Hidden Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The letter “A” she wore symbolized adultery and having Pearl makes her sin more obvious. Pearl was even raised to believe she came from sin when Hester says, “Thy Heavenly Father sent thee!”(Hawthorne). Pearl then responds, “I have no Heavenly Father!”(Hawthorne). This demonstrates that because she was born from an adulterous relationship, she has been raised to believe she has

Symboilsm essay In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne used symbolism to show the importance of or the meaning of many things. It is demonstrated throughout the entirety of the novel. Henry James, a famous American novelist, said, ".there is, I think, too much. It is overdone at times, and becomes mechanical; it ceases to be impressive, and grazes ." One may feel as if Hawthorne did not overuse symbolism, but I agree with James's opinion.

Hawthorne uses his abilities to weave tone, mood, and style all into one story questioning his purpose of this tragic tale of shame and redemption. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose in writing the Scarlet Letter is to address the punishment Hester endures at the hands of the Puritan society and he utilizes the appeals of Pathos, Ethos, and writes with a moralizing tone in order to develop our feelings towards female strength and how one women could defy the society she lives in and live a life of punishment. Hawthorne sends hidden messages through allusions to give off what a character is going through or to give depth to a scene. Hawthorne brings to the table many references to the Bible and Greek mythology to better describe his characters and the theme of his novel. When he says “..like a snake gliding swiftly over them..” (Hawthorne 42), Hawthorne is referencing the Bible.

We are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.

The Scarlet Letter is a commonly known novel from the 1800s that describes emotions in an interesting way. The article Color and Light Images in The Scarlet Letter by Hyatt Howe Waggoner provides an efficient analysis of the Scarlet Letter through symbolism. The article displays the use of color, light, and imagery to symbolize thoughts and feelings in The Scarlet Letter. One of the elements analyzed in The Scarlet Letter is references to colors. Waggoner states “The extremes of Mr. Wilson’s “light” and Chillingworth’s “blackness” meet not only in the gray of Hester’s dress and the Puritan hats, and in the indeterminate drabness of the puritan clothing, but also in the ambiguous suggestions of red” (159).

The Scarlet Letter: Character Association A lot of the characters described in The Scarlet Letter have similar characteristics towards one another. However, their roles in the book are very different. But they all have one thing in common; they were all involved in a horrific act of romance. Many people can associate themselves with a character from a novel. The Scarlet Letter reflects on the honest reality of human nature.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet  Letter, Hawthorne illustrates the importance of identity in Puritan society. Hawthorne’s use of symbols, metaphors, and other kinds of figurative language allow the reader to feel sympathetic towards the main characters, especially Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne is introduced as a sinner, the most disgusting thing a person could be in Puritan world, and as a result, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet ‘A’. The ‘A’  was originated to stand for adultery, but as time went on Hester realized that the ‘A’ stood for something positive instead of something negative. Hester changed the definition of the letter from adultery to able and angel because that is how she saw herself as.

In them he formulated the genre of ‘American Gothic’. A man of ideas, he embellished scientific theories, devised a personal theory of fiction, and championed high literary standards despite personal poverty. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (Irving’s pseudonym) contains his two best remembered stories, ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. Irving’s artistic way of relating to the new land was appreciatively received by the American readers. (OAL- 22) Cooper’s novels disclose a profound anxiety between the lone individual and society, nature, culture, spirituality and well thought-out religion.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s enduring novel The Scarlet Letter remains a hallmark of American literature due to its clever incorporation of symbols and motifs. The Scarlet Letter’s theoretically mundane soap-opera plot gains a layer of depth and nuance when viewed through an analytical lens, thanks in large part to its revolutionary use of symbolism. Hawthorne ingeniously toys with the nature of symbolism itself — challenging the norms of what a “symbol” actually is. The idea of sin, for example, evolves in its significance alongside the actual characters of the novel. Hawthorne demonstrates the effects of sin on the lives and reputations of Hester, Dimmesdale, Pearl, and Chillingworth.

Understanding both Poe and Wilde’s narrative styles is extremely important in fully understanding the texts and the authors behind those texts, for example on one hand Poe throws the reader into an already finished story in ‘William Wilson’, while in The Picture of Dorian and Gray Wilde’s use of aestheticism is undeniable. However unusually for Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray is also Gothic, this interesting departure from Wilde’s usual aesthetic style has been the subject of much debate and discussion among scholars, nonetheless for Sucur in The Picture of Dorian and Gray “the Gothic is dealt with from an aesthetic perspective”, (Sucur 2007, n.p.) yet the question still remains why would Wilde chose to depart from his successful formula of