Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 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.

The Puritan era in New England was inundated with an atmosphere of righteousness and judgment. This culture spurned those who strayed from its religious codes. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses multiple symbols to bring a deeper meaning to the society, his characters, and to adultery. One of the motifs used comes as the character Pearl, the daughter of the two adulterers. Pearl has multiple descriptions; physically, she is “a lovely and immortal flower,” yet also “an airy sprite . . . as if she were hovering in the air and might vanish” (80, 83). She has a “wild, desperate, defiant mood” and is often referred to as a “flower,” a “bird,” and an “elf” (82, 80, 98, 87). Hawthorne uses Pearl’s multi-layered personality

Throughout, “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne is able to enhance the plot by intricately incorporating symbols which represent a deeper meaning. One of which, is the infamous, and ambiguous, scarlet letter that lays upon the bosom of Hester Prynne. In the beginning of the book, the audience is immediately introduced to the scarlet letter as a symbol of shame and adultery. The narrator describes the Puritan society as very judgemental and harsh. Comments like, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die,” creates this negative and unwelcoming atmosphere which surrounds Hester for a majority of the book. From then on, the Puritans constantly refer to the

Pearl Prynne of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter exhibits intuition and persistence by constantly questioning her surroundings. Pearl exhibits intuition by always questioning her environment. During Hester’s conversation with Rev. Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth (check this fact), Pearl spasmodically interrupts the dialogue with “Come away Mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you!! He hath got hold of the minister already!” (N.H. 159). Pearl is very suspicious of Roger Chillingworth. Since Pearl is a young child, no adult has told her a single detail about Chillingworth or why he is in her town. Pearl questions the stranger’s abrupt presence in Boston, and she comes to the conclusion that he is up to no good, without

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)

World war one was a very successful and a strong war. Where the fight was between the allied powers (America ,Russia ,France ,Great Britain ...) and the Central powers(Germany ,Australia Hungary ,Ottoman...).during this stressful war the allied powers used propaganda (Propaganda is the spread of false information through media to rise a cause of a political leader or government). Even though propaganda was used to spread false info the allied powers used it to win the war by influencing people's opinion ,as a weapon to beat their enemy with and ,to show the filthy and mocking actions their enemy did . Even though, the allied powers were weak at the beginning of the war but at the end of the war they concurred to win the war because they

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.

The Scarlet Letter as a Dynamic Symbol In the 17th century, Boston was home to a Puritan community whose ideals, values, and traditions were held in strict accordance to the teachings and laws of God. In order to maintain his or her public image, a Puritan man or woman would only dare to be seen or heard of doing religiously appropriate things. Those who failed to uphold the Puritan ideals were shamed, as is best shown by the enforcement of the “scarlet letter” upon Hester Prynne. However, as the story progresses, it can be questioned what the Puritans actually think of Hester and the Scarlet Letter, revealing to the reader the true nature of the Puritans. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, the scarlet letter ‘A’ is a dynamic

In the Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he explored the distress of going against law and order in Puritan society. Hawthorne showed how the actions one does affects the rest of their life. This could be seen through one of the characters in this novel, Arthur Dimmesdale, a preacher, eaten away by his sin. Hawthorne shows how Dimmesdale is the one to go against Puritan ideals through the symbols in this novel, style and literary techniques.

First off, Hawthorne uses the symbol of the scarlet letter to contribute to the theme of Guilt. The scarlet letter is forced upon the bosom of Hester, who is the protagonist of this novel. Hester had a child after her husband was known to be missing. She was accused of Adultery, and the scarlet colored letter was put on her as a token of shame to cast a shadow on her eternally. Hawthorne explains, “In a moment however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would poorly serve to hide another” (Hawthorne 50). This quote shows that the scarlet letter is a profound symbol of guilt, it could not have been hidden with

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a brilliant writer of the 19th century. Hawthorne created a novel that reflected the time period of the Puritans in New England. The Scarlet Letter contains a representation of the people during that time period but can also be related to the reader’s time period. Originally, God created the world with complete perfection until man fell, and sin entered the world. In the eyes of God, a sin is a sin. There is no worse sin that one can commit. Man is the one that decided that one sin could be more harshly judged than another. Hawthorne uses the theme of sin to show the importance of one’s faith and conviction and how those principles relate to fallen sinners.

The scarlet letter first represents the word adultery. This was the sin Hester and Dimmesdale had committed. This crime was the driving force behind the entire story. Again, without Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin, there would be no story. The letter also represents how our sins can weigh us down if we do not get rid of them. A prime example of this is when Hester, Dimmesdale and Pearl were in the forest. Hester took off the scarlet letter and she said it felt like the world had been taken off of her shoulders. With this scene, Hawthorne is trying to tell his readers to not let your wrongdoings in life hold you down

Symbolism is a literary style that uses symbols to represent ideas or qualities. Symbolism plays a very important part in The Scarlet Letter because it uses the characters to develop the main idea of the story. The symbols used by Nathaniel Hawthorne help the reader to visualize and understand the meaning of the story. Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne, Pearl, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale as symbols throughout the book. They are the main characters of the story and they all overcome some difficulties by the end. The lives of the characters help to serve as symbols of the Puritan religion that existed during this time.

    To begin, Hawthorne uses The Scarlet Letter to symbolize sin. Hester is the main character in the story, she wears The Scarlet Letter as a symbol of shame, because the letter she wears on her chest stands for Adultery. Hester Prynne was a woman who had been married by one man then had a baby with another man. Doing this caused a secret sin upon Hester and