingworth’s diminutive leash. The forest is a very symbolic place. It can be interpreted in three different ways. The first mode is as an evil place where souls are signed away to the devil.

In addition, the forest is a place where darkness and gloom conquers. Finding a path to guide you through this forest is what Hester has been trying to find over her years. The forest also is symbolic for it is a place where Pearl can run and play and Hester can let her hair down without society frowning upon them. The brook is a symbol in several ways. It is an unknown source and travels through obscurity. The brook babbles to Pearl giving a history of misery. The brook then becomes a boundary of two worlds when Pearl will not cross it.

The natural world which is the side Pearl is on while the other side is the Puritan orb. Character symbolism is a distinctive manifestation of Hawthorne’s symbolism. The Church, State, and Witchcraft of the Puritan world are represented by Reverend Mr. Wilson, Governor Billingham, and Mistress Hibbins which were, subsequently, all associated with the scaffold, a Puritan sin stand. Pearl’s name itself is symbolic because it is the allusion of great price. In this case, that price is Hester’s reputation and her standing in the community. Pearl is also a self-contained symbol.

The result of her parent’s sin is shown in her often imprudent comments and unbridled behavior. Each character in the novel suffers from a sin which they try to crush and bemoan with goodness from their own heart. The Scarlet Letter is a book filled with symbolism. I feel the symbolism helps to relate a situation to a position the reader knows about. The critic which I based this on feels that there is voluminous accounts of symbolism, even too much. I must disagree with this. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is an amazingly written book for its time with just the right amount of powerful symbolism.

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The Symbolic Meaning of Light Versus Darkness in The Scarlet Letter

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the scarlet letter symbolism essay

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The Scarlet Letter Story: Plot and Symbolism

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The Scarlet Letter Symbolism Essay Example

Symbolism is a major part of the book The Scarlet Letter, and it is crucial to the plot and storyline of the book. Almost everything in this book is a symbol so the reader can dig deeper into the story and truly understand the more complex plot. There are many different objects, colors, and even people who have more profound meanings hidden behind their supposed simple surface. The scarlet letter is one of the more pronounced symbols, it is used as the focal point in the story, and it drives the plot. But one of the more subtle symbols is the color red. Colors are generally huge symbols in stories, and are usually used to show emotion and personality, this is no different in The Scarlet Letter. The color red is one of the most used colors in the story, and is used for the scarlet letter itself, the rosebush outside of the prison, and Pearl wears the color red for most of the story. The whole book includes multiple different symbols that all bring new meanings into the story, all with meticulous intent.

The scarlet letter itself is probably the biggest symbol in the whole book. In the beginning of the book, the giant A all across Hester’s chest stood for “adultery” and it was something to be feared.  MLA FORMAT “Children, too young to comprehend wherefore this woman should be shut out from the sphere of human charities, would creep nigh … discerning the scarlet letter on her breast, would scamper off with a strange, contagious fear.” The scarlet letter was there to shame Hester for the sin she commited, and it worked for the majority of the story. All of those years of wearing the scarlet letter made townspeople wary of Hester and her daughter. People would talk about the pair while they were walking past or would completely avoid and ignore them. However, over time, near the end of the book the letter morphs into a badge of honesty and honor, rather than a badge of fear and shame. Townspeople, women mostly, came to her for advice for their sorrows, and Hester did her best to console and comfort the women.  MLA FORMAT “But, in the lapse of the toilsome, thoughtful, and self-devoted years that made up Hester’s life, the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too. And, as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble.” Hester's scarlet letter showed the world her story and what she went through. It gave people a look into her life and see the hardships she encountered.

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  1. Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter

    Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most prolific symbolists in American literature, and a study of his symbols is necessary to understanding his novels. Generally speaking, a symbol is something used to stand for something else.

  2. Symbolism in The Scarlet letter with Analysis

    Scaffold The scaffold has been used at three places in the novel. Once, it is used in the second chapter where Hester is made to stand and humiliated for her sin of adultery. Here, it is a symbol of sin and crime. It is again used in the twelfth chapter where it is shown as a symbol of confession and hope, but nobody hears Dimmesdale's confession.

  3. The Scarlet Letter: Symbols

    The Scarlet Letter. The scarlet letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. The letter's meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as an adulterer, the "A" eventually comes to stand for "Able.". Finally, it becomes indeterminate: the Native Americans ...

  4. The Scarlet Letter Symbols

    Governor Bellingham The Scarlet Letter Symbols Next Red and Black Red and Black Red symbolizes the glow of Hester's passion. Black represents the devil and sin. Chillingworth, for instance, refers to their shared fate as a "black flower." The inscription on the tombstone Hester and Dimmesdale share… read analysis of Red and Black The Scarlet Letter

  5. The Scarlet Letter: Mini Essays

    The Scarlet Letter: Mini Essays | SparkNotes The Scarlet Letter Study Guide Literary Devices Themes Motifs Symbols Protagonist Antagonist Setting Genre Allusions Style Point of View Tone Foreshadowing Metaphors & Similes Questions & Answers Did Hester ever love Chillingworth? What type of work does Chillingworth take on in New England?

  6. The Scarlet Letter Critical Essays

    Topic #1. Discuss Hawthorne's blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory in The Scarlet Letter. Outline. I. Thesis Statement: The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. II ...

  7. The Scarlet Letter Essays and Criticism

    All of the symbols Hawthorne uses in The Scarlet Letter point to the book's most obvious symbol, the scarlet letter A itself. Images of light and dark, crosses, scaffolds, even Hester Prynn's ...

  8. The Scarlet Letter

    The Scarlet Letter, novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850.It is considered a masterpiece of American literature and a classic moral study.. Summary. The novel is set in a village in Puritan New England.The main character is Hester Prynne, a young woman who has borne a child out of wedlock.Hester believes herself a widow, but her husband, Roger Chillingworth, arrives in New England ...

  9. PDF An Analysis of Symbolic Images in The Scarlet Letter

    The Scarlet Letter was written by Hawthorn, a romantic writer of the United States in 19th century, and it was published in 1850. The novel took the era of America's colonial years as background, but it revealed the barbarous ... Symbolism is one of the basic artistic techniques. The symbolization refers to external meaning by using a specific

  10. The Scarlet Letter- An analysis of symbolism

    This darkness symbolizes concealment and secrets. Darkness usually always represents a world of evil. The brightness of the day, however, is the symbol of exposure, where everything is seen. As color is brought in, happiness is added. The sun is bright with joy and has a life free of guilt.

  11. The Symbolic Meaning of Light Versus Darkness in the Scarlet Letter

    A Critique of Themes on Feminism in "The Scarlet Letter" Essay. The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in 1600's Puritan Boston. It tells the story of Hester Prynne, a woman who suffers public ignominy, forced to wear a red scarlet letter for her sin of adultery.

  12. Essay On Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter

    Essay On Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter Decent Essays 680 Words 3 Pages Open Document Symbolism is vital in creating a story that is remembered; The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an example of a story where the meaning is what makes the story memorable.

  13. The Scarlet Letter: A+ Student Essay

    Read a sample prompt and A+ essay response on The Scarlet Letter. Search all of SparkNotes Search. ... Although The Scarlet Letter was written in 1850, long before the emergence of what we now refer to as feminism, the novel amounts to a spirited, pre-feminist defense of women and women's rights. Although modern readers might not immediately ...

  14. Analysis of The Scarlet Letter Symbolism

    Pearl is a symbol of the Scarlet "A". Hawthorne uses an allusion to describe pearl's character, he says "the infant was worthy of been brought forth in Eden.". Hester explains that God gave her Pearl as a consequence and constant reminder of her sin. She says that Pearl is the Scarlet letter reincarnated.

  15. The Scarlet Letter: Themes

    Guilt. Guilt is a major theme in The Scarlet Letter, and appears primarily in the psychology of Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is tormented both by guilt at his sinful act of fathering an illegitimate child, and then by the guilt of failing to take responsibility for his actions and having to hide his secret.

  16. Examples Of Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter Free Essay Example

    Another example of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter can be found in Pearl's clothes. The clothes symbolize her personality and her nature. Hathorne says, "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 butterfly's wing, or the ...

  17. The Scarlet Letter Story: Plot and Symbolism

    The Scarlet Letter story is based on a Puritan village in New England in the mid 17th century and full of symbolism. The story starts off by the village being gathered in front of a prison, for the trial of Hester, our main character, who is in trial for committing adultery. Hester comes out of the prison door, holding her newborn daughter, Peal.

  18. Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Novel 'The Scarlet Letter'

    Such uses of symbols in literary works are easily seen in symbolic novels such as Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter' (1850), a book revolving around a Puritan woman in America who had committed adultery.

  19. Summary: Symbolism Throughout The Scarlet Letter

    The scarlet letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. Hester had to face the consequences of her transgression through the community with silent dignity. Eventually, Hester had to confront herself to her neighbors, giving a blunt apology, yet not face-to-face.

  20. On the Symbolism of The Scarlet Letter Free Essay Example

    1175 Introduction: Nathaniel Hawthorne is a great romantic novelist in America in the 19th century. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, is considered as the first American psychological novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It reveals the psychological insight with which Hawthorne proved guilt and anxiety in the human soul.

  21. The Scarlet Letter Symbolism Essay Example

    The Scarlet Letter Symbolism Essay Example Symbolism is a major part of the book The Scarlet Letter, and it is crucial to the plot and storyline of the book. Almost everything in this book is a symbol so the reader can dig deeper into the story and truly understand the more complex plot.

  22. The Scarlet Letter Symbolism (300 Words)

    The rosebush is an important symbol to understand the sorrow in The Scarlet Letter. After the symbolism is understood, readers can see the speck of amiability here and there. Throughout the novel the rose pacifies sorrowful and depressing emotions this story can bring. Order custom essay The Scarlet Letter Symbolism with free plagiarism report

  23. Governor Bellingham Character Analysis in The Scarlet Letter

    Governor Bellingham is harsh and uncompromising, siding with the Revered Mr. Wilson in demanding that Hester reveal the father of her child. He also shows his authority by ordering Dimmesdale to encourage Hester to reveal her secret. Later in the novel, Governor Bellingham will play a similar role when Hester and Dimmesdale meet at his mansion.