The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel of conflict between a woman in love and the stern Puritan community in which she resides. Hawthorne illustrates that a woman who follows her heartbreaks the laws of the community. Hester Prynne leaves that community to reside in isolation with her illegitimate child. Hester always maintains her love, not for her husband, but the sinful love she has for her fellow adulterer. After a cursory inspection, this would seem to be no more than a dime-store romance about a love denied; however, after a closer reading, this proves to be a novel about brilliantly interwoven characters written in a technically complex format. The symbolism of the prison, roses, the scaffold, the letter "A," contrasts between light and dark, and the forest throughout the novel are the undefined characters. An understanding of these symbols is vital to a complete comprehension of the complexity of the story; Hawthorne technique of using symbolism is brilliant and it helps the reader understand the whole concept.

In The Scarlet Letter, images increase the reader's understanding of the characters. The first chapter sets the tone for the story. Thoug

On the scaffold, the entire town sees the scarlet letter on Hester's bosom for the first time. The meaning of this letter changes throughout the story. It is placed on Hester by the Puritans to give her shame and to mark her as an "adulterer." She sews it on her bosom but fancifully embroiders it with fine cloths and stitches. Though she always wears it, never does it appear that Hester is embarrassed to wear the mark. It seems that she wears it as a badge of honor. It represents her individuality in a society of structured, conformist living. Hester Prynne, because she wears a sign of shame on the surface of her clothing, cannot feign innocence; consequently she has a greater potential for salvation and peace”(James 2). Despite the years of ridicule, Hester becomes a charitable woman. After years of wearing the letter, the townspeople come to regard it as meaning "able." While Hester is not allowed to work on wedding gowns, she stitches everything from children's clothes to outfits for the governor. It is said by the townspeople, the "badge of shame" on her breast makes the softer pillow for the head that needs one. It becomes regarded "not as a token of one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since" (Hawthorne 1411). In the final chapter, it is learned that Hester moves back to the town she fled with her daughter so many years prior. However, she again returns to the residence in the forest where she lived fulfilling her punishment. Since she does not live for profit, people, mostly women, bring her their troubles and seek her counsel. And there she returns to her chest the symbol of this "dark tale." Only now, "the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over" (1473). This action reveals that, to Hester, the badge was never a mark of shame at all; its only meaning was

Some topics in this essay:
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