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What Does The Color Red Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet A was written on Hester Prynn’s chest, a key point of symbolism within one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most famous and prominent works of literature, The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne was able to effectively use symbolism to express his characters and refer to his own personal opinions and experiences. Throughout his ancestry he was related to many Puritans, one of which was a judge. Hawthorne did not agree with their beliefs and customs and later even added the “w” to his last name to separate himself from his family. Within his work The Scarlet Letter he uses the main character Hester Prynn to express the symbolism of adultery and sin, and the toll it took on those affected by it. He also uses the color red to express the sin and “evil” Hester carried with her. Overall, the symbolism in The Scarlet Letter is prominent and successfully implemented to analyze the characters and Hawthorne himself. …show more content…

When the news is released to the colony they force Hester to bear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest on all her clothing to show to everyone her sin she committed. Hawthorne was able to use this to analyze the colony and how they treated the “sinners”, but he also analyzes himself. Hawthorne was born and raised into a Puritan family, but he did not believe the way or the ideas they thought. Hawthorne was able to look past people’s sins and see who they truly were; by implementing the “A” he was able to develop the story of the protagonist, and validate her right to live a normal life because of his own beliefs and

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Red is very fitting for the Scarlet Letter because red symbolizes passion, love, and seduction. These characteristics fit the Scarlet Letter to a T. 6) In Chapter 3, the last sentence is: “It was whispered, by those who peered after her, that the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passageway of the interior.” (Hawthorne, Pg 67). The meaning of this sentence is that some the highly religious Puritans thought the scarlet letter was brightly glowing, which they could have assume was from hellfire due to their religious beliefs. Chapter 4 1) Hawthorne describes the child to be a “type...of moral agony which Hester Prynne had borne throughout the day.”

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Hawthorne uses symbolism to help demonstrate guilt throughout the book. One of the biggest symbols in the story was the scarlet letter “A” in which Hester was sentenced to wear after she committed

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Hester has to wear a letter A on her chest for her punishment of adultery. In The Scarlet Letter, the meaning and significance of the letter A is altered as the novel goes on. Hester, the townspeople, and Pearl all have views of the letter that change. Through their views of the letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, reveals what his view on the letter is. Hester’s view of

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In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces the main character Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful member of a Puritan society being punished for her sin of love, not lust. The opening chapters introduce the reader to gossips who deem her original punishment, death, too harsh and contrary to Puritan beliefs that unborn babies should be given a chance at life. Instead, Hester and her child are to be alienated and shunned. In addition she is to wear the letter ‘A’ (which stands for ‘adultery’) on her chest which will forever display her as a symbol of shame for her sin. Though a very resilient figure who soon overcomes this pain, Hester’s isolation takes a negative toll on her life.

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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.

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However, as you dig deeper, you will see Hawthorne’s true purpose for writing the novel. In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses irony to criticize the Puritan ideals. Hester’s Scarlet “A” is used to show how imperfect the Puritans are. The narrator describes Hester’s scarlet letter when he says: “On the breast of her gown,

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Hawthorne depicts his message by using symbolism of the letter “A”. When Hester sewed her letter to her bosom, this illustrated that she is in control of her path of redemption and her power over society's

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The letter “A” on Hester’s chest came with many disadvantages, the main one being the brutal way she was treated. The puritan ideology ran rampant throughout the story which is why Hester Prynne was treated inhumanely. Nathaniel Hawthorne condemned Hester many times throughout the

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The book The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne has symbolism all throughout it. People and objects are symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify philosophies that are evident during this time period. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against their ways, committing adultery. For this sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life.

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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.

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In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, which was published in 1850 and takes place in the 1640s, Hawthorne uses symbolism to convey the themes of good and evil coexisting and the effects of sin and shame on the soul. Hester Prynne, the main character in The Scarlet Letter, is a beautiful woman who acted on her desire and was rejected by her puritan town because she committed adultery. Pearl, Hester's daughter from their adultery, is a very dark but intelligent child who slowly figures out who her father is, and her existence adds another layer of complexity to the themes of sin and shame explored in the novel. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Wild Rose Bush, The Scarlet Letter, and Hester’s Cabin to prove that everything in nature

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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).

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“Pearl took some eelgrass, and … imitated, on her own bosom, the decoration… on her mother’s : A letter “A”, but freshly green, instead of scarlet!”, a quote pulled from Chapter 15, is another attempt by Hawthorne to convey the contrasting ideal of Pearl’s innocence and purity to Hester’s sin. The green of this imitated scarlet letter worn by Pearl is associated with nature and purity, while the scarlet of Hester’s original letter is typically associated with passion and

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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.

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