Symbolism Of The Scarlet Letter By Nathanial Hawthorne

Symbolism is the use of symbols to express or represent ideas or qualities in literature. There are many symbols throughout Nathanial Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. The characters and many different things throughout the book are all symbolic, but the main symbol in the novel is the letter â€Å"A† on Hester Prynne’s gown. Not only are there many symbols throughout the novel, but the letter â€Å"A† has many different representations of itself such as, adultery, which is the main symbol for the â€Å"A,† her ability to do things, and she is even referred to as an angel. The letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. As Hester grows and changes as a person throughout the novel, so does the letter’s symbolism (â€Å"The LitCharts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). The letter â€Å"A† has a totally different meaning, in the way that everybody sees Hester Prynne, at the end of the novel t han it does at the beginning of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Hawthorne describes the letter â€Å"A† as a symbol of adultery. Hester has to wear the â€Å"A† after the townspeople find out that she has given birth to a child that is not her husbands. She has to appear with the â€Å"A† on her bosom in front of all the townspeople to take responsibilities for her actions. The â€Å"A† appeared on Hester Prynne’s bosom of her gown and was gorgeously stitched (p.50). The â€Å"A† is a symbol of Hester’s sin that she committed, but she does not put herself in the category of being a sinner andShow MoreRelatedThe Novel The Scarlet Letter 893 Words   |  4 PagesThe Weight of a Name The Scarlet Letter is a timeless novel because of the timeless characters depicted in the piece. Each character was carefully constructed by Nathanial Hawthorne to represent a specific aspect of sin. He used these characters to tell a story that would translate how distorted the Puritans’ view of sin was. 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