The Scarlet Letter Symbolism

Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter One of the most commonly used and arguably most effective literary devices used in literature is symbolism. A symbol is merely a tangible object with an abstract meaning. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn is a highly symbolic novel, and its author uses each symbol to add a deeper meaning to the story. One of the most important symbols in the novel is Hester’s young daughter, Pearl. The child represents both negative and positive concepts, but one of the most important interpretations is Pearl as a symbol of her parent’s guilt. In any good work of fiction, symbolism should be fairly easy to spot. As Laurence Perrine explains, good symbols “will be so central and so obvious that they will demand symbolic interpretation if the story is to yield significant meaning” (173). Hidden symbols rarely do their job well; it is essential for a symbol to be obvious. If a reader finds themselves searching for it, it is likely that the writer never intended for any symbolic

Good writing is meant to elicit an emotional response from its reader, and effective symbolism does just that. Birkerts explains that “A symbol deepens the thematic resonance” of a work of fiction (127). The frequent use of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter adds color and life to an otherwise rudimentary story. Pearl herself seems to function far more effectively as a symbol than she does as a mere character. She lacks many typical human qualities, but serves her purpose as a representation of all the ways her mother’s life changed on the day of her ignominy. The child was named Pearl because she was “purchased with all [Hester] had” (83) and her world would never be the same. With every positive or negative concept that the child represents, Pearl more clearly symbolizes the cost of her mother’s