How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Symbols In The Scarlet Letter

Before Dimmesdale openly rejects the burr when thrown at him, Dimmesdale is associated with Hester’s husband “Roger Chillingworth”. Chillingworth makes it his mission to poke and prod answers out of Dimmesdale to get information about Dimmesdale’s life. Dimmesdale raises concerns in the community due to his appearance after meeting Chillingworth. Hawthorne explains, “His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed, on any slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart, with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain” (Hawthorne 109-110). This quote shows that Dimmesdale’s appearance is changing drastically because he is slowly dying from guilt.

In the novel, “The Scarlet Letter”, a woman named Hester Prynne commits a sin. She commits the sin of adultery which results in the birth of her daughter Pearl. Hester now has to wear a scarlet letter on her chest for the rest of her life. Unbeknownst to everyone else except Hester, Dimmesdale, is the father of Pearl. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, now seeks revenge for what Hester has done to him. He learns that Dimmesdale is the father but tells no one because he wants to have something over Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale reveals his sin to the public of Boston and dies. Pearl and Hester leave to make a life for themselves.

Reverend Dimmesdale is a character foil of Hester Prynne. Whereas she represents repented and forgiven sin he does not. Dimmesdale cannot forgive himself and tortures himself because of it. He does this by holding vigils and famines. This causes him to be weak and frail, whereas Hester is strong and thusly causing her to be the strength of Dimmsdale both mentally and physically. Together Hester and Dimmesdale plan to leave Boston to return to England, but Dimmesdale dies due to his constant torture.

Primarily, Hester undergoes a high burden, constantly being reminded of her sin day in and day out. Unlike Dimmesdale, Hester has a reminder standing right in front of her every day. Pearl is the angel child formed by the satanic relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale, which influences Hester to fear Pearl’s future. Every day, Hester “dread[s] to detect some dark and wild peculiarity, that should correspond to the guiltiness to which she owe[s] her being” (Hawthorne 104). The initial frailty of Hester leads to her poor choice in having an affair with Dimmesdale, which then results in the birth of Pearl, causing Hester’s distress.

World War I was a long, hard war that resulted in a catastrophic death toll with no real change in the world as to what it was before the war, because of this many people refer to it as an “unnecessary war”. Without World War I most people, believe that the world would have been generally the same as to what it had always been and so the loss of millions of lives had essentially been for nothing. World War I or the Great War, as it used to be referred to as, seemed to have been caused because of imperialism, nationalism, and militarism. Some of the major countries were fighting to be the best, they wanted the most advanced and proficient army and they wanted to expand their country and take over more territories and because of this major tensions

Despite being considered God’s punishment for Hester, Pearl was also a blessing in disguise. Her whimsical behavior enthralled people. She was the light in Hester’s sad world, and she was the reason Hester did not lose herself completely due to sorrow and isolation. Pearl’s acts of affection gave her mother hope. Her affection also pleased the minister even though he was

First, Hawthorne uses Pearl as a symbol of guilt. Pearl is the baby of Hester and Hester had her out of a sin because she wasn’t married to Dimmesdale Pearl’s real Dad so she is a sin baby. Pearl name means comes at a great price and made from pressure and darkness because she was create from the sin of adultery sex. As Hawthorne say, “But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price, purchased with all she had,her mother’s only treasure!”

Similarly, Hawthorne uses Pearl to contribute to the theme of Imperfection. Pearl is the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale, or in other words the product of adultery. After Hester is sent to prison, Pearl is born. Which was just 3 months before she and her mother had to present themselves on the scaffold in town. Hawthorne explains, “She bore a child in her arms, a baby of three months old, who winked....because it’s existence...acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon…” (Hawthorne 50). The prison is a place of punishment and pure wickedness. Hawthorne explains that from the beginning of her life, Pearl was born into evil. Nonetheless, like any other child brought into the world she was still a gift from God, the prime example of Imperfection. Pearl was very intelligent and beautiful at a young age, but she still had an evil aspect to her that Hester saw firsthand. Pearl would sometimes show her mother affection but would quickly cover it up with vile laughter. Hester explains, “She is my happiness-she is my torture...Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too!” (Hawthorne 109). Proving Pearl was a faulty gift that Hester had to work hard for to keep. With

During the scene involving the juxtaposition between the prison and rosebush, Hawthorne states, “it [the rosebush] may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow,” (Hawthorne 34). Furthermore, the rosebush is a symbol of hope. The thorny, red-petaled plant signifies the hope Hester holds and her aspiration to embed Pearl with that very form of hope. Since Pearl represents hope, as does the rosebush, it is only fitting that Pearl tends to gravitate towards the rosebush. When Pearl and her mother visit Governor Bellingham’s home, Pearl’s attention is drawn towards the rosebush that sits outside the Governor's extravagant residence.

Dimmesdale is observed doing just that as he implores Hester to reveal his name but begs her to keep it a secret. As misleading as DImmesdale’s speech may be, Hawthorne reveals Dimmesdale’s secret through a description of the minister’s body language and actions. Dimmesdale broadcasts his guilt by keeping “his hand upon his heart” where he feels the pain of Hester’s letter and the weight of his own hypocrisy (Hawthorne 59). Dimmesdale’s guilty conscience becomes

This passage is extremely significant because it fully details Pearl, the result of a sin, as very different to the demonic child society views her as. Although Pearl is a constant reminder to Hester of her sins, the author presents an alternate view of her as a symbol, not only of guilt, but also of the peace and goodness that Hester has found by accepting her

One very prominent character Hawthorne uses is Hester Prynne, mother of Pearl. Hester uses Pearl as a coping mechanism, “Even thus early had the child saved her from Satan's snare (Hawthorne 114).” Despite the harsh circumstances of their life, Pearl provides Hester with a deep and powerful love. Hawthorne makes Pearl significant in Hester's life because without her, Hester would have

Application Hawthorne in the Scarlet Letter used a lot of symbols. Objects are characters serve more than a referent for a visible thing, instead, they more probably stand for something invisible which Hawthorne intends to highlight. Symbols cannot be interpreted or decoded in one way because usually, one thing symbolizes another thing. Whether Hawthorne is explicit or implicit in his symbols, we must understand that the interpretations of symbols can change according to the context they occur in. The Scarlet Letter “A”

Hester’s battle with herself can only be understood by taking a glimpse into her daily life with her beloved daughter, Pearl. Pearl is the physical manifestation of her sin, of the adultery that Hester committed with her secret lover; with every waking hour, Pearl is always alongside Hester, constantly reminding Hester of her transgression. Whenever Hester sees Pearl, she sees a young and energetic girl, who also possesses the same attributes that she loathes about herself, the difficult and wild side of herself that would never give up. Hawthorne writes that Pearl, “lacked reference and adaptation to the world into which she was born. [Pearl] could not be made amenable to rules” (Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many forms of symbolism in his book The Scarlet Letter. Symbolism is, according to Merriam-Webster, “the art or practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visual or sensuous representations.” This means that the author was using objects to represent an action or idea. The symbols used in his book is either all physical or visible objects. Many of the symbols in the book are about characters.Nathaniel’s ideas came from his bonds with the Puritans. According to CliffsNotes, “the Puritans had great difficulty in loving the sinner and hating the sin”. With the Puritans strong hatred for sin,