How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Symbols In The Scarlet Letter

There are many forms of symbolism found in The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne, the author uses his many forms of symbolism to project a lesson or moral created throughout the story. Even each of the main characters has a different moral representation. Guilt, repentance, purity, and strength each are shown through the eyes of a different character. Pear, Hester Prynne, Chillingworth, and Reverend Dimmesdale are main characters that are used to show that you should “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!”(Hawthorne286)

In the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne symbolism is used to represent the evolution of the characters primarily that of Hester Prynne. Two of these symbols as they are used repeatedly create underlying truths telling their own story of growth and understanding as sunshine and the letter "A" bring to light who Hester Prynne truly is.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a classic piece of American literature. There is symbolism in four of the main characters names. Hester Prynne rhymes with sin, connecting her with the sin of adultery she commits. Her inner strength, her truthfulness, and her empathy may have all along been in her character, but The Scarlet Letter brings them to attention. Pearl symbolizes the work of something dirty being turned into something beautiful.

The scarlet letter represents Pearl's emotional attachment to Hester. For instance, Pearl is as deeply affectionate to the

The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is known to have a lot of symbolism. Symbolism is a way to convey ideas and give a book a deeper meaning to readers. While there are many symbols in the Scarlet Letter, there are a few that stand out more than others. Pearl, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all main characters that have symbols. Hawthorne symbols are used to help readers relate to the story. In order to really comprehend the book the reader must understand the use of symbolism and what each of the characters represent.

The opening scaffold scene develops this idea by describing people’s initial expressions towards seeing the bright “A” clearly pronounced upon Hester’s bosom. With scornful countenances, people of all ages inwardly condemn Hester for her sin of adultery, seeing her as one who disregards the strict decrees of Puritan society. Furthermore, Hester suffers daily from clergymen who condemn her in their sermons and little children who, manipulated by their parents, avoid her on streets with indescribable fear. As all of this is presented, one starts to sense the negative connotation of the letter, especially after one reads of the supposed evil that is Hester’s daughter Pearl. Presented as a boisterous child who “would frown, and clench her little fist, and harden her small features into a stern, unsympathizing look of discontent… like a thing incapable and unintelligent of human sorrow” Pearl seems to be a symbol of evil, in the way that she is represented as a creature lacking human qualities (Hawthorne 87). Likewise, the quote “over her grave, the infamy that she must carry thither would be her only monument” reveals the scarlet letter as Hester’s major sin, the only thing people recognize, and something that she will be remembered for until her death (Hawthorne 75). However, as the story progresses, a deeper meaning of the

The book The Scarlet Letter has an absurd amount of symbolism in it. It seems like there is symbolism on every page of the book. The author Hawthorne uses everything he can as symbolism and he uses it well. He could use something as simple as a letter to symbolize a much larger concept. A concept so big that a woman based her life on it and had to live with what she did and must raise a child in the world. To understand symbolism and how it's used in The Scarlet Letter, it must be explained.

Symbolism of The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter is a novel full of love, hate, mystery, drama, grief, sin and revenge, all of which happens in today’s day and age, but the author explains how these emotions were dealt with in a different time period. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1850, but the time period in the book is the 17th century, in Boston. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict good and evil among the characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.

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.

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's most prominent use of symbolism revolves around the use of a scarlet letter, “A.” Throughout the novel, the meaning of this letter transforms as the main character, Hester Prynne, herself evolves. From “adultery” to “able,” the scarlet letter ultimately comes to function as a representation of Hester’s inner identity, defining her very being. In using this symbol of identity to represent Hester, Hawthorne utilizes the letter to contrast Hester from her Puritan counterparts, and subsequently, criticize their beliefs system and moral

In the book, The Scarlet Letter, symbolism is found all over the place and is a big part of the story. Symbolism sets the mood and plays a major role in making the theme of the book. The symbols in the book also affect the characters actions and their attitudes. The Scarlet letter repeated the use of various symbols all over the book and impacted the book in various and major ways. The symbols that impact the story are the scarlet letter itself, the scaffold, and the rosebush in front of the prison.

During the Scarlet Letter Hawthorne puts symbolism into his novel that express a different kind

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne displays the mindset of both Romantic and Dark Romantic authors. The novel’s very title introduces the reader to a central symbol that Hawthorne uses to represent two of the main characters’ sin and guilt. Hawthorne uses duality and juxtaposition throughout the novel, so that the reader makes observations on man’s guilt and fault, but also the freeing aspect of humans’ hearts and also to develop the theme that it is better for one to accept his or her guilt than to mask it and entrap it within his or her soul. In the beginning of the novel, Hawthorne portrays the scarlet letter as a binding symbol for both Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale, though Hester comes to accept it where Dimmesdale gradually degrades internally and

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.

Symbols unlock the secrets of a story. Hawthorne, in The Scarlet Letter, uses many symbols to represent different things. Some symbols represent the same thing. The letter “A” has many meanings, each character has their own meanings, and even the different parts of nature are symbols. Also, apart from providing structure for the novel, each scaffold scene conveys something different. One could say, arguably, that nearly everything in The Scarlet Letter is a symbol for something else.