Symbols In The Scarlet Letter

Within The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses symbolism, “the use of symbols to represent ideas” (Bell 10), affluently. The amount of symbolism Hawthorne uses could lead some to believe that The Scarlet Letter is in fact an allegory. Nearly every object in Hawthorne’s novel is symbolic. Hawthorne uses everyday objects and places to symbolize many main themes, concepts, and ideas in the lives of Hester and Pearl as well as multiple other main characters.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

This “A” is the literal symbol of adultery, one of the seven deadly sins. Throughout the novel the scarlet letter reiterates itself in many different forms such as the gold-embroidered “A” on Hester Prynne that intrigued Pearl Prynne. Later, the letter is then magnified in the armored breast plate at Governor Bellingham’s mansion, which is so extravagant that it seems to cover Hester. Next, on the night of Arthur Dimmesdale’s vigil, he looks to the sky and sees a red “A”. And finally, the letter is revealed on Dimmsdale’s chest in front of the entire village.

The first symbolism in the novel is how the letter “A” represents adultery. Julian Hawthorne stated, “it burns upon its wearer's breast, it casts a lurid glow along her pathway, it isolates her among mankind,” The letter “A” became part of Hester. It made her have her own glow and made her an outcast from society due to her independence and rebellious mindset. Hawthorne symbolizes the letter to represent Hester Prynne’s sin throughout the book. She,“ turned her eyes downward at the scarlet, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real,” (Hawthorne,5). Hester Prynne’s sin has brought her shame because the puritans believed that humanity should live life by the bible. Additionally, in the bible it is a sin for humans to have

For committing the crime of adultery, Hester Prynne is forced by the town council to have a scarlet ‘A’ with a gold trim to be worn at all times, as symbol of her sin, and, to be worn at all times for the rest of her life. Because everyone in town is strong in their puritan faith, the townspeople reject Hester along with the church. At first, society rejects Hester for her sinful ways. Consequently, Hester moves to the outskirts of town to escape the oppression society pressed on her. As time went on, “many people refused to interpret the scarlet letter ‘A’ by its original signification.

The weight of societal expectations is one carried by all individuals. Children, however, are often influenced to a lesser extent by these binds due to the innocent lens through which they view the world. The short story "Pigs Can't Fly" follows the experiences of a young boy named Arjie, as he tries to find his place in a world, stuck in between a harsh limbo between fantasy and reality. The author's use of symbolism, and metaphors emphasizes the Arjie's perspective of the world and how his youthful innocence hides the expectations of a grown up world bound by expectations. The author further emphasizes this by using a first person point of view, placing the reader in the shoes of Arjie, and the setting of the passage to suggest that the innocent lens in which children see the world shields them from the perceptions of those around them.

Many books revolve around one main symbol. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main symbol is the title of the book, the scarlet letter.  This symbol is focused on throughout the book and as the plot progresses, the meaning of the scarlet letter changes. The scarlet letter is not viewed the same by all the characters in the book, however. The view of this symbol by the villagers, Hester, Pearl, and the author are all different, and change throughout the book.

By using symbolism to convey his argument in his novel, Hawthorne adds nuanced meaning to his argument. Notably, the letter A, the most prominent symbol in the book which originally meant to symbolize adultery, is ambiguous in many ways in order to give the reader the subtle idea that sins are not black and white. The Puritans meant for the letter A to be an ugly mark on the pure soul of Hester, nevertheless the letter “was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of

     In the novel, there are four different versions of the letter “A”. The first is presented at the beginning of the book, where Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her breast. The second occurrence is during the second scaffold

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,

As the novel progresses the meaning of the symbolism of the letter “A” starts ti blossom into a new meaning. Toward the climax of the novel Hester Prynne’s appearance is altered to where she is no longer viewed as a sinner. The meaning on the symbol changes from of the devil to a some what vague symbol, as if it has lost its initial connotation. Society now views her a symbol that differs whom she really is, she is viewed as a strong woman through all the torment that is put in a unfortunate situation. At this point Hester has already learned how to dealt with the burden of the scarlet letter. Withstanding the pressures of society boiling down waiting patiently for Hester Prynne to crack, she does not, she grows into a stronger woman. A woman that has gone through hell and back and continues to thrive in her society even under the circumstances she lives in. The scarlet letter “A” meaning has changed, “ hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility” (Hawthorne 147). Slowly Hester’s hard feelings toward the letter, and to the situation itself, begins to diminish. However, it is