How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Symbols In The Scarlet Letter

987 Words2 Pages

A Final Paper on

Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's
"The Scarlet Letter"

By:
Hala Khaled Shaheen
220141211

Submitted to:
Dr. Akram Habeeb

IUG, Spring, 2018
Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"

Introduction
Symbolism is not a mere literary device which writers insert in their writings to achieve a figurative level. It is much more than that, it is a way of living. Humans when they talk they use symbols to communicate, i.e. the words they utter are but symbols. Moving to literature, it is very difficult to find a work of literature that has no symbolism in its structure, and one might argue that the mere existence of literature depends on whether symbolism was featured in that literary text or not. Carlyle (1984: …show more content…

Hawthorne tried to reveal his passions, emotions, anxieties through his writings, exposing the truth of the human heart, and this is exactly what he was trying to achieve when he wrote the Scarlet Letter. To Hawthorne, the symbolism was a form of expression exactly like what Symons (1908) suggests. The objective of this work is to explore symbols that can be found in the scarlet letters, and then to try to identify the miscellaneous interpretations for each symbol. Symbols in the Scarlet Letter are in abundance, and therefore the researcher will limit herself for a number of symbols, such as the scarlet letter, the red mark on Dimmesdale's chest, the meteor, the black man, and the forest and the …show more content…

However, the most important symbol he argues is the scarlet letter "A" which was used in the novel to serve as an innuendo of adultery; even though Hester does not deem herself a sinner, still, we can see how this is like a mark of shame that gives her a burning sensation. This notion is further supported when in later chapters we see the letter magnified in the mirror, as if through metafiction, Hawthorne is trying to tell us that this is the prominent symbol in the novel, and you have to accept this fact (Lall, 1999). According to him, even Pearl knows that Hester is not blessed by the sunshine because of the scarlet letter; Pearl is aware that nature is punishing Hester, for she tells Hester that the sunshine is driven away because of the scarlet letter that she is wearing on her bosom; Apparently, Pearl came up to this conclusion because the sun was enveloping Pearl, as opposed to her mother, as she said “for I wear nothing on my bosom

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