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How does hawthorne use symbolism in the scarlet letter
Symbolism in the scarlet letter
Symbolism in scarlet letter
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Symbolism Within The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne created symbolism throughout The Scarlet Letter in order to develop the theme throughout Hester’s life. Hester is portrayed as a sheltered soul, shunned from society due to her adulterous acts. The red A and her daughter, Pearl, are symbols of Hester’s shame which she bares proudly despite society's harsh judgements. Hawthorne is able to use symbolism to develop themes, characters, and analogies in the Scarlet Letter.
Symbolism used in The Scarlet Letter In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathanial Hawthorne, there were many different aspects that are used as symbols. One symbol is the letter “A”. Hester got pregnant with a man that is not her husband and she was forced to wear a big letter A on her chest. The A that she was was big, beautiful, and made her powerful.
This act caused the meaning of the letter to change and Hester became a legend in the society. Publicly wearing the letter caused Hester much suffering, but her inner strength raised above the sin as she was able to turn the meaning of the symbol
It is uncommon for readers to realize that among many famous works, there is Biblical symbolism implanted within. It does not matter what faith, or lack thereof, the reader or author identifies as, the symbolism is still present in several ways. The Scarlet Letter is set in the Puritan days where the protagonist, Hester Prynne, has been punished for the committing of adultery. Speak is a more contemporary book based on a high school girl, Melinda Sordino, who has been shunned due to a decision she made. Biblical symbolism is embedded in the content of these books through the punishment of The Scarlet Letter, the lack of faith in Speak, and the immorality in both novels.
The namesake letter in the story is one main symbol that represents the entire meaning of the novel. The letter throughout the story takes on many forms and changes color several times throughout the story. At first it stands very clearly for the sin that Hester has commited. But, as the story continues and Hester grows as a woman it comes to mean something very personal to Hester as a person, and she wears it as a sign of her individuality and strength. Like pearl, the letter is a constant reminder of Hester's deeds, and a puritans society's fascination with purity and punishment.
Hawthorne’s use of symbols in The Scarlet Letter serves as a mean to denounce the social behavior of the characters, such as the sinful soul of Hester Prynne, the troubled stand of Reverend Dimmesdale or the perverse
“Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother, or he will catch you! But he cannot catch little Pearl!”
Hawthorne uses symbolism throughout the Scarlet letter to display the sin and indecency people see Hester as. The detail represents ,the deep beauty Hester has inside although most people do not see her as a beutiful women. The deep red is a representation of adultery which shows her being an oncast from society. The symbol of the letter “A” is repetitive throughout the novel and grows with Hester and overcomes this with time as people start to see her as a person again and not just a adulterer. Hester acknowledges her sin in her puritan faith but swears to secrecy on the father of Pearl.
The Scarlet Letter Symbolism Essay In the book The Scarlet Letter there is a lot of symbolism and it is used throughout the book a lot. In the beginning of the book the first use of symbolism is when the rose id in the front of the jail cell. That was the symbol for hope and for people to know that not everything is going to stay the way it is. And that you can get through and grow through the hardest times of your life.
The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”
There are various examples of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter, but one of them wraps the whole story together: the meaning of the scarlet letter A. In this passage, Hester Prynne wears an embroidered letter A on her bosom as punishment. At first the A stood for “adulterer”, but the townspeople later gained respect for her and said “Such helpfulness was found in her-so much power to do and to sympathize-that many people refused to interpret the scarlet “A” by its original significance. They said it meant ‘Able’” (Hawthorne 107).
Most readers are entangle in the meaning of the letter A, only adulatory of Hester Prynne? No, it is not that simple. Firstly, the letter A is represent angel. Hester Prynne didn’t harbor a deep resentment for the punishment and abuses, instead of that she still treated nice and gentle to others. Secondly, it is able.
Hester doesn´t reflect that when she wears it. At first, for Hester the scarlet letter represents the loneliness that she feels, the sense of guilt and how society is judging her for her sin. Later, however, she comes to terms with her fate and accepts it. This is when the letter “A” becomes something secondary because Hester finds the strength and confidence inside her, to a point where she refuses to take the scarlet letter off, saying that is has grown too deep in her. It has become part of
In Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen, of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester recognizes her true hatred of Chillingworth just before she finds Pearl, playing at the beach, and creating a green letter A on her own chest out of seaweed. Later, Hester goes to hopefully “run into” Dimmesdale in the forest to reveal to him the truth about Chillingworth’s identity. Pearl comes along, and as they wait, she curiously asks her mother about the Black Man. When Pearl sees Dimmesdale’s figure appear in the distance, she asks whether the approaching person is in fact the Black Man himself, which Hester rejects. Pearl, however, ponders if Dimmesdale clutches his heart, as he does, because the Black Man has left his mark on him, similar to how the
Receiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.
