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The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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The Scarlet Letter Essays

Community in the scarlet letter and beloved eve mandel college, the scarlet letter.

The Scarlet Letter and Beloved, despite their vastly different settings, both emphasize the effect of community on an individual. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, set in Boston in 1642, the rigidly Puritan society criminalizes a young...

The Complexities of Female Beauty in The Scarlet Letter and The Hunchback of Notre Dame Eve Mandel College

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1642, while Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame takes place in Paris, France in 1482. Despite their vastly different settings, Hawthorne’s heroine Hester Prynne and...

One Shameful, the Other Suicidal: Caddy’s and Quentin’s Eros and Thanatos in The Sound and the Fury Chloe Mandel 12th Grade

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the Compson family experiences a downward spiral accelerated mainly by two of the novel’s central characters: Caddy and Quentin Compson. Caddy’s sexuality, pregnancy, and banishment from the Compson...

Essential Defiance Maddie Culcasi 11th Grade

“In all great works of fiction, regardless of the grim reality they present, there is an affirmation of life against the transience of that life, an essential defiance. [...] Every great work of art [...] is a celebration, an act of...

The Relationship Between Romance and Realism in American Historical Fiction: Clotel and the Scarlet Letter Anonymous College

American fiction has been dominated by historical romances since Sir Walter Scott coined the genre with Waverley in 1814 . American historical fiction indicates that the literature is unique in its character to any other nation; but instead, in ‘...

The Little Human A Incarnate Anonymous

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of the characters suffer from the tolls of sin, but none as horribly as Hester's daughter Pearl. She alone suffers from sin that is not her own, but rather that of her mother. From the day she is...

Perception Blanketed by Passion William Kyunghyun

In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester and Dimmesdale are entangled in self-delusion because they are both caught up in a false interpretation of their respective sins and in an opaque vision of a better life. Hester is confused by...

Original Sin Helen Huggins

In Hawthorne's intricately woven tale The Scarlet Letter, his characters create a parallel theme with the Biblical story of Original Sin. By examining the characters and their interactions and insights about each other, one can examine the...

Hawthorne's "Witch-Baby" in The Scarlet Letter Frances G. Tilney

A few moments before Reverend Dimmsdale professes his sin to the crowd of onlookers, Hester's hopes of escape are dashed by the knowledge that Roger Chillingworth also booked a passage on the departing shipa ship that she prayed would give her and...

Hester's Role as Both the Sinner and Saint Marielle Macher

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us," stated Oliver Wendell Holmes. This eventually proves to be especially true for Hester Prynne, the main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet...

The Immense Effect of Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter Megan Leach

Hawthorne wrote his great, psychological novel, The Scarlet Letter, not only in the literal sense, but also symbolically to thoroughly instill his strong ideas into the minds of readers. He uses sunshine, the forest, roses, the scarlet letter,...

Sin: Hawthorne's Biblical Truth Joshua Prophett

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne writes the consequences of one sinful act in a Puritan community. This sinful act involves three main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth. As The Scarlet Letter progresses, each...

Sin's Evolution in The Scarlet Letter Zachary Anderson

Evolution is defined as "a process of change"(Webster's Dictionary), and it has been proved many times in the past that sin is a direct process that leads to change in one's spiritual as well as fleshly life. The three main characters, Hester,...

A Natural Mirror of Impurity Meagan Bass

The entity of Nature acts as a double-edged sword in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In the novel, Nature shows its ability to both harm and heal through its effects on the characters. The novel highlights Nature's complexity by showing...

Religious Oppression in The Scarlet Letter Daniel Tvert

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne has committed adultery, and her subsequent bearing of an illegitimate child has cast her beyond the pale of polite society. It is difficult for us, in the late twentieth century, to...

Pearl Prynne - A Blessing And A Curse Sugato De

"This child hath come from the hand of the almighty, to work in many ways upon her heart. It was meant for a blessing, for the one blessing of her life! It was meant, doubtless, for a retribution too, a torture to be felt at many an unthought of...

The Garden of Eden in America: Dichotomies in The Scarlet Letter Adam Weissman

The story of Adam and Eve illustrates the sinful nature of man. A common theory about the story of Adam and Eve is that God intended Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. The argument is, if God had not intended Adam to eat the...

Criticism of Puritan Society: Nature in Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" Anonymous

Throughout the late 18th century and 19th century, Romanticism was a highly popular literary style adopted by many novelists. Nature, a prominent element of Romanticism, is used in these authors' writings not just for descriptions and images, but...

Threads Anonymous

Threads are rather insignificant by themselves. It is when a weaver connects them together that they form a beautiful tapestry. Each thread now contributes to the quality of the tapestry and are bound together by the common picture that form. In a...

Law of Nature Versus Man in The Scarlet Letter Anonymous

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates the need for humans to abide by the laws of nature and conscience, rather than the laws of man, to achieve happiness.

The laws of nature, enforced only by the human conscience, govern every...

A Scarlet I: The Use of Irony Within The Scarlet Letter Robin Bates

"Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom." Through this statement, Anatole France, a 1921 Nobel Prize recipient, states his belief that irony is only lighthearted reflection. However, Nathaniel Hawthorne employs irony to reveal...

The Fear of Miscegenation in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Cole DeLaune

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the young American establishment appeared to have surmounted the instability of its formative stages. The citizens of what had originated as a disorganized and inefficient alliance of thirteen diverse...

The Destruction of an Unconfessed Soul Travis Hodges

In the first chapter of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, a solitary rosebush stands in front of a gloomy prison to symbolize "some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human...

More Than Meets The Eye Igor Petrovich Reznik

"Don't judge a book by its cover." Everyone knows this hackneyed quote, but people still judge others based on outer appearance. By doing so, these people ignore the possible inner greatness of those they so quickly set aside. The character Hester...

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Essay Samples on The Scarlet Letter

The scarlet letter: the theme and mood of revenge.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Roger Chillingworth seems to agree, as he has an extremely cold, and fake name that he chooses to go by. He spends around a whole seven years psychologically torturing Hester's other lover Dimmesdale, barely keeping him alive just...

• Mood in Literature
• Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Scarlet Letter

The Character Analysis Of Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter

In the 17th century, many Puritans emigrated to the New World seeking to restart their lives in New England. The Puritans emigrated to practice their religious freedom. Nathaniel Hawthorne published the Bantam Classic, The Scarlet Letter in 1850. The Scarlet Letter is about a young...

• Hester Prynne

The Character Analysis Of Hester Prynne In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romance novel The Scarlet Letter, the protagonist, Hester Prynne, commits an act of adultery that leads to her ignominy amongst seventeenth century Puritan society and the immortalization of the notorious scarlet letter on Hester’s bosom. While some readers may argue that Puritan...

The Public Anger Surrounding Clinton–lewinsky Scandal

Discipline has been in presence since the early pilgrim time frame and has proceeded since forever as a technique used to hinder offenders from carrying out criminal acts. Friedrich Nietzche’s book “Punishment and Rehabilitation” restates that “punishment makes us into who we are; it creates...

• Bill Clinton
• President of The United States

Rebellion of Hester Prynne: A Scapegoat of Society

All of humanity is sinful and must face judgment. The Scarlet Letter addresses how one woman’s mistake and mark of shame has the possibility of flipping a whole society upside down. Hawthorne reveals Hester Prynne’s strong character through her experiences and struggles within her sin....

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Character Development of a Woman in Exile, Hester Prynne

Exile. A consequence that scars a person. The reasons for being exiled varies, but it not only causes them to be alienated, it can end up enriching their personality or their work ethic. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character,...

Hester Prynne: A Rebellious Woman in Puritan Society

What is a rebel? A rebel is described as a person who rises in opposition or armed resistance against an established government or ruler. A rebel is Hester Prynne. Cast into the 17th century Puritan America in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester was...

Comprasion of the Life Stories of The Scarlet Letter’s Heroine Hester Prynne and Public Figure Monica Lewinsky

Abstract This paper demonstrates, through The Scarlet Letter’s Hester Prynne, and public figure Monica Lewinsky, the effect that public perception and opinion can have on the actions that people take. This paper shows points of comparison between the two women's situations, and also shows the...

The Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne Deserved and Earned Forgiveness

Have you ever made a terrible mistake and no matter how much you tried to fix it you can’t stop getting it from following you in life? In the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathainel Hawthrone the main character Hester Prynne knows how you feel....

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Silence and Secrecy in Hawthrone's The Scarlet Letter

The novel, “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthrone was originally published in the year 1850, this novel grasps the reader's attention from the very beginning by introducing the first of numerous images that will come to overwhelm the story. This novel is based off on...

Ruination of Conscience in The Scarlet Letter

Secrets, no matter how small, can have a drastic effect on others views. The Scarlet Letter is a great example on no matter how small the secret is there will always be retribution. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter uses symbolism in the representation of heart...

The Scarlet Letter: Exploration of Human Emotions

The British colonies on the eastern coast of the United States were highly influenced by English literature, before founding of the United States. Thus the American literary tradition began as part of the boarder tradition of English literature. However, modern American literature is considered to...

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The Scarlet Letter: A Lesson About Faith and Sin

People make mistakes all the time, but when it comes to society, despite them being no different, they choose to judge anyways. Hawthorne displays irony throughout the story that shows the overall ways of the Boston Society. Hester Prynne, an adulterer, also displays irony and...

An Evaluation of Sin and Guilt in The Scarlet Letter

Close Reading: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne In this close textual analysis I will be focusing on two small sections of Chapter 8 from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short novel, The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850 and set in seventeenth century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts. The first...

The Scarlet Letter Reading Response

A. Journal Entries Journal Entry 1: “The Custom House” Romanticism was a movement that was increasingly popular during Hawthorne’s time. The romantic style, when applied to literature, implies a focus on beauty, emotion, and imagination. Right away, we can see how Hawthorne was inspired by...

• Literature Review

Best topics on The Scarlet Letter

1. The Scarlet Letter: The Theme And Mood Of Revenge

2. The Character Analysis Of Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter

3. The Character Analysis Of Hester Prynne In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

4. The Public Anger Surrounding Clinton–lewinsky Scandal

5. Rebellion of Hester Prynne: A Scapegoat of Society

6. Character Development of a Woman in Exile, Hester Prynne

7. Hester Prynne: A Rebellious Woman in Puritan Society

8. Comprasion of the Life Stories of The Scarlet Letter’s Heroine Hester Prynne and Public Figure Monica Lewinsky

9. The Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne Deserved and Earned Forgiveness

10. Silence and Secrecy in Hawthrone’s The Scarlet Letter

11. Ruination of Conscience in The Scarlet Letter

12. The Scarlet Letter: Exploration of Human Emotions

13. The Scarlet Letter: A Lesson About Faith and Sin

14. An Evaluation of Sin and Guilt in The Scarlet Letter

15. The Scarlet Letter Reading Response

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The Scarlet Letter

Introduction the scarlet letter.

This historical novel of American Romanticism was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in 1850. It created a lot of controversy in literary circles. It showed the settings of the Puritan region of Massachusetts Colony of the 1650s, narrating a storyline of a woman, Hester Prynne, who suffers after having an affair with a church minister. However, she alone has to suffer for that affair with her daughter for having none of her crime. Her struggle to go through this repentance won her readers’ hearts. Despite comprising strong strictures against the hypocrisy of the religious bureaucracy, this novel is still considered Hawthorne’s tour de force.

Summary The Scarlet Letter

The story begins with a crowd preparing to punish a woman, Hester Prynne, for giving birth to a baby girl without revealing the husband’s identity. The crowd punishes her by making her wear a scarlet letter “A” on her dress to show the public that she is ashamed of her action. She is also forced to stand three hours on the scaffold to demonstrate that she feels ashamed at her sin. Women, mostly jealous of her beauty and dignified manner, taunt her and ask her the name of her husband, receiving only her refusal in response.

During the shaming ceremony, the woman happens to see her lost husband as a misshapen unknown person peering at her from the crowd. He gestures to her to remain quiet to protect his own identity. Choosing the name of Roger Chillingworth, he soon discovers the truth about her from his inquiry from different people. Then, he angrily raises the voice for the punishment of the father of the child, too, but without becoming prominent in the crowd.

Meanwhile, the local church ministers, Arthur Dimmesdale and John Wilson ask her about the likely father of the child, but they also face her staunch refusal. When she reaches the prison cell, she meets her husband, Roger Chillingworth, in the guise of a physician. As a physician he suggests her some herbs and plants, though, both of them talk about their marriage and their mistakes. However, Hester faces his probe about the identity of the father of the girl to which she again refuses to share with him. He does not force her, however, but claims to know it one day and asks her not to reveal his identity.  Hester willingly agrees to his proposal.

After she wins her release, she tries to settle in the town, but ultimately leaves for the outskirts facing staunch public resentment. She takes shelter in a hut on the outskirts of town and earns her bread through her needlework skills. Living a quiet and simple life, she starts playing with her daughter to whom she names, Pearl. However, strangely, Pearl takes her “A” locket to her heart, always playing with it. Finding no other playmates, Pearl soon develops into an impulsive girl about whom the order of the church authorities soon arrives about separating her from her imperfect mother.

Adamant as she is in her refusal about uncovering the identity of her husband, she is adamant in handing over her girl. Therefore, she meets Bellingham, the Governor of the city, who is present with the church authorities, Dimmesdale as well as Wilson. Hester, immediately, sensing the upper-hand of the religious authority, pleas to Dimmesdale who asks Governor to stop this mother-daughter cruel segregation to which he agrees.

It soon transpires in the town that Dimmesdale is witnessing a sharp decline in his health at which Chillingworth arrives at his lodging to treat him. He, however, senses that this decline is due to some psychological guilt and not due to some physical ailment. Soon he sees a symbol of shame on his chest. The more the minister hides his guilt, the more tormenting it becomes for him. At last, he visits the site where Hester got punishment and confesses his guilt in isolation, for having no courage to do it publicly. On the other hand, his deteriorating health also shocks Hester, who decides to break her silence .

Later, Hester meets the minister and narrates her ordeal, telling him about her revengeful husband, Chillingworth. She begs him to leave Boston to start life afresh somewhere else. Gaining strength from this new freedom from his shameful past, the church minister delivers a fiery sermon but suddenly loses his control. He climbs on the same scaffold to confess his guilt and tells everyone about his affair with Hester. Afterward, he dies in the arms of Hester. The controversy of seeing the same letter “A” carved on his chest also faces the same fierce refusal from a few in the crowd. Shortly after this incident, Chillingworth, too, dies, leaving a good amount of inheritance for Pearl. Hester, after left alone, starts living in the same cottage. After her death, her body is buried in the grave near Dimmesdale’s.

Major Themes in The Scarlet Letter

• Sin: Sense of sin, its impacts, and its manipulation and exploitation for ulterior motives is the major theme of The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne has committed this sense of having an illicit relationship with a church minister. The church minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, has committed the same offense and equally guilty as Hester. However, he sits on the jury as Hester doesn’t reveal his identity while she is standing in the criminal enclosure. When the court accuses her of adultery, as the punishment for her sin, she is excluded from the social circle and forced to wear scarlet color “A” sown on her dress. Dimmesdale does not show any remorse. However, what impacts the readers most is the way Hester dignifiedly hides this fact and only discloses when it becomes imperative. Chillingworth does not show any mercy on her.
• Conformity to Religion: Religion must need confirmation, or else the person may face subjection of censure. One of the novel’s major themes, The Scarlet Letter, confirms the religiosity of those times of puritanism, for Hester, has not confirmed its convention of the religion to stay chaste. Dimmesdale, too, shows the same trait, but he keeps it hiding, while Hester could not hide due to the birth of Pearl, her daughter from Dimmesdale. That is why she has to undergo sufferings for defying a religious convention.
• Criticism of Puritanism: The Scarlet Letter is also a critique of puritanism as well as stricture on it. It is a critique that shows how puritanism, a theological concept, has crept into public life, overtaking every social, moral , and financial aspects of life. As a stricture, it shows that it has not done good to the public life, for Hester has to undergo suffering for defying its principles, while Dimmesdale enjoys privileges because of aligning with the religious clergy.
• Public and Individual Guilt: The novel also demonstrates that when an individual, such as Hester, is caught for some guilt, he must undergo suffering that they do not deserve. However, when the whole public is involved, there is a deafening silence from the clergy as well as the jury. Dimmesdale represents the public morality and the public as the church minister but has no guts and courage like Hester to stand up for a trial. However, he feels it in his heart as an individual and has displayed the symbol on his chest.
• Moral Codes: Moral codes, ethical frameworks, and their social confirmation is another smaller thematic strand in that Hester defies a social value of the ethical framework of the Puritan social fabric. As it happens openly and people see a piece of evidence , she gets punished for violating this code. However, the case of Dimmesdale stays hidden, the reason that he does not face any punishment; rather, he faces only mental stigma.
• Gender Suppression: Gender suppression and feministic resilience is another partial theme that The Scarlet Letter demonstrated through Hester’s character . However, it does not seem that Hawthorne has consciously inserted it. Instead, it seems that it is part of the story that whereas Hester is involved, she faces punishment while it comes to a man, Chillingworth as well as Dimmesdale, they hoodwink not only the legality but also the religiosity.
• Mockery of Law: The novel shows that when a law does not protect the weaker section of the society, such as Hester Prynne, it ceases to exist as a law. Mr. Dimmesdale shows that some segments can wield law for their own purposes. Therefore, it needs to be changed, as the novel has mocked such a law.
• Domination of Patriarchy: The novel also shows that patriarchy always conspires to win when men and women are put against each other. Hester Prynne has no way to win against Dimmesdale, for he is as much responsible for bringing Pearl into this world as Hester is, yet he gets away while she faces imprisonment as well as a stricture.
• Redemption: Despite being relegated to the background, the redemption theme comes in the open when Hester has to endure long-sufferings for her sin. However, Dimmesdale wins it through his sermons and isolated confession.

Major Characters in The Scarlet Letter

• Hester Prynne: Hester Prynne is not only the primary female character but also the protagonist of the novel on account of her dignified manner, resilience, and patience to suffer the stigma of adultery. When the jury awards her punishment, she does not remonstrate. She chooses to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ and leaves the town to live the rest of her life in isolation with her daughter Pearl. On the other hand, Dimmesdale, the minister of the city, who had seduced her, stays hidden until the end. Meanwhile, Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, sees her and asks her the name of the child’s real father, Pearl, but she refuses. When the Governor, Bellingham, too, turns against her by ordering the retrieval of Pearl from her custody, she subtly makes Dimmesdale confess his guilt, though it does not happen publicly.
• Arthur Dimmesdale: A respected and reverend church minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, hoodwinks Hester into his love, committing adultery followed by the birth of Pearl, his daughter. However, when she faces public shame, he distances himself from her, sitting on the theological bureaucracy’s higher stand. Inwardly though, he is aware of his culpability, which gnaws at him and forces him to accept his guilt by the end, showing the sign on his chest after which he dies on the scaffold.
• Pearl : Pearl is Hester Prynne’s illegitimate daughter and symbol of her parents’ love and passion. She is inquisitive by nature. As she is naughty as a child and fails to recite the Bible, the church plans to put her in foster care. However, the church gives her another chance to Pearl and allows her to stay with her mother with Dimmesdale’s and Governor Bellingham’s approval. Pearl is also a reminder and symbol of the minister’s adulterous affair. Dimmesdale finally dies, confessing his crime. Also, Pearl gets considerable property from her stepfather, Chillingworth.
• Roger Chillingworth: A Dutch, Roger Chillingworth is the assumed name of the former husband of Hester Prynne, who is amazed at finding his beloved wife in an adulterous affair and having a child, Pearl. However, he does not disclose his identity and let the clergy decides her fate, though he comes to meet her as a physician to counsel her. He also plans to avenge this from Dimmesdale about whom he comes to know somehow.
• Governor Bellingham: He is an authoritative and manipulative person who exploits the helplessness of Hester Prynne and orders to take Pearl away from her. His role seems critical in forcing Hester to seek help from Dimmesdale. However, his role appears to include the other side of the story as he accepts Dimmesdale’s reasoning of letting her stay with her mother.
• General Miller: General Miller is the first official of the Custom House. His collecting duty has made him a politically strong person. He protects the employees and workers from being fired. That is why his role seems like a minor character in the novel.
• Mistress Hibbins: Hibbins’ character sheds light on the witch-hunting of those times. Despite being Governor Bellingham’s sister, she is killed when it transpires that she meets the “Black Man” in the woods for witchery.
• Inspector : He is the inspector at the Custom House and has been a product of nepotism, for his father created that seat to keep his son in the job. Due to his father’s influence, he seems to have harbored the emotion of being a permanent employee.
• John Wilson : He is another minister of the church who is involved with Dimmesdale to award punishment to Hester Prynne.

Writing Style of The Scarlet Letter‎

Despite its being written around three centuries back, The Scarlet Letter still shows the beauty of the language used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his masterpiece. Its diction is subtle and ornate, its sentences are long, complex, and intricate, while its terseness and concision resonate in the minds of its readers. However, this style ’s major feature is Romanticism, shown through a battle between the forces of good and evil.

Analysis of Literary Devices in The Scarlet Letter

• Action: The novel’s main action comprises the sufferings and woes of Hester Prynne when she is tried for adultery, thrown in prison, and subsequently ordered to keep away from the town. The rising action occurs when Dimmesdale and Wilson both award punishment, while the falling action occurs when Dimmesdale confesses his sin and punishes himself, showing his sense of shame carved on his chest.
• Allegory : The Scarlet Letter shows the use of allegory not only through its places, symbols, and incidents but also through the characters, which resemble abstract ideas such as sin, sense of sin, hypocrisy, authority, shame, and condemnation.
• Antagonist : Although it seems that Dimmesdale is the main antagonist of The Scarlet Letter in the opening chapters, it is Roger Chillingworth, who is the antagonist of the novel on account of his machinations, and stooped physical deformity that is equal to the distortion of his soul.
• Allusion : There are various examples of allusions given in the novel The Scarlet Letter. The first allusion is of Hester as she seems Eve thrown out of Paradise. Therefore, it seems a Biblical allusion. The second illusion is to Babylon, an ancient city, and third to Sir Thomas Overbury, the poet Overbury. Some other Biblical allusions include Cain, the Holy Spirit, the Pearl , and Adam and Even.
• Conflict : The are two types of conflicts in the novel The Scarlet Letter. The first one is the external conflict that starts between Hester Prynne and the authorities, including the religious church ministers, that ends in the defeat of Hester. The second conflict is the mental conflict going on in the mind of Dimmesdale because of his part in punishing Hester and her innocence.
• Characters: The Scarlet Letter presents both static as well as dynamic characters . The church minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and Pearl are dynamic characters as they change with the storyline. However, static characters include Mistress Hibbins and Governor Richard Bellingham, as they do not change during the course of the novel.
• Climax : The climax in the novel arrives when Dimmesdale and Wilson are on the jury to punish Hester.
• Foreshadowing : The novel, The Scarlet Letter, shows various examples of foreshadowing . For example, i. A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes. (Chapter-1) ii. It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue. (Chapter-2) iii. “It is done!” muttered the minister, covering his face with his hands. “The whole town will awake, and hurry forth, and find me here!” (Chapter-XII)
• Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the novel at several places. For example, i. Her spirit sank with the idea that all must have been a delusion, and that, vividly as she had dreamed it, there could be no real bond betwixt the clergyman and herself. ii. The minister started to his feet, gasping for breath, and clutching at his heart as if he would have torn it out of his bosom. (Chapter-XII) Both of these statements shows facts overblown and exaggerated even if they are in emotions and not in reality.
• Imagery : Imagery means to use of five senses such as in these examples: i. When they found voice to speak, it was at first, only to utter remarks and inquiries such as any two acquaintances might have made, about the gloomy sky, the threatening storm, and, next, the health of each. (Chapter-XVII) ii. There played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that seemed gushing from the very heart of womanhood. A crimson flush was glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale. (Chapter-XVIII) The first example shows the images of sound color as well as sight, while the second, too, demonstrates the presence of these images.
• Metaphor : The novel shows good use of various metaphors . For example, i. Hester’s first motion had been to cover her bosom with her clasped hands. (Chapter-VI) ii. she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment. (Chapter-VII) iii. No golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark forest. (XVII) iv. The instillment thereof into her mind would probably have caused this aged sister to drop down dead, at once, as by the effect of an intensely poisonous infusion. (Chapter-XX)
• Mood : The novel, The Scarlet Letter, shows a satirical mood , though, at times, it becomes quite somber, serious, ironic as well as jubilant by the end.
• Motif : The most important motifs of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is of light and darkness for Pearl and Hester.
• Narrator : The novel is narrated by a third-person narrator , though the writer himself enters the novel to narrate its introduction . Even the third-person narrator is also the writer.
• Personification : Personification means to attribute human acts and emotions to non-living objects . For example, i. While the shadow of his figure, which the sunlight cast upon the floor, was tremulous with the vehemence of his appeal. (Chapter-VIII) ii. The crisis flung back to them their consciousness, and revealed to each heart its history and experience, as life never does, except at such breathless epochs. (Chapter-XVII) iii. They needed something slight and casual to run before, and throw open the doors of intercourse, so that their real thoughts might be led across the threshold. (Chapter-XVII) Both of these examples show sunlight and crisis personified here.
• Protagonist : Hester Prynne is the protagonist of the novel. She comes into the novel from the very start and captures the readers’ interest through her extraordinary qualities until the end when Dimmesdale accepts his fault and dies.
• Paradox : The Scarlet Letter shows the use of paradox as “Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers—stern and wild ones—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” (Chapter-XVIII). The narrator means that these have made her strong instead of a weak creature.
• Rhetorical Questions : The novel shows good use of rhetorical questions in several places. For example, i. But Arthur Dimmesdale! Were such a man once more to fall, what plea could be urged in extenuation of his crime? None; unless it avail him somewhat, that he was broken down by long and exquisite suffering (Chapter-XVIII) ii. “Do I feel joy again?” cried he, wondering at himself. “Methought the germ of it was dead in me! (Chapter-XVIII) iii. But where was his mind? (Chapter-XXII) This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed by different characters such as Dimmesdale, himself, and then the narrator.
• Theme : A theme is a central idea that the novelist or the writer wants to stress upon. The novel, The Scarlet Letter shows the titular thematic strands of color and gender marginality, patriarchy, hypocrisy, and love.
• Setting : The setting of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is the city of Boston in the 1600s.
• Simile : The novel shows good use of various similes. For example, i. But yet returned, like the bad half-penny. (Introduction) ii. a quality of enchantment like that of the Devil’s wages… (Introduction) iii. He now dug into the poor clergyman’s heart, like a miner searching for gold; (Chapter-X) iv. Sometimes, a light glimmered out of the physician’s eyes, burning blue and ominous, like the reflection of a furnace, or, let us say, like one of those gleams of ghastly fire that darted from Bunyan’s1 awful door-way in the hill-side, and quivered on the pilgrim’s face. (Chapter-X)

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• Nathaniel Hawthorne 

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• The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Literature Notes
• Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter
• The Scarlet Letter at a Glance
• Book Summary
• About The Scarlet Letter
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• The Custom-House
• Character Analysis
• Hester Prynne
• Arthur Dimmesdale
• Roger Chillingworth
• Character Map
• Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography
• Critical Essays
• The Puritan Setting of The Scarlet Letter
• The Scarlet Letter as a Gothic Romance
• The Structure of The Scarlet Letter
• Famous Quotes from The Scarlet Letter
• Film Versions of The Scarlet Letter
• Full Glossary for The Scarlet Letter
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

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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99 Scarlet Letter Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best scarlet letter topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting scarlet letter topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about scarlet letter, ❓ scarlet letter essay questions.

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• What’s the Role of the Sets in “The Scarlet Letter”?
• What Are the Motifs of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth’s Friendship in “The Scarlet Letter”??
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• Should Readers Pity Hester as a Character in “The Scarlet Letter”?
• What Is the Role of Puritan Ethic in the Events of “The Scarlet Letter”?
• Who Is More Racked by Guilt in “The Scarlet Letter”?
• Should Dimmesdale Have Said Something When Governor Bellingham Took Pearl From Hester in “The Scarlet Letter”?
• What Does the Prison Door Symbolize in “The Scarlet Letter”?
• Does the Puritan Community See Hester’s Punishment as Too Strict or Too Lenient in “The Scarlet Letter”?
• Is Pearl a Curse or a Blessing in “The Scarlet Letter”?
• Does Hester’s True Identity Differ From What Society Attributes Her in “The Scarlet Letter”?
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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Scarlet Letter — The Scarlet Letter: Literature Review

The Scarlet Letter: Literature Review

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Words: 1147 |

Published: Oct 22, 2018

Words: 1147 | Pages: 3 | 6 min read

Media Creation Analysis

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