The Scarlet Letter Quotes

The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter written in the 1800’s is a novel about a Puritan society in the 1600’s. A Puritan is a religious person who believe that pleasure is evil. The novel is about a young, beautiful women named Hester Prynne. She has committed adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet letter A in shame. A baby girl resulted from the sinful act, named Pearl. Nathaniel Hawthorne used symbolism of burrs, a black blossom, and the scarlet letter to contribute to the overall theme of sin. First, was the symbol of the burrs, the burrs stuck to Hester’s scarlet letter when Pearl threw them at at her Hawthorne explains “...she arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter,...Hester did not pluck them off.” (Hawthorne 121). The quote shows that Hester was revealing them because you can’t remove sin. Then Peal threw them at Dimmesdale, the father of Pearl and the town minister, through an open window. Hawthorne wrote “The sensitive clergyman shrunk, with a nervous dread, from the light missile.” (Hawthorne 122). It explains that DImmesdale got nervous about the sin being revealing by the burr. The burr didn’t stick to him because he avoided it, like he avoided revealing his sin.

Then, the black blossom was a symbol of sin by the way each of them grow. When Chillingworth, Hester’s

Hawthorne described, “...the scarlet letter, was so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom.”(Hawthorne 51). It symbolized sin because in a puritan society something so beautiful is sinful. It shined like a sin that everyone came to see. While Hester was coming up the scaffold for her public punishment of adultery, the beadle said to her, “Come along,Madam Hester, and show your scarlet letter to the market place.” (Hawthorne 52). The quote showed that everyone was eager to see the letter, to hear about her sin, and to verbally abuse