What Does The Color Red Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was concluded in a way that it brought more questions to the mind of the reader than answers. This is not only because there are pieces of the story that are seemingly left unanswered, but it is also because of literary techniques used throughout the novel that serve to convey a meaning beyond the story's surface, therefore leaving the reader with what they feel is an inconclusive ending. However the ending does not inappropriately concludes the work; the way the book was finished helps the reader think for themselves, which is important because when people come to their own conclusions about something, they tend to possess a much stronger a belief than if it were just handed to them by the

In the beginning of the work, it is stated in reference to the rose bush by the prison door that it, "May serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow" (5). Throughout the novel we see many linking similarities between the character Pearl and the color red. Red is the color of the rose bush by the prison door, of the letter on her mother's breast, and it is a color her mother frequently dresses her in. Like the way the rose bush serves as the sole pleasant thing in the vision of criminals, Pearl is a wonderful thing in the hopeless world her mother built for herself, however her behavior is a thorn in her mother's flesh. Hester's scarlet letter represents her sin, shame, and wealth. Not the wealth that is all money and riches, but wealthy in a way where she has all that she needs in life as long as she has Pearl. Pearl is a symbol of her Mother's red letter, she represents Hester's sin and shame, but also all of the wealth she needs. Hester dresses her in scarlet as a constant reminder of what she did, but also all the good that has come from having Pearl in her life. With the fate of Pearl unknown, the reader does not know for certain whether the work is sorrowful or