... symbols must be given meaning within their context and, because the context differs, these symbols can vary over time, as seen in this novel. Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" contains many symbols, including the forest, Pearl, and the scarlet letter itself, which all contribute to the main theme of sin and its consequences. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," life is in the center of a stiff Puritan society in which no one is able to freely express their deepest ... thoughts. Puritan society does not allow its people to show how they really ... ...

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... a constant source of torment. The vagueness of the symbol, however, allows its meaning to evolve as the novel progresses, thus "the scarlet letter had not done its office" (Hawthorne 160). Later on, the letter comes to stand for "Able," as Hester is "Able" to Talbert 5 overcome hardship, Talbert 5 live through the shame, and thrive in the hypocritical Puritan society. Towards the end of her life, the letter grows to mean "Angel", and "the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma ... which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness"(Hawthorne 229 ... ...

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... in the grassy-margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it." Pearl fit in with natural things, which was considered evil to the Puritans, (Encarta) but Pearl is showing them how the forest is beautiful and natural. According to chuckii.com "Hester's child, is symbolic of changing Puritan society." Pearl changes the puritan society because she is the outcome of the scarlet letter, and was rebellious to the Puritan ... way of life but not evil. Even though something can be really tough to cope with, Hawthorne suggests that we are still abl...

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... The Scarlet Letter. The qualities that Hester Prynne possesses shape her as a character. Hawthorne represents Hester Prynne as having moral flaws, but in the end she is a good person. (Bloom 22). As Orson Scott Card remarks in Characters and Viewpoints, "The character story emerges when some part of a character's role in life becomes unbearable." (53). This is apparent in The Scarlet Letter because Hester's life becomes unbearable through her trials as a sinner in the Puritan society. Although the Puritan society ... believes that Hester Prynne is immoral, the actions that she takes sho...

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... result of her adulterous act. Pearl can be compared to this beautiful rose-bush growing outside the prison. Hester's life in the Puritan colony has not been ideal. She is labeled as a sinner and looked down upon by society. She is forced to wear the scarlet letter as a reminder to all of her sin. Yet through all her troubles, she has ... sorrow- (46). The narrator offers the rose to readers as a positive image in this sad story. The narrator associates the rose-bush with several different things, which reinforces how all the labels and identities assigned by the Puritan society are arbi...

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... , Roger Chillingworth, Pearl, and Hester Prynne (Schneider). The scarlet letter is a sign by which the colonial authority seeks to fix the crime of adultery and the criminal, Hester Prynne. The "A" both indicates, yet hinders the Puritan community's authority over Hester's identity. As the novel progresses, the letter changes meaning from adultery to ability, in the eyes of the people around her. Through the scarlet letter, Hester become a sympathetic heroine, and the Puritan society becomes not only bigoted and joyless, but essentially ... evil. (Bloom 13-14, 97, 100) The person that is...

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... In The Scarlet Letter Throughout The Scarlet Letter there are symbolic references made. Nathaniel Hawthorne, seems to be rather fond of using religious and natural images to symbolize different points. One of the purposes of this symbolism is to show that Puritanism is fraudulent and that their religious viewpoints are against the natural order, which is done by using contrasting natural and religious symbols in the descriptions of Pearl. Hawthorne uses the ... of when Pearl has almost some kind of supernatural ability to see things the way that they really are. A child of this age with t...

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... mother when he went to her to take Pearl away. The reader was alerted to Pearl's apprehension while she was playing with the brook and her mother had taken of the scarlet letter. As Hawthorne reveals certain facts from different points of view, we learn certain truths about the society. It was made clear that with a Puritan mindset, the townspeople came to deeply hate Hester; and Hester, with a slightly ... more liberal mindset, came to be lonely and less hateful towards her adversaries. All in all, Hawthorne's portrayal (point of view), of Hester ... ...

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... , suffers much more intensely than Hester. Hester is made to publicly acknowledge her sin. A scarlet letter "A" is permanently placed on her dress to symbolize her adultery, and she is made to stand on the scaffold with her baby for several hours of public humiliation. She becomes a social outcast of the Puritan society and lives in isolation on the outskirts of town. Pearl, her lively and uncontrollable daughter, is ... and guilt. Their lives are ruined as a result of their sinfulness. Since their sin is committed in the strict, moralistic Puritan society, their suffering is made even g...

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... nature. Pearl and nature are referred to as not conforming to Puritan society. For the Puritan's sought to destroy (human) nature, and in the Puritan's eyes Pearl sought to destroy them. This characteristic makes Pearl so different from the rest of society that she is unaffected by the community's harsh reaction to her existence and constant disapproval, and ... nor do i clame it to be compleetley myne) Bibliography Baym, Nina. Introduction. The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York City: Penguin Books USA, Inc. 1986. Clendenning, John. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." The World Book En...

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... participate in the wickedness of the forest. Yet, when Hester and Dimmesdale are in the forest together, it is a symbol of shelter for them from the contempt of society and their guilt for breaking its rules. They both feel safe enough to share the truth with each other. Their meeting in the forest is described as a "first encounter, in the world beyond the grave, of two spirits who had been intimately connected" (142). The scarlet letter ... . Hawthorne describes the woods as the "great black forest [that] became the playmate of the lonely infant." Since Pearl has been driven out of Pur...

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... a bright and sunny day to create the mood, in this case, peaceful, loving and happy. In contrast to this, the author could also use a gloomy and dark setting to make the mood scary and evil. Darkness is used to portray hatred and punishment, or in the puritan society sin. The novel The Scarlet Letter is mainly a gloomy, dark story because it is centered on sin in the puritan society. Through out The Scarlet Letter, light is used to show happiness ... and goodness. One of the most happy and cheerful characters in the novel is Pearl, who is represented by the light. As Fogle (1969) states...

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The Scarlet Letter Essay In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, there are many different themes portrayed throughout the book. Hawthorne develops these themes through many different symbols in his novel. Besides the obvious symbol being the Scarlet Letter, you can find many other examples of Hawthorne's use of color. The colors that he repeats in the book besides red are gray, gold, green, and black. Gray represents the strict Puritan society. Gold represents passion. Green is shown as life ... , hope, and youth. Last, black, is shown as a symbol for evil and sin. The beginning of...

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... that they will learn, and not make the same mistakes. But in Puritan society nothing was discussed; it was proposed by a lonely red letter: Purity was but a lie, and that, if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom besides Hester Prynne's? If we followed the Puritan beliefs today, everyone would walk around with every letter of the alphabet stitched onto their clothing. Ultimately it ... would defeat the purpose if everyone's sins were to ... ...

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... her guilt. Pearl acts indirectly as Hesters moral compass, because every time Hester looks at Pearl she sees the potential good in herself. Thus, In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Pearl exists solely as a symbol of Hester's sins, positive traits, and past self, not as a character in her own right. Pearl is compassionate solely to her parents. As they both go through their different struggles, ... sin. Pearl, like her mother, remains isolated from society. Even though one cannot expect Pearl to be easily accepted into the Puritan society because of what her mother did and the shame she brou...

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... to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and prison." (p. 47) This says that while the Puritans wanted to build a perfect society, one of the first things they built was a prison for criminals. Right from the beginning Hawthorne hints at the fact that many of the Puritan ideas very hypocritical. The symbols used in this book are the scarlet letter, Pearl, and the rosebush next to the rusted prison door. The scarlet letter was thought to be ... the proper way to deal with people who had ... ...

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... wore- Hester emerges from her confinement in the prison proud and defiant. Her fabrication of the Scarlet Letter evokes indignation and resentment from the townspeople. "She hath good skill at her needle, that's certain," remarked one of the female spectators; "but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it!- The Scarlet Letter served to separate Hester from the rest of the Puritan society in which she lived and had formerly ... been a part. Nathaniel Hawthorne states, "it had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanit...

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... and believed in the dark side of man, hence his dark romantic novel The Scarlet Letter. This allegorical novel depends heavily on symbol and character. The novel is chock full of symbolic dimension of images, characters, and descriptions. The Scarlet Letter defines the American Romanticist movement while using symbolic characters and places that give the book seemingly two different stories. The first story denotes the story going on in the book, including the characters. The other story ... that Hester made the letter beautiful implies that she was not guilty of a crime. The act she co...

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... and put on the kindest of moods to welcome her (Bloom 23, 25, 39-40). Besides being repeatedly compared to a bird, Pearl is associated with an April breeze and a brook, and likened to a nymph-child, or an elf like fairy. These vivid natural images describe her as part of nature (Lawerence 118). Mistress Hibbins represents the theme of evil in The Scarlet Letter. In the puritan society that she live ... in everyone believes that she should be punished for her witchful ways (Doren 73). In the symbolic space of The Scarlet Letter, Hibbins represent a side of authority. The witches, who acc...

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... different and is shunned because of her mother's sin. Pearl is a living Scarlet "A" to Hester, as well as the reader, acting as a constant reminder of Hester's sin. The members of the Puritan society view Pearl as a weird, strange little girl, born from a sinful act. However, the characters with a closer, more in depth relationship to the child, feel differently towards Pearl. "She is a strange child! I hardly ... and spontaneity, however to Hester is a persistent remembrance to the Scarlet "A", which she must bare on her bosom. Because of Pearl's banishment from Puritan society she was t...

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... self-mutilations. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale has many opportunities to acknowledge his wrongdoing. He could have confessed during the first scaffold scene as Hester stood in front of the townspeople. Dimmesdale preached to her about her sin, although he was her co-sinner. He could have admitted his sin and endured the wrath of the Puritan society as Hester does, but he lacks the courage. When Dimmesdale ... went to the scaffold during the night he had the opportunity to tell Reverend Mr. ... Wilson of his sin, but he neglected to do so. Pearl asked the Reverend to...

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... a woman of pride and inner beauty. Not long after this story was published, did women start rebelling against their so-called "position" in society. Hester would have been very proud. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an amazing story of Hester's strength in exposing and accepting her sin, choosing to wear bold apparel, and helping Dimmesdale deal with his inner conflict. She is truly a model ... and "fanciful" which helped to define her developing personality, strong and mysterious (87). In this way she represents Pearl as an individual much like her own self. The way she ...

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... too chooses to show the truth of where she has come from. She knows that she is the product of her parents" "sin" and does not hide it. She shows this through her scarlet letter, and she insists on it being exposed. To conclude, there are many situations in the Scarlet Letter where truth is shown, exposed and hidden. The Puritan society in which the characters live in do their own part ... to show or hide the truth as well. The characters of Hester, Pearl and ... Dimmesdale are the three main characters that show truth ... ...

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The Scarlet Letter In the center of a town, a scaffold sits for sinners to undergo public humiliation, but in the end, it serves as a step towards an Emersonian self-reliance. The ideological view of the old Puritan society was replaced by transcendentalism in America. People such as Emerson and Thoreau changed the views of the public, with words and actions. The scaffold similarly served as a link for the characters in the Scarlet Letter to separate their ideals from the ideological society in which they lived ... . Though the role of the scaffold was different, some sort of absolution was al...

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... that ruled New England two hundred years prior. At the same time, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of one woman's struggle to find meaning in living after disobeying the highly regarded word of God. When dialogue is used in the novel, which is quite frequently, Hawthorne conveys formal and proper language which assists the reader in understanding the Puritan culture and the ancestry of the Boston inhabitants. In chapter 23, Roger Chillingworth kneels down toward ... her heavenly actions and independence separate her from the other characters. The scaffold scenes are most important, a...

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