... the Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne contains abundant symbolism, which is used to unify the novel and add deeper meaning. Although the actual "A" is the most obvious symbol, there are several others which have great importance as well. The most important symbol in the novel is the scarlet letter, which affects each character in a different way. The characters who are affected by the letter are Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, Pearl, and Hester Prynne (Schneider). The scarlet letter ... of her illicit birth and her origins. Although the scarlet "A" keeps h...

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... is still new and young while Hester's has had time to grow old. The last significant event in which Pearl is the embodiment of the scarlet letter is in the forest. This last event proves that Hester is not complete without the scarlet letter. Pearl notices that her mother is not wearing the letter on her bosom and will not obey her mother's call. Instead she stands in ... his hand above his heart whenever she refuses to listen to her mother's call. She then throws a tantrum when her mother can't figure out what is the matter. Then Hester notices the scarlet letter lying on the bank of ...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , and helping Dimmesdale deal with his inner conflict. She is truly a model for advocates of the early women's right movement. Although the scarlet letter burned a hole to her heart, Hester wears it and never denies it, which shows a true strength from within. When she was subjected to standing on the scaffold she held her baby tight as people looked her up and down with disgust (Hawthorne ... such problems for her, she didn't remove it and stood her sentence out despite how embarrassing it must have been. The first thing her darling Pearl noticed when she was born was the scarlet letter...

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... 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 ... ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... into three major parts. The first part focuses on the symbolic meanings of the marketplace. The second part presents the allegorical meanings of the forest wilderness. The third part comes to a new view towards the two different settings in the novel. The conclusion restates the thesis of the paper. Outline An Analysis of the Marketplace and the Forest Wilderness of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter I. Introduction. 1. The background of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 2. The brief introduction of Hawthorne's the Scarlet Letter. 3. The view on the two settings that leads ... to the topic under discuss...

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... deal with the idea of sin, the punishment that comes from it, and the repentance that some undergo to cleanse themselves of that sin. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the author uses the scaffold scenes to depict the idea of private versus public sin. The first scaffold scene establishes the tone for the novel. Here, Hester Prynne is taken before her Puritan town from the prison. On her bosom she bears the scarlet A for "adultery ... " and in her arms she holds the creation of her sin, her daughter Pearl. She ascends ... ...

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... century Boston, during a Puritan settlement. It takes place in Salem and Concord, Massachusetts; late 1840. A young woman, Hester Pryne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead ... affair, as she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover's identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and ...

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... towards self-reliance and has changed in various ways. The Scarlet Letter begins with the three-hour punishment of Hester Prynne. The first scaffold scene takes place in the market place in front of society. Hester Prynne has been accused of adultery and must expose her sin by standing on the scaffold for three hours. She also must wear an "A" on the front of her dress, which also is representation ... for Dimmesdale and society. Although the society sees the celestial "A" in the sky to represent a conformation of the Governor Winthrop's ascending into heaven, Dimmesdale sees it as his ...

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... his worst enemy. All of this torture and guilt leads Dimmesdale to create the novel's second scaffold scene. In this scene Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold, clutching his naked breast which held the scarlet letter, permanently etched there. On the scaffold he screamed aloud, without power to restrain himself. He then exclaimed, "It is done, the whole will awake and hurry forth, and find me here." (Hawthorne, ... 103) It seems as though that's what Dimmesdale wanted was the whole town to come see him ... standing there, a sinner. However, the minister is soon greeted ... ...

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... 's attic and among these, he discovers a manuscript bundled with a gold-embroidered patch in the shape of an "A." The manuscript was written by a past surveyor who detailed events some two-hundred years before the narrator's time. He later decides to write a fictional story based on the events from the manuscript and calls it The Scarlet Letter. The narrator then goes into his book which takes place in 17th century Boston which ... was a Puritan settlement. A young woman is guided out of a prison with a child in her arms and the letter "A" patched against her breast. An elderly onlooker ...

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... that reminds Pearl of her mother, Hester's scarlet letter "A" By this point in time Hester Prynne's husband has found out about Dimmesdale's secret and has been tormenting Dimmesdale with it. Arthur Dimmesdale has become real pale and looks almost dead and also begins to lose his mind, this is scene on the scaffold. Dimmesdale goes and stands on the scaffold, which is a place of punishment, he ... relieved himself of guilt after seven years of letting this eat away at him and torment him. The people still saw him as a great man and he was never really seen as a dirty man. In The Scarlet...

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... child, Pearl, is the product of her affair, the infant stands as the living symbol of her sin. The embrace that she gives her baby is, thus, her own embrace of her sin. Hester also reveals that this embrace covered her scarlet letter, but that " wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm,"with ... a glance that would not be abashed - (46). While she could have "hid- from the full force of this scaffold penance, her dignity holds her open to ... malice, Dimmesdale looks for comfort in the form of a midnight confession....

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... around them, but in doing so corrupt themselves, and subsequently the entire human race. They degrade from perfect creatures into sinful individuals influenced by temptations, greed, pride, and evil. Similarly, Nathaniel Hawthorne's characters in The Scarlet Letter develop into less humane creatures as a result of the evil around them. The influence of evil leads to the corruption and degradation of those characters' souls and identities as members ... consequences, she strengthens her understanding of humanity: "[ ] she felt or fancied [ ] that the scarlet letter had endowed her with a...

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... had been Hester's husband.   He saw Dimmesdale as a rival, a foe, and he treated him as such, but on a much deeper level than one may think. He did not openly hate the man, nor threaten him in any way.   He simply used what he knew was Dimmesdale's secret weakness "his ... felt as if he had taken away her father and her chance at a normal, happy life.   Pearl's tears had touched his deep, dark soul on the day her father died.   Chillingworth felt some responsibility for Dimmesdale, and though he had been his foe, he felt that he owed it to Pearl, ... vengeful acts.   Thus, he proved...

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... was not an option. Guilt on the other hand was the one way of measuring how sorry one was of the sin they had committed. This was the one aspect that comforted Dimmesdale. No one carried the guilt of their action as well and sincerely as he did. He would evidence this by long walks. He even took a knife and carved the letter "A" into his chest. He begged ... knew that Dimmedale's confession would not end the reproach of the people on him. So in His demonstration of love, He takes him home. In summary the story of The Scarlet Letter is nothing more than the absence of the Father in the l...

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... Marie MacNamara, Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter goes through several stages of spiritual growth; preparation, communication, transformation and finally revelation. To further understand why Dimmesdale is so hard on himself we must first Learn a little back ground on Puritanism. Puritanism was a move influenced by the Reformation, but whose main objective was to purify the Church of England. The most out going of the puritans wanted to return to ... just wasn't sure when he would be able to bring him self to do it. He had to become strong on the inside and on the outside because...

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... and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance." Pearl asks her mom to look at the statue because she sees the gigantic letter A appear in the reflection. Another time is when Pearl makes the letter A on the beach out of things she finds around. Pearl gets mad when Hester takes off the scarlet letter in the forest because the scarlet letter is what makes her mother stand out from ... the crowd, what makes her unique. Hester puts it back ... ...

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