Symbolism in The Scarlet Lette
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
Charlotte: Ohio University Press, 1969. She is the most striking symbol that Hawthorne created. The letter "A" in the story does not only mean sin of adultery for Hester, but also has several symbolic meanings for many characters. Almost every image has symbolic functions and no scene is unnecessary. The prison, which Hester was in at the beginning of the novel, is described as "the black flower of civilized society"(Hawthorne, 1331). 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. " It also symbolizes Able when years after Hester humiliation on the scaffold she finally wins the respect of the Puritans"(Elder, 76). In Hyatt Waggoner's book Hawthorne, he tells us that "Pearl is potentially an immortal soul, but actually, at least before the "Conclusion", she seems more nearly a bird, a flower, or a ray of sunlight"(Waggoner, 152). Many of the important symbols in the novel lie either in the settings or in the characters. Dimmesdale is finally revealing the A on his chest to most of the spectators who witness his confession and death.
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Acceptance Essays
