ASummaryoftheSymbolisminTheScarletLetter


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Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered to be the first greatest American fiction writer in the moralistic tradition. His work The Scarlet Letter that is notable for its allegory and symbolism is regarded as the first symbolic novel in American literature. The novel revolves around one major symbol: the scarlet letter. Besides, some other objects that are described in the novel have their symbolic meanings. Moreover, the names of the four major characters’: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth and Pearl also have their symbolic meanings. The Scarlet Letter is a novel of much symbolic.
1. Different meanings of the scarlet letter "A": 1.1 The Changes of the Symbolic Meaning of the Scarlet Letter “A”. In this novel, the scarlet letter "A" changes its meaning many different times. This change is significant. It shows growth in the characters, and the community in which they live. The letter "A" begins as a symbol of sin. It then becomes a symbol of alone and alienation, and finally it becomes a symbol of able, angel and admirable. 1.1.1 Adultery The letter "A", worn on Hesters bosom, is a symbol of her adultery against Roger Chillingworth. This is the puritan way of treating her as a criminal, for the crime of adultery. The puritan treatment continues, because as Hester walks through the streets, she will be looked down upon as if she is some sort of demon from hell that commits a terrible crime. This letter is meant to be worn in shame, and to make Hester feel unwanted. "Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment…(P74)" Hester is ashamed of her sin, but she chooses not to show it. She commits this sin in the heat of passion, and fully admits it because, though she is ashamed, she also receives her greatest treasure, Pearl, out of it. She is a very strong woman to be able to hold up so well against what she must face. Many will have fled Boston, and seek a place where no one knows of her great sin. Hester chooses to stay though, which shows a lot of strength and integrity. Any woman with enough nerve to hold up against a town, which despises her very existence, and to stay in a place where her daughter is referred to as a "devil child," either has some sort of psychological problem, or is a very tough woman. 1.1.2 Alone and Alienation The scarlet letter "A" also stands for Hesters lonely life in New England. After she is released, Hester lives in a cottage near the outskirts of the city. " It had been built by an earlier settler, and abandoned, because the soil about it was too sterile for cultivation, while its comparative remoteness put it out of the sphere of that social activity which already marked the habits of the emigrants.” (P75) Hesters social life is virtually eliminated as a result of her shameful history. Hester comes to have a part to perform in the world with her native energy of character and rare capacity." However, there was nothing that