Motifs In The Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne there are many symbols and motifs. A motif is a recurring image that helps develop the theme. The first motif is civilization versus wilderness. In the book the puritan town is civilization, and it is a place where everything anyone does is on display. There is no hiding from your sins and everyone knows about them, you can and will be quickly punished. In the wilderness there is only natural authority and society's rules do not apply. The next motif in the book is night versus day. Night conceals and enables your actions so no one will catch you. During the day you are more vulnerable to punishment and you have to abide by the rules or you will get caught. Hawthorne uses day and night to show good

In the book, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne holds the character Hester Prynne high up on a pedestal. The main focus in D.H. Lawrence’s critical essay was the fact that Hester committed adultery and should be put into place. The uses of strong words and phrases used by Lawrence shows how much he disagrees with Hawthorne on the matter of punishments given to Hester Prynne. D.H. Lawrence uses biblical allusion, sarcastic tones, and brief syntax literary devices to express his feelings towards Hester in which they are incorporated in his writing.

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.

From Romania, Mircea Eliade, studied religion from the profane to the sacred. His theory of hierophanies is broken into two axioms to be better understood. The first axiom is that religion is its own thing and is not caused by something else. The second axiom relates to describing religion. Unlike other people Eliade believes that “times and places may differ, he would say, but concepts are often the same”(231). Pals’ uses Euclid’s math as an example that Euclid’s math is the same as it was before it's just used in a different time period. From an excerpt of Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane we are given the difference between the profane and the sacred; the profane is the regular day to day activities however the sacred are out of the ordinary

In the novel, Scarlett Letter, the Puritans live in a community bent on conforming to the common beliefs and values set by their society. Those whose ideas and values diverge from the norm are criticized and despised for their individualism. Hawthorne portrays this ignorance and conformity through the Puritans' belief that the forest is evil and unruly. However, because the forest is secluded far from the influences of society, Hawthorne suggests that in the forest people are able to express the individuality they are deprived of in their Puritan settlement. Thus, the forest, an embodiment of freedom and individuality, is used as a symbol to contrast the harsh Puritan society with the free nature of the forest in order to convey the

In the world today, themes and symbolisms have played a major role in the development and presentation of past and present novels. These themes and symbolisms within a novel shape the overall story and often work hand in hand to convey its purpose and meaning. One such novel would include The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne; in this story, along with all his others, he has incorporated his three predominant, driving themes: sin, hypocrisy, and corruption. In The Scarlet Letter,

Thesis: The (bad and good) effects of the letter in Hester's life. (Any changes and influences)

Nathaniel Hawthorne does the best job of convincing the reader to keep reading in his opening of “The Scarlet Letter” because his thorough description and vivid imagery allow the reader to visualize what is happening in the story. With these items in mind, this essay will discuss how Hawthorne uses both description and imagery to provide the reader with a picture of the story in their mind. In the first chapter of “The Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses thorough description to set the scene of the book. In the beginning of his book, Hawthorne starts off by describing the people, who are assembled in front of a door.

In literature, one of the most effective devices to creatively engage the reader and enhance mental visualization is through deliberate symbolism. Nathanial Hawthorne weaves vivid, elaborate colors into the plot of his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, to explicate the symbolic themes in the novel. These various hues are prevalent in the descriptive imagery used to designate the scenery. Because colors can evoke or portray emotions and ideas, Hawthorne’s utilization of these nuances greatly contributes to the reader’s experience. In an attempt to add a visual dimension to The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne enriches the literary symbols such as the scarlet “A”, forest, and sunshine with the use of color.

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.

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,

A common theme throughout literature is religion and how the author feels about his or her faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical devices to draw comparisons between characters and events in The Scarlet Letter and Biblical figures and accounts. A few of the devices found in this novel that connect it to the Bible are symbolism, paradox, allusions, and characterization. It is important to first look at the characters and how they are described through characterization.

Symbolism has many different meanings, and the Scarlet ‘A’ in “The Scarlet Letter” has many different meanings as well. Hester Prynne is the main character who is forced to wear the scarlet letter as remembrance for the crime and the sin that she has committed. This letter completely ruined her reputation in her community. How could a small piece of fabric do so much harm? This letter was a representation of something much greater than the letter ‘A’. This letter was originally made to stand for adulteress, as physical reminder of her sins. The vibrant scarlet red is meant to shame Hester, to make her feel sorry for her mistakes. Most importantly it was a symbol for change and an emblem of identity. In short, the scarlet letter meant much more than a letter of shame, it was simply a piece of fabric with meaning that could easily change.

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.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author presents three symbols that all reinforce the main idea of the novel. The main idea that reoccurred throughout the novel is that people don’t have to let their mistakes or circumstances determine who they are or what they become; it’s all in how one interprets life. Many symbols may seem as just an ordinary character or coincidental object to some readers, but the symbols have a deeper, underlying meaning. Although there are many symbols in this book, there are three that really help support the main idea: Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter, the meteor, and Hester’s daughter Pearl.