Have you ever did something wrong but felt that it was right? After thinking about the situation, did you feel like it was the worst sin you ever committed? Did you confess at the time you realized it was wrong or did you confess because you had no other choice? In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter", Hester Prynne, the wife to master Prynne, commits adultery with Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester does not announce that Dimmesdale is the man she sins with. In the act of committing the sin, they had a child (Pearl). Throughout the novel Dimmesdale hurts from the pain of secrecy and tells the community that he is Pearls father. After confessing he dies. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes this novel to show the readers that hidden sin is a burden on the conscience and it will hunt you until it is revealed.
             In The Scarlet Letter, expressions using symbols are the main focal points of the novel. Generally speaking, a symbol is a sign or token of something. Literary symbols usually don't have instantly recognizable meanings, but usually take their meanings from the works of which they are a part. Symbols are most often a connected purpose that is used to represent something more hypothetical and progressive in meaning. Often it's a moral, religious, or philosophical perception. Symbols can differ from the most obvious substitution of one thing for another, as in the red cloth letter "A" on Hester's chest, to creations as immense, complicated, and perplexing as the imprint or ideal of the letter "A" on Dimmesdale chest. In the following essay, I will explore the symbolism of the prison, the letter "A" on each main character, and several elements of setting that come in different forms and places throughout the story.
             The prison, which Hester was in at the beginning of the novel, is described as "the black flower of civilized society"(Hawthorne, 1331). The building of...