Buildings in Scarlet Letter
Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" describes a stone barrier that two neighbors visit each year for repair. The wall is used as a metaphor for how we place barriers between each other, which is far easier to deal with, but is a loss in the long run. Buildings and structures have long been used to symbolize abstract ideas in literature. Hawthorn uses the prison, cottage, and scaffold as concrete representations for the rigid society, the psychological effects of the characters, and the morals of a society in The Scarlet Letter. Boston's prison ironically stood not only as a symbol of the severity of Puritan law, but also as a beacon of tolerance and a portraiture of Hester's resiliency and strength in The Scarlet Letter. The novel opens with the scene at the jail, and sets Hawthorne's tone with its description. Particularly the prison's door "a wooden edifice...heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes" gives an impression of firmness and reveals the strict enforcement of the even stricter Puritan law (45). Conversely, it can also be viewed as a symbol of Hester's strength throughout the novel. Inside the prison walls Hester and Chillingsworth can freely discuss their past without exposing themselves to the socie
Interestingly, the place that society isolates serves to conceal Hester from condemnation of the townspeople. This shows that Hester does not live under the strict Puritanical moral code, but rather tries to live in both worlds simultaneously. She asks him to stand on the scaffold with her mother at noontide of the next day. The Twin Towers were such important motifs of American society, that those who harnessed an unbridled hatred for this democracy went to such heinous lengths to see them collapse. Whether proven through a novel or by the recent events, physical structures can sometimes serve a greater purpose than just their tangible means. However, Hawthorn directly challenges the ideas of harshness and traditionalism by describing a simple but beautiful rosebush that resides on one side of the prison door. Although usually used as a device for death and redemption, it is used here as a metaphor for rebirth and truth. Seen by Boston's citizens as to seclude the society from its criminals, its wooden walls actually shelter Hester from the society. Hester gives close attention to designing Pearl's clothing inside the cottage. Here, Hawthorn proves that although Hester strives to be different from her other townspeople, she also wants to stay in the good graces of her community. This is her way of saying to him that although he thinks he is absolved, he really has not yet been punished fully. Pearl is a living extension of the scarlet letter, and she, even more than the letter, embodies Hester's shame. The World Trade center was a symbol of American wealth and power much as the structures in and around Boston serve as thematic figures. The scaffold is visited thrice throughout Hawthorn's piece: once for a public shaming of Hester, again where Dimmesdale joins her, and finally at the novel's finale.
Common topics in this essay:
Boston Hester,
Hester Dimmesdale,
Hester Prynne,
Seen Boston's,
Scarlet Letter,
Mending Wall,
Twin Towers,
Letter Boston's,
World Trade,
Hester Chillingsworth,
scarlet letter,
puritan law,
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Acceptance Essays
