Scarlet Letter Symbolism Paper free essay sample

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses several key symbols to represent the major themes in the book. The most obvious and renowned, as it is in the title, is the scarlet letter Hester wears upon her breast. Three other significant symbols are the scaffold, the sun, and the forest. The most important and influential symbol in the entire book is the infamous scarlet letter, hence the title, The Scarlet Letter. Hester walks through the prison doors into the world wearing the A, and everyone is in awe that she fabricated it with such intricacy and care. During the first few years of Hesters punishment, the letter was a daily reminder of shame and embarrassment. Hawthorne describes the progression of the A as a â€Å" dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily torture† (59). As the story unfolds, though, this letter comes to mean other things to Hester and for the people of the town. Rather than bringing torture and remorse to Hester, to some people it transforms into a symbol resembling her ability and strength. They said that it meant able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a womans strength The scarlet letter had not done its office† (111). The scarlet letter was meant as a punishment for Hester, and yet here it is obvious that it hasnt simply punished her. Although the scarlet letter brings some form of humiliation, it has not fulfilled its purpose. â€Å"Thus, we seem to see that, as regarded Hester Prynne, the whole seven years of outlaw and ignominy had been little other than a preparation for this very hour† (137). When Hester decides to skip town and run away to Europe with Dimmesdale, it becomes obvious that she hasnt learned anything from wearing the letter, because, if she had, she would have known better than to leave town with a man who wasnt her husband. Throughout the book there are various meaning to the scarlet letter. It means different things to different people: a sign of wealth to the butler, curiosity for Pearl, quilt for Dimmesdale, rebelliousness, revenge or motivation for Chillingworth, and betrayal of ones spouse, to name a few. Regardless, the true duty of the letter was to punish and teach a lesson, neither of which the letter performed successfully. The scarlet letter takes on many vital roles and representations that are crucial to the progression of the novel. The scarlet letter is only one of the symbols representing Hesters shame and punishment. Another way it is shown is by the scaffold. Early in the novel, at about the same time Hester is seen wearing the scarlet letter for the first time in public, she stands on the scaffold after walking out of the prison. Hawthorne describes the scaffold as: â€Å"in short, the platform of the pillory; and above it rose the framework of that instrument of discipline, so fashioned as to confine the human head in its tight grasp, and thus hold it up to the public gaze. The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron† (39). These few sentences sum up the significance of the scaffold in the novel. There are two other scenes in which the scaffold signifies punishment. The second one is when Dimmesdale exhibits his agony in the veiling of a transgression. In the third scaffold scene, Dimmesdale is humbly repentant, liberating himself of inner and outer torment. All of these scenes signify some sort of pain, release, and shame. The scaffold, like the scarlet letter, to the Puritans, is a place of public mortification for those persons who decide to break the Puritan law. It represents the sin of the person standing upon it and it shows the Puritan way of dealing with and demonstrating sin. Among the other symbols in the book is the sun and its shining. Its importance becomes more evident as the book comes to an end, but the earlier parts of the book are used to build up its significance. Throughout the novel, it is clear that the sun shines on Pearl quite often, but never on Hester. When Hester and Arthur are talking in the forest, after deciding to go to England and live as a family, Hester takes off the scarlet letter to show that she is no longer bound by it. Hawthorne writes that after she had taken off the letter, â€Å"All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming down the gray trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had made a shadow hitherto, embodied the brightness now† (139). This can be interpreted to mean that nature is happy with Hester and Arthur. According to Natural Law, Hester and Arthur arent guilty, since they are no longer oppressed. Because God has control over nature, this shows that He is happy with them. Sunshine is meant to signify natures and, consequently, Gods happiness and standing with Arthur and Hester. The last of the four major symbols in the book is the forest. Hawthorne writes: â€Å"Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? By saying this, Hester is continuing the belief of the Puritans in the story, who see the forest as dark or evil, as the place where the witches go at night to have meetings, and a home of the devil. A possible interpretation of why the Puritans made up these things about the forest could be that they were trying to keep the people from the Natural Law; they wanted people to be subject to the Purita n Law. This is what Hawthorne is trying to portray, but, as with the last symbol and the common interpretation of it, he errs in his point. Hawthorne tries to make the Puritans look bad; he says, â€Å"Their immediate posterity, the generation next to the early emigrants, wore the blackest shade of Puritanism, and so darkened the national visage with it, that all the subsequent years have not sufficed to clear it up† (159). The common interpretation Hawthorne tries to get across implies that Natural Law is equal to Gods Law, and that the Puritans have all their beliefs mixed up and theyre wrong. This is where Hawthorne errs. In reality, Puritan Law is closer to Gods law than is Natural Law, as it is seen in the book. The Puritans based their law on Gods Law, but the Natural Law portrayed in the book isnt based on Gods Law. Hawthorne uses several symbols to portray themes and ideas in this novel. Each of these has common interpretations that resemble very crucial parts of the story. Hawthorne shows things vicariously through other things. The symbols in this novel are very pivotal in understanding and interpreting the story and in the progression of the story and characters.