Symbolism can be found all throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. While most of the symbolism in his work may subtle, it all plays a large role in his novel. Symbolism is often defined as something, like an object, that represents something else or an idea. One may even say he overuses symbolism in his work, “The Scarlet Letter”, but the meaning of his symbols change throughout the novel. For example, the letter “A” has one meaning in the beginning, but it changes a few times by the end novel. Some of the major forms of symbolism within “The Scarlet Letter” are the letter “A”, Pearl, and the Arthur Dimmesdale. The letter “A” in “The Scarlet Letter” is one of the most prominent forms of symbolism in Hawthorne’s novel. In the …show more content…
As the puritans began to see Hester as a caring woman, and as someone who was concerned for the betterment of her community, the letter “A” no longer stood for adultery. "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” (Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter). This shows that with all the good deeds that Hester has done, the puritan community didn’t belittle or scorn Hester Prynne anymore. The puritan community “refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification” (Baym and Levine, pg.539). The letter became a symbol of her calling. Hester “brings food to the doors of the poor, she nurses the sick, and she is a source of aid in times of trouble” (The Scarlet Letter). This led the puritans to believe that the letter “A” stood for able. She was an able woman. She was no longer looked down upon or negatively talked about. Hester was respected by her community for the sensitive and nurturing woman she was. “Eventually, the letter even achieved a kind of holiness” (Shmoop Editorial Team). She was even a Sister of Mercy. The scarlet letter had “the effect of the cross on a nun 's bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril. Had she fallen among thieves, it would have kept her …show more content…
Pearl is Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s daughter, but she is much more than that. She represents her parents’ sin, and the puritan community sees her as the devil’s work. She is a constant reminder that Hester committed adultery. In chapter eight, Hester tells the pious committee what Pearl means to her. “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?" (Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter). This shows that Pearl is more of an object of symbolism than an actual character. She also serves as the connecting link between Hester and Dimmesdale. She represents their love and passion for each other. “Pearl was the oneness of their being. Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubt that their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoined, when they beheld at once the material union, and the spiritual idea, in whom they met, and were to dwell immortally together?” (Baym and Levine, pg.563). Pearl is also a physical consequence of Hester and Dimmesdale’s sexual sin. Although Pearl is often looked at as a negative symbol, she is a positive blessing in Hester’s
“Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used by the author to represent abstract ideas or concepts.” Symbolism in literature is the depth and hidden meaning in any piece of work. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a powerful and evocative novel laced with symbolism. The most obvious is the symbol of the scarlet letter itself, representing Hester’s sin of adultery. Hawthorne’s other symbols are less obvious and are very often obscured in the novel.
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes imagery to convey that Dimmesdale can represent Puritan Society rather than the round character that can be seen on the surface level. This is seen through the imagery and symbolism of hypocrisy, Dimmesdale as a Christ figure, and the scarlet letter.
Symbolic characters are very important in most powerful novels. One classic that uses characters as symbols is The Scarlet Letter. This novel is about a woman in Puritan society, Hester, who commits adultery with her minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. She has a daughter, Pearl, and is forced to wear a scarlet letter the rest of her life. Arthur hides his sin and becomes extremely troubled. Hester's husband, Roger, takes it upon himself to judge and punish Arthur for his sin and becomes like the devil. Three characters in the novel are symbolic; Roger Chillingworth, the young woman, and Pearl.
Initially Pearl is the symbol of Hesters public punishment for her adultery. As the novel progresses and Pearl matures she symbolizes the deteriation of Hester's like by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter "A". Pearl in a sense wants her mother to live up to her sin and, she achieves this by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter. Another peice of evidence that shows how Pearl symbolizes the sin Hester has committed, is when the town government wants to take Pearl away from her Revrend Dimmsdale convinces the government that Pearl is a living reminder of her sin. This is essentialy true, Hester without Pearl is like having Hester without sin.
A symbol is an object used to stand for something else. Symbolism has a hidden meaning lying within it; these meanings unite to form a more detailed theme. Symbolism is widely used in The Scarlet Letter to help the reader better understand the deep meanings Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays throughout his novel. He shows that sin, known or unknown to the community, isolates a person from their community and from God. Hawthorne also shows this by symbols in nature around the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest.
Pearl is said to symbolize the result of sin but her character as a child have placed an innocent view of her contribution to the story. As any mother would accept their child she have accepted her “… torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too!”(Hawthorne 38). Hester “represent the violation of social contract” (Egan1), because of her simple imperfection of “struggles to meet the social demands.
Hawthorne assures that symbolism is prevalent throughout The Scarlet Letter. The novel is filled with countless symbols; however, the most central symbols are Pearl, the scaffold, and the scarlet letter. Each symbol changes significance throughout stages of the novel. Whereas most of the objects started out as a punishment, or a negative symbol, they ultimately improve, providing hope and inspiration for all sinners.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a Romantic novel set in Colonial Boston. The main character, Hester, wears a scarlet letter "A" as a symbol of adultery, but she refuses to identify the partner in her crime. Hawthorne uses many symbols in his novel to discuss the effects of this refusal. Three symbols in the novel are Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.
The Scarlet Letter contains many different symbols throughout the novel. One major one is the
Nathaniel Hawthorne values symbols to develop themes, evoke emotion and indicate layers of meanings that add to the story’s complexity. The symbols of the scarlet letter, in The Scarlet Letter, and the black veil, in The Minister’s Black Veil, while similar in many ways, are vastly different. Most notably, the scarlet letter and the veil differ on why each character incorporates the emblem into their nature, the insight of their sin and the reason for punishment. Furthermore, the two symbols have unequivocally woven themselves into the basic fundamentals of each of the character’s attribute’s, their portrayal of shame, sin and the judgement of others.
The scarlet letter “A” was worn by Hester Prynne daily to show her sin of adultery. While the primary meaning of the “A” was adulterer it later signified able, “People refused to interpret the scarlet “A” by its original signification. They said that it meant “Able,” so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 152). Hester has overcome her sin and did not let it define her as a woman. Hester being ostracized and tormented for doing what every woman does shaped her into a strong, able woman. The townspeople, at least in private life, do not look at her as the woman she was, but the woman she has
Hester Prynne becomes shamed and alienated from her Puritan settlement in Boston, Massachusetts following her affair with the town’s reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester wears a scarlet colored “A” on her clothes everyday as a form of punishment for her unholy act. The letter “A” was specifically chosen to represent
The Scarlet Letter, at its most basic element, is the story of an adulteress and her place in the town of Boston in the late seventeenth century. The adulteress, Hester Prynne, is put on trial and sentenced to public shaming that day and to wear a letter “A” on herself for the rest of her life. From there on the story becomes progressively more symbolic, with the characters and objects in the story representing abstractions rather than the physical characters following a plot. Throughout the novel the use of symbolism is used repetitiously, and serves an important purpose. Hawthorne uses symbolism to illustrate his liberal view on societal justice in regard to the
“On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne, chap. 2, para. 10). At first glance, Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter gives the scarlet letter a sense of beauty and elegance in contrast with the townspeople’s simplicity. However, the scarlet letter is proven to represent shame, sin, and punishment throughout the novel, especially in Hester Prynne, the one branded with the mark. The scarlet letter signifies Hester’s punishment and the damage resulting from it.
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.