Archetypes And Allusions Of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's ' The Scarlet Letter '

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter expresses various themes of dark romanticism using symbolism. One of the more obvious symbols is that of the scaffold, which is present throughout the story. Upon in-depth exploration, I discovered this use of symbolism relates both literally and metaphorically to the dark romantic themes present in Hawthorne’s tale. First, let me discuss the scaffold and its constant presence in the story. The townspeople, Hester, and Dimmesdale use the scaffold on numerous occasions; most often, its use is to shame, harass, and isolate Hester Prynne so that she will confess the name of her child’s father. However, at times, the scaffold is used as a sanctuary and a confessional for others.

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows multiple connections between characters and nature. As the story progresses nature becomes more prevalent in the characters and continues to establish certain characteristics for each character. This established connection provides a view into the depths of human nature that each character portrays.

During the 17th century, a Puritan commonwealth presided over Boston and was known for its strict adherence to religious, moral and social codes. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes rhetorical strategies in order to denounce the Puritan system of beliefs and bring to light the hypocrisy of the Puritan community as he tells the agonizing story of a young woman who was condemned by society.

The Puritan era in New England was inundated with an atmosphere of righteousness and judgment. This culture spurned those who strayed from its religious codes. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses multiple symbols to bring a deeper meaning to the society, his characters, and to adultery. One of the motifs used comes as the character Pearl, the daughter of the two adulterers. Pearl has multiple descriptions; physically, she is “a lovely and immortal flower,” yet also “an airy sprite . . . as if she were hovering in the air and might vanish” (80, 83). She has a “wild, desperate, defiant mood” and is often referred to as a “flower,” a “bird,” and an “elf” (82, 80, 98, 87). Hawthorne uses Pearl’s multi-layered personality

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a brilliant writer of the 19th century. Hawthorne created a novel that reflected the time period of the Puritans in New England. The Scarlet Letter contains a representation of the people during that time period but can also be related to the reader’s time period. Originally, God created the world with complete perfection until man fell, and sin entered the world. In the eyes of God, a sin is a sin. There is no worse sin that one can commit. Man is the one that decided that one sin could be more harshly judged than another. Hawthorne uses the theme of sin to show the importance of one’s faith and conviction and how those principles relate to fallen sinners.

The partner of sin with Hester, Dimmesdale is a young minister who is very popular for preaching his enlightening sermons. Although Dimmesdale is seen in the light, that light is dimmed through the constant physiological manipulation brought forth from Chillingworth. One cannot live with so much guilt so Dimmesdale deals with it by self harm. Hawthorne illustrates a change in the minister, “His inward trouble drove him to practices more in accordance with the old, corrupted faith of Rome than with the better light of the church in which he had been born and bred.”. A change indeed one that haunts Dimmesdale to his eventual

The downfall of an individuality can grow from the societal influences of the world’s compulsion to conform. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and reverend Arthur Dimmesdale endeavor to assimilate to the expectations of a puritan society. Throughout the narrative, Prynne and Dimmesdale fight to make amends for their sin of adultery, as the town glares a spiteful eye at Prynne. Prynne makes a conscious decision to embrace her quarantine from the community’s shunning. However, Dimmesdale faces an internal battle of shame and guilt. Prynne and Dimmesdale suffer the fate of alienation however, Prynne accepts isolation, becoming steadfast, while Dimmesdale denies his sin, creating a lonely visceral conflict.

The Scarlet Letter was a novel written in the 1850 's by a man named Nathaniel Hawthorne. Throughout the Scarlet Letter he uses scads of literary devices. The literary devices are there to give the novel more depth. The main device he uses in the novel is symbolism. Hawthorne uses the symbolism to make an object have more than one meaning. Three of the elements he uses as symbols are the scarlet letter, Pearl, and the forest. These symbols are seen differently by the Puritan people and the narrator. The narrator sees those symbols as positive benefit for Hester. While the Puritans see those symbols as a negative affect to the community.

Forms and Symbolism of “The Scarlet Letter” The crime of adultery goes as far back as the time of Abraham, who was the first recorded adulterer in the Bible. Throughout the years, there were various different forms of punishment for adultery, many of them being death. Punishment also came in the form of public humiliation, which is demonstrated in Nathaniel Hawthorne's book, “The Scarlet Letter” in which a young woman, her name being Hester Prynne, was accused of adultery whilst her husband was away.

One of the most obvious and insidious symbols that Nathaniel Hawthorne includes, hence the name “The Scarlet Letter”, is the scarlet letter “A” that is placed upon Hester’s chest. However, the majority of symbolism that Hawthorne includes, is not as prominent as that of the scarlet letter. Hawthorne includes a copious amount of symbolic meanings in his famous novel The Scarlet Letter that gives each chapter a deeper meaning.

Symbolism is the use of symbols to express or represent ideas or qualities in literature. There are many symbols throughout Nathanial Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. The characters and many different things throughout the book are all symbolic, but the main symbol in the novel is the letter “A” on Hester Prynne’s gown. Not only are there many symbols throughout the novel, but the letter “A” has many different representations of itself such as, adultery, which is the main symbol for the “A,” her ability to do things, and she is even referred to as an angel. The letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. As Hester grows and changes as a person throughout the novel, so does the letter’s symbolism (“The LitCharts…”). The letter “A” has a totally different meaning, in the way that everybody sees Hester Prynne, at the end of the novel than it does at the beginning of the novel.

One of the most commonly used and arguable most effective literary devices is symbolism. A symbol is merely a tangible object with an abstract meaning. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn is a highly symbolic novel, and its author uses each symbol to add a deeper meaning to the story. One of the most important symbols in the novel is Pearl. Hester’s young daughter represents chaos, beauty and the guilt of her mother.

The Scarlet Letter was set in Puritan Boston during the 17th century, so when asked what form of literature the book is, the most obvious answer would be Puritan Literature. However, this could not be further from the truth. Instead, the Scarlet Letter is apart of Romantic Literature. Romantic Literature embraces individuality, supernatural elements, rejection of rationalism and social convention, and the beauty of nature. The Scarlet Letter cements itself as a Romantic form of literature by showing characters pursing individuality, its supernatural elements, and its exploration of taboo ideas.

In The Scarlet letter the author Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the use of symbolism in the book, especially the scarlet letter “A.” Symbolism is defined as a figure of speech used for an object, or a word to represent something else in literature. The Scarlet letter “A” had a change of meaning throughout the novel. In the inception of the book it is known as a symbol of Adultery. As the book continues the scarlet letter is looked at differently on the main character Hester Prynne’s chest from Adultery to Able.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his allegorical novel, The Scarlet Letter written in 1850, creates an accurate view of Boston's past, in which sin was punishable through societies perception of the sinner. The novel is based on the Massachusetts Bay colony, a puritan settlement established in 1630. Themes of hypocrisy, morality, and justice accompany the foremost idea of immorality throughout each page, and take part in the character's everyday life. The purpose manifests through Hawthorne's use of illusion, allegory, and irony.