Symbolic Language In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

According to Erich Fromm’s article, “The Nature of Symbolic Language”, the definition of symbol is “‘something that stands for something else’” (Fromm 121). Laurence Perrine adds his thoughts about symbols in Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, and states that in order to find out what object is a symbol, the reader must be able to “recognize, identify, percept, and tact [them]” (Perrine 175). And he also includes that it is all right to make a mistake rather than “[discover] symbols that are nonexistent”—regardless of the reader (Perrine 175). Going back to Fromm, he mentions three types of symbols that are used. For Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the object that is most important and influential symbol in the entire novel

During that time, she managed to improve her needlework, and they favored her works despite her sin. And she also uses her ability to make garments for the poor and “wretches less miserable than herself” (78). Now, she has been acknowledged by the “men of rate” (150) and have “quite forgiven… for her frailty…” (150). What it means is that the military men and governors have been using her needle-work while forgetting about her past. And the townspeople started to use the scarlet letter as a “symbol of her calling” (149). The following quote highlights how much the townspeople have changed: “Such helpfulness was found in her, —so much power to do, and power to sympathize, —that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength” (149). This point of the novel marks the changes being made to the letter and how Hester is viewed by the town. The reason behind the behavior change towards Hester is the lack of “irritation nor irksomeness” (148) and submit to “its worst usage” (148). Besides the townspeople changing, Hester’s mind starts to change at the point of the novel. All of her natural and kindle aspects of her character were “withered up by [the] red-hot brand,” making her character normal (150). Even years later into the future, the scarlet letter

She offers her services in the form of counseling the townspeople and that caused people to believe that she was an angel. Her services also made the letter to have "the effect of the cross on a nun's bosom” (150). The letter now stands for holiness rather than being wickedness. One of the quotes tells the reader about the second transformation of the scarlet letter and how it becomes holy: "...the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too" (244-45). This final chapter highlights the importance of the scarlet letter and how much it meant to both the townspeople and