Several symbols that are found within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, represent a greater idea found outside of the story itself. The uses of symbols throughout the novel portray a truthful version of reality, one that people can relate to and find in their daily lives. He uses symbols found within nature to develop the setting, characters, and mood. The use of light and color play a significant role in depicting the symbolism of the scenery and background of the novel. The forest is a predominant setting that is also symbolic. The forest portrays the character’s psychological state of mind as well as it being a place where one can escape the grim realities of life. The use of light and darkness within the novel becomes a …show more content…
The symbol of darkness developed Dimmesdale into the character that he was becoming, a man who’s guilt was outweighing him. Hawthorne uses color within the novel to portray the significance it has on certain objects. The most predominant color used is the color red with the rosebush as its strongest example. The reader sees the use of the color with the rosebush that is present at the beginning of chapter one. The rosebush is in stark contrast to its surroundings. The rosebush could symbolize passion because Pearl was asked where she had come from and she stated that she was plucked from the rosebush. Pearl indeed was a product of passion as well as sin. The symbol of the rosebush is tied to a greater idea found outside of its literal meaning. It shows that something so beautiful can grow in even the ugliest setting. The forest, on the outskirts of town, is a symbol of freedom. The forest is a natural world that appeals to both Hester and Dimmesdale. Here they can escape the man-made laws that have been enforced through the Puritan community. The forest becomes a symbol of guilt free bliss. In this other world Hester freely could take off her cap allowing her hair to be let down where the sun shined upon her. She is transformed into the drab woman that she once was into a graceful woman. However, Pearl notes how the sun does not like Hester, saying it runs away and hides because of the scarlet letter she is
The author uses Pearl’s interest in the devil to connect her to a symbol of evil and sin. The Black Man is “associated with the forested wilderness” and is found there at night (250). The chapters A Forest Walk, A Flood of Sunshine, and The Child at the Brook-Side display how naturally Pearl fits into the wilderness. Hester perceives her “now like a real child” who was “gentler here than in grassy-marginated streets of the settlement” (187, 188). Hawthorne shows how the “nymph-child” fits into the Black Man’s forest more than the Puritan village. He conveys how connected she is to the devil, and that her symbolic character embodies that. This mythical and sinful symbol has a spell-like aspect; Hawthorne uses this character to further the novel and prove his point.
Nature is often used symbolically in The Scarlet Letter to describe people physically, emotionally, and socially. Hawthorne uses this technique very effectively. He gives the reader a good feel for the true psyche of some of the characters during different parts of the story. An excellent example of how characters are revealed through nature is the description of the lone rose-bush. It symbolizes Hester and the strength she
Hawthorne does not only use human or people for symbolism. He also uses inanimate objects to project his themes and morals. There are many different things used iron, a rosebush, scaffolds, and of course the scarlet letter. In The Scarlet Letter the author might directly state what the objects represents or it might be left to the reader to decide for themselves what the object means.
The rose bushes and the red blossoms symbolize the strength the rose bush needed to survive in its elements to thus provide happiness in others. That one lone beauty, growing in such a dark and gloomy place, provides a ray of hope for those living in despair and loneliness inside the prison gates. The elements the rose bush is exposed to, act as a metaphor for Hester and her hardships which she slowly learns to adapt to.
Webster defined "symbol" with these words: "Something concrete that represents or suggests another thing that cannot in itself be pictured." This concept has been particularly applied to literature and used by writers throughout history. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter uses multitudes of symbols in such a manner. One of the most prominent, and most complicated, of such symbols is the scarlet letter "A". The scarlet letter "A" is a symbol of a daughter's connection to her mother, isolation, and the devil and its associations.
Using symbolism gives a story meaning like the objects and people that the story contains, and it causes the reader to make relations with what events are occurring. In The Scarlet Letter, symbolism is used in order to describe Hester Prynne’s sin and disgrace. Even though the story is about her and how she handles the shame, the other culprit behind the lust, Arthur Dimmesdale, does not actually come forward until the end, but he suffers throughout the book by beating himself. In the end, however, he dies because he withheld the guilt while Hester suffers with their child, Pearl, who is one of the symbols of the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical devices, especially symbolism, in order to show objects have deeper meanings than what they actually represent when he describes the scene when Hester Prynne is standing on the scaffold in the middle of the town in front of thousands of citizens.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, features many instances of symbolism. One notable example is the opposing behavioral systems of the forest and town and how natural authority triumphs that of man.
In one of the chapters, Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest with a "gray expanse of cloud" and a narrow path that’s hidden in the dense forest. Their feelings, that have been weighed down by guilt and sorrow, are reflected in the darkness of nature, like the forest. On the other hand, the sun is a symbol of guilt-free happiness or the approval of God. It also appears to be the light of truth and grace. Colors are similar to light and dark in the book, too. One of the most common colors is red, as seen in the roses, the letter, Pearl's clothing, the "scarlet woman," and in Chillingworth's eyes. For example, the scarlet letter is shown as an intense red A in the sky, a green A of seaweed arranged by Pearl, the A on Hester's dress decorated by Pearl, an A on Dimmesdale's chest seen by some spectators at the Election Day procession. The Puritans who gathered around for the procession can examine at the A on Dimmesdale’s chest and see it as dark or
Hawthorne makes extensive use of symbols-people,places,or objects that are made to take on a larger meaning. Explain briefly Hawthorne’s use of the following symbols: the scaffold, the forest, weeds, and poisonous plants. In the beginning near the prison door is a rosebush and this rosebush is a symbol.The rosebush symbolizes that nature is able to extend its pity and its kindness to its prisoners and in fact this rosebush grew once Anne Hutchinson passed by that prison door. The ending of the chapter the blossom of that rosebush symbolizes some of its sweet moral. The blossom can symbolize the relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.
Nathaniel Hawthorne emphasizes symbolism using elements of nature that represent good vs. evil, sin, and continual rebellion against Puritan society. The basis of Nathaniel's writing style is symbolism and allegory, (where concrete objects usually have a hidden meaning). The symbolism found most importantly throughout the novel so far would be light, darkness, and the rose bush, all found in nature. Symbolism is present throughout the entire novel.
LOGLINE: A truck driver stumbles upon a terror cell that clashes with a biker gang that wants to settle a score, but ends up combining forces and saving the day.
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,
From the first chapter in The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne conveys a very symbolic technique, color imagery.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, symbolsim is constantly present in the actual scarlet letter “A” as it is viewed as a symbol of sin and the gradally changes its meanign, guilt is also a mejore symbol, and Pearl’s role in this novel is symbolic as well. The Scarlet Letter includes many profound and crucial symbols. these devices of symbolism are best portayed in the novel, most noticably through the letter “A” best exemplifies the changes in the symbolic meaning throughout the novel.
This level must not be neglected as it is the very core of existence within the four different layers of systems identified by Bronfenbrenner (Visser, 2007, p. 106). Due to the interaction between the individual and the different systems, it is necessary to not merely analyse the risk factors imbedded in the series of systems, but the elements within the individual as well.