The Scarlet Letter

The trouble that one letter can cause to so many people can be described as nothing short of incredible. The power of the scarlet letter can change a life, a community, and be a harder punishment than people will ever understand. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne gives the scarlet letter three significant meanings that are revealed through different scenes within the novel.

The Scarlet letter was pushed upon Hester Prynne by a theocratic society, for a sin that she had committed with a man whose name she would not reveal. The theocratic society placed Hester inside a jail with iron clamped doors. The jail was rusted, had iron spikes, and was decaying. The only sign of life this jail had was a wild red rose bush growing outside the door. When the prison door opened, she stood fully reveled to the town people and pulled the child closely to her chest and began to walk out. The narrator gives in detail the vision the people of Boston saw as they looked at Hester, “On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter “A.” It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore” (51). The scarlet letter made Hester one of her own kind and separated her from the entire town. She was looked at as a sinner, being judged every time she walked into town, and was an example of sin. The scarlet letter made her different and the narrator explains, “It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (52).

Hester was now due for the punish...

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...for her committing Adultery. After this letter is placed upon her bosom she stands upon the scaffold in front of the theocratic society holding a infant in her arms and bearing the letter on her chest. The letter also means the same thing for Dimmesdale but his pain is placed within and leaves a burn upon his chest. Dimmesdale then sees a letter “A” in the night time sky created by clouds. As a meteor lights up the sky, the letter becomes inflamed with a bright red color. That same “A” is noticed by the towns’ people in memory of the governor and they believe it means “Angel”. However, as years pass and Hester begins to be a great influence in the city of Boston, the “A” stands for “Able” showing the strength that Hester endures. As one reads this novel, one can choose which meaning is the most significant and most symbolic, as Hester lives a life of ignominy.