Guilt is the sin that swallows the soul, darkens the mind, while piercing the heart of the beholder. Sin can not be hidden, broken, or undone. No matter if the effects are internal or external, sin has its consequences. A constant reminder of Hester’s sin is the scarlet letter, being a permanent reminder of Hester’s wrong doings. Along with this permanent symbol, Pearl, the daughter of Hester, is the outcome of Hester’s wrong doings. We confirm throughout the story that public humiliation can be the greatest form of punishment. The scaffold is the place of public humiliation for those who have sinned. Symbols in the Scarlet Letter are constant reminders of Hester’s sin, which are always playing a key role in the accumulation of guilt.
A symbol of Hester’s sin that is accumulating the guilt inside of her is the scarlet letter. An example we are given in the book reads,“‘Ah, but,’ interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, ‘let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart,’” (Hawthorne 49). In this statement, the author is trying to get across that not only will Hester think this letter will be a constant reminder of her sin, the people around her know that this punishment will be enough to constantly aggravate her. With a strong feeling of antipathy toward the permanent symbol on her chest, the narrator tells us, “When the young woman—the mother of this child—stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress,” (Hawthorne 50). Although Hester may be trying to display her...
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...arket-place,” (Hawthorne 52). As Hester made her way to the scaffold she could feel all the scrutinizing eyes on her. This made Hester feel very self-conscience and aware of the things she did to end up in such a bad predicament. Explaining her walk to the scaffold implied the awful public humiliation she was about to endure. No matter if the sin's consequence is revealed or hidden inside the beholder, guilt is the shadow that follows.
There is no escaping the fact that sin has its consequences. With sin comes guilt, and there is no hiding it. The scarlet letter and pearl are permanently there, constantly telling Hester of her wrong doing. These two symbols also are forms of the public humiliation, along with the scaffold she is forced to stand on. The symbols in the scarlet letter portray sin and its consequences through permanent reminders and public humiliation.
The central theme in The Scarlet Letter is that manifested sin will ostracize one from society and un-confessed sin will lead to the destruction of the inner spirit. Hawthorne uses the symbol of the scarlet letter to bring out this idea. In the novel, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A (the symbol of her sin) because she committed adultery with the clergyman, Dimmesdale. Because the public's knowledge of her sin, Hester is excluded physically, mentally, and socially from the normal society of the Puritan settlement. She lives on the outskirts of town in a small cottage where she makes her living as a seamstress. Though she is known to be a great sewer amongst the people, Hester is still not able to sew certain items, such as a new bride's veil. Hester also has no interaction with others; instead she is taunted, if not completely ignored, by all that pass her by. Despite the ill treatment of the society, Hester's soul is not corrupted. Instead, she flourishes and improves herself in spite of the burden of wearing the scarlet letter and she repeatedly defies the conventional Puritan thoughts and values by showing what appears to us as strength of character. Her good works, such as helping the less fortunate, strengthen her inner spirit, and eventually partially welcome her back to the society that once shunned her.
In the beginning, the scarlet letter represents the sinful nature of Hester’s crime, as revealed through the thoughts and feelings of Hester and the townspeople towards the letter. When first wearing the letter in public, Hester portrays herself as indifferent towards the town’s harsh language and detest for her, despite still feeling the intensity of her punishment internally. Hester portrays herself as indifferent towards the town’s harsh language and detest for her, and strong in the difficult conditions. By “wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she…with a burning blush, and…haughty smile…looked around at her townspeople and neighbours” (Hawthorne, 80).
Hester’s sin is that her passions and love were of more importance to her than the Puritan moral code. This is shown when she says to Dimmesdale, "What we did had a consecration of its own. We felt it so! We said so to each other!" Hester fully acknowledged her guilt and displayed it with pride to the world. This was obvious by the way she displayed the scarlet letter. It was elaborately designed as if to show Hester was proud.
Through the use of numerous symbols, Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter serves as an allegory for the story of Adam and Eve and its relation to sin, knowledge, and the human condition that is present in human society. Curious for the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, which resulted in the revelation of their “humanness” and expulsion from the “divine garden” as they then suffered the pain and joy of being humans. Just as Adam and Eve were expelled from their society and suffered in their own being, so were Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. Hester was out casted and shunned, while Dimmesdale suffered under his own guilt. After knowledge of her affair is made known, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest to symbolize her crime of adultery, and is separated from the Puritan society. Another “A” appears in the story, and is not embroidered, but instead scarred on Dimmesdale’s chest as a symbol of guilt and suffering. Hester’s symbol of guilt comes in the form of her daughter, Pearl, who is the manifestation of her adultery, and also the living version of her scarlet letter. Each of these symbols come together to represent that with sin comes personal growth and advancement of oneself in society as the sinner endures the good and bad consequences.
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
Hester's fantastically embellished red letter takes on many meanings as a symbol. The gold thread with which the letter is embroidered symbolizes Hester's mockery of the Puritan way of punishment. A female spectator in the market place remarks, "Why, gossips, what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make a pride out of what they ... meant for a punishment?" (Hawthorne 61). The embellishment of the letter physically displays Hester's reaction to her punishment. Her strong will not only accepts the challenge that the Puritan church has laid before her, but she also laughs in mockery at it. The scarlet letter also shows the triviality of the community's system of punishment. Whenever Hester walks outside of her cottag...
The scarlet letter serves as a punishment for Hester’s adultery, an act that grew out of her passionate love with Dimmesdale. Like a burn, it is a painful reminder of the affection and intimacy they once shared. The symbol is ...
As Hester wears the scarlet letter, the reader can feel how much of an outcast Hester becomes. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127).She believes that she is not worthy of the towns acknowledgments and chooses to ignore them. The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason of her change in personality.
Hester Prynne's guilt is the result of her committing adultery, which has a significant effect on her life. Hester is publicly seen with the scarlet letter when she first emerges out of the cold dark prison. "It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself" (49). The spell that is mentioned is the scarlet letter, "so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom" (49). The scarlet letter is what isolates her from everyone else because it symbolizes sin. Hester is in her very own sphere, where her sin affects her livelihood and has completely cut her off from the world. Her entrance into the sphere marks the beginning of her guilt and it occurs when she is in the prison after her first exposure to the crowd. The prison marks the beginning of a new life for Hester, a life full of guilt and seclusion. Her problem is that her shame is slowly surfacing while she faces the crowd realizing that she has been stripped of all her pride and everything that was important to her in the past. The lasting effect of Hester's sin is the shame that she now embodies due to her committing adultery. The shame that is ass...
No matter how hard she tries, Hester cannot make her child obey. Pearl “could not be made amenable to rules” (Hawthorne, 1994, p. 62). Since Pearl was created out of a sinful desire, she represents sin itself, and what comes from it. Being created out of disobedience to God, Pearl could not obey. Everything that Pearl does comes back to a strange obsession with “the scarlet letter on Hester’s bosom” (Hawthorne, 1994, p. 66). When Pearl plays, she “took some eel-grass, and imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother’s. A letter,--the letter A,--but freshly green, instead of scarlet!” (Hawthorne, 1994, p. 122). She creates a scarlet letter for her own breast, after which Hester has to explain why Pearl should not wear one (Hawthorne, 1994, p. 122). When Hester takes the letter off, she feels a freedom she has not felt for years, but Pearl becomes angry and wants Hester to put it back on, thus putting the guilt and grief back into her mother’s life. This represents how sin holds one back from a freedom that is found from forgiveness in God’s grace. Because Hester has trouble making Pearl obey, this makes many of the people believe she had a demon, thus representing
The purpose of the scarlet letter is not fulfilled according to the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was put upon Hester’s bosom to claim her unholiness but instead the "punishment" served as a way for Hester to grow stronger. The townspeople were the first to see first introduction of Hester. She was looked down on since the branding of the letter “A” upon her bosom. She was a "figure of perfect elegance" compared to the Puritan women of "brief beauty" (Hawthorne pg.: 55, 57). Right from the start, Hester appears to be different from those around her, suggesting a rebellious attitude to the traditions and customs of the time where church and state were still considered to be the central government at the time. She was different from others due to her nature of her being. Hester wasn’t like all other women. If another woman were to be branded an adulteress, that woman would have probably try to keep her sin away from the townspeople and forever keep their peace. Hester on the other hand, had the bravery and boldness in her that did not frighten her to show off what she did wrong. She may have had the intention that...
Initially Pearl is the symbol of Hesters public punishment for her adultery. As the novel progresses and Pearl matures she symbolizes the deteriation of Hester's like by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter "A". Pearl in a sense wants her mother to live up to her sin and, she achieves this by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter. Another peice of evidence that shows how Pearl symbolizes the sin Hester has committed, is when the town government wants to take Pearl away from her Revrend Dimmsdale convinces the government that Pearl is a living reminder of her sin. This is essentialy true, Hester without Pearl is like having Hester without sin.
Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter there are many symbols. One of the biggest symbols of the novel is the scarlet letter A that Hester Prynne is sentenced to wear after she commits adultery. It is a symbol that is sewn onto her clothes for everyone to see. It is a punishment that is meant to humiliate her for the duration of the time that she stays in Puritanical Boston. During the novel, the scarlet letter changes and evolves from meaning adultery to meaning ability and even physically changes its form.
In the first chapters of the novel, Hester was punished to wear an "A" on her chest at all times. The "A" is a punishment for the adultery she committed with the towns own Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Instead of making it into something that people looked down upon, as something horrific and disgusting on her chest, she made it look like a beautiful, gleaming gem. She made it out of the most gorgeous sparkling gold threads that caught everyone's eye. A quote in chapter two described the scarlet letter as "so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself." That shows how she is a confident and very individual person. No other woman would have as much courage as she did to make a punishment into an attraction.
One of themes that Hawthorne conveys in The Scarlet Letter is that society is more willing to forgive people who ask for forgiveness with humility and generosity than those who demanded it as a right. This theme was conveys using Hester Prynne, a young women who committed adultery. This was considered to be one of the worst crime someone could commit in the Puritan society during the eighteen hundreds, where she resides in. As punishment, Hester was required to wear a scarlet letter "A" upon her garment in order for everyone to recognize her crime. Her society had condemn her, they believed that she "has brought shame upon all of us, and ought to die..."(59) Yet, as time went by, because of the way in which Hester carried herself wearing the scarlet letter, the symbol had taken a new meaning. Although, when the scarlet letter was first place on her bosom it was a symbol of Hester's crime, burden, seclusion, and shame. However, as a result of Hester's generosity and humility the scarlet letter had come to symbolize Hester's strength, philanthropy, and gained her very high respectability in her society.