The Scarlet Letter is considered to be the first psychological novel, dealing with the interworkings of the characters’ minds rather than with their actions. In this novel, acclaimed as Hawthorne’s masterpiece, the author liberally, generously sprinkles the pages with symbolic imagery. One such symbol, perhaps the most obvious one, is the scarlet “A” embroidered upon Hester Prynne’s bosom. Henry James, another celebrated American author, criticizes Hawthorne’s overuse of symbolism, and it is in fact, a just criticism. While Hawthorne was a great writer, it must be said that he underestimated his readers greatly by repeatedly developing the symbolic “A” to the point of triteness.
The reader first encounters this sinister letter in the second chapter, titled after the setting, “The Market-Place.” Hawthorne introduces Hester Prynne, the book’s heroine:
The young woman was tall, with a figure of
perfect elegance… but the point which drew
all eyes… was that SCARLETT LETTER, so
fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon
This is reasonable, to introduce the letter and the protagonist to the reader e
. . .
This is Hawthorne’s notoriously unsubtle way of informing the reader that the letter had a great effect upon Hester herself. He looks up at the night sky after a melodramatic speech about “the judgment day” and sees, to his horror and fascination, an immense letter “A” in dull red lights. One day shortly after their merging of households, he pulls aside the minister’s vestments while he is asleep and sees what causes “a wild look of wonder, joy, and horror. Hawthorne simply refuses to let that piece of symbolism, important as it is, to rest for a bit. Whatever warmth, passion, or charm Hester processed in the beginning of the novel has been packed away along with her fine dresses. Her wardrobe ominously dissipates into muted black, to clothing plain even by the modest standards of the Puritans. Henry James could not be more accurate in his criticism when he pointed out that Hawthorne overused the symbolic elements. ” Rodger Chillingsworth, the husband of Hester Prynne, suspects that Reverend Dimmesdale is the man with whom Hester transgressed. Perhaps Hawthorne was attempting to demonstrate his mastery of psychological realism, but he utterly failed in his attempt to have others view The Scarlet Letter as a serious literary work. Hawthorne turned what might have been a fundamental work of literature into a fairy-tale that cannot, should not be taken for an example of excellent writing. The placement of the “A” was in every few pages, tucked into the most unlikely of places, such as the aforementioned scene of Chapter 12. She had dark and abundant
hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine…
A face which, besides being beautiful from
regularity of feature and richness of complexion,
had the impressiveness belonging to a
marked brow and deep black eyes. The letter was, perhaps, dominating her, molding her, figuratively, into itself. In Chapter 2, Hawthorne describes Hester Prynne as:
… tall, with a figure of perfect elegance
on a large scale. Perhaps none are so trite now to the reader as that scarlet “A.
Approximate Word count =
1039
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.
| CREDIT CARD |
ONLINE CHECK |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JOIN BY PHONE
|
|
|