Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
includes many profound and important
symbols. This device of symbolism is portrayed well in
the novel, especially through the
scarlet letter
"A". The "A" is the
best example because of the changes in the meaning
throughout the
novel. In the beginning of the novel,
the scarlet letter "A" is viewed as a
symbol of
sin. The middle of the novel is a
transition period, where the scarlet letter "A"
is viewed
differently.
In the commencement of the novel, the letter is
taken as a label of punishment and
sin. Hester Prynne bears the label of the letter
upon her chest. She stands as a label of
an
outcast in front
of society. She is wearing this symbol
to burden her with punishment
throughout her
life. She stands on a plank where her
punishment is given, "'Thus she will
be a living
sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her
tombstone'"(59). Society places its blames upon this
woman. It is because of this one
letter that
Hester's life is changed. The letter's
meaning in Puritan society banishes her
from her normal
life. The Puritans view this letter as a
symbol of the devil. The letter also
put Hester
through torture:
"Of an
impulse and passionate nature. She had
fortified herself to
encounter the
stings and venomous stabs of public contumely wreaking
itself in every
variety of insult but there was a quality so much more terrible
in the solemn
mood of popular mind, that she longed rather to behold all
those rigid
countenances contorted with scornful merriment and herself the
object"(54).
This implies that
Hester's sin of bearing a child without the presence of a husband will
always be remembered.
In the middle of the novel is a transition
period where the letter "A" is viewed
differently than
before. In this section of the novel,
Hester's appearance is altered to
where she is no
longer seen as a person of sin. The
letter changes from a symbol of sin to
a more vague
symbol. Society now sees Hester as a
person who is strong yet bears a
symbol which
differs herself. At this point, Hester
has learned to deal with the letter. She
has grown
stronger from it; she is able to withstand the pressures of society. As she grow
stronger, her
personality becomes more opposed to being seen as a sinner. The letter's
meaning has
changed, "Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed
to
love, unless the
change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of
hostility"(147). This foreshadows the future events of the
novel.
Another view of the letter is that it portrays
guilt. It portrays the guilt of
Dimmesdale, the
father of Hester's child. Hester has
learned to deal with her punishment
and grow stronger
from it, but Dimmesdale, who went unpunished and is a respectable
man in the
Puritan society, must now live with the guilt of having a child
"illegally". This
guilt helps him
to become weaker as novel continues:
"Mr.
Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the
universe were
gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his
heart. On that spot, in very truth, there was, and
there long had been, the
gnawing and
poisonous tooth of bodily pain"(136).
After seven years of torture caused by the
scarlet letter, Hester tosses the letter
aside for an
hour. The return of this letter,
however, is beneficial to Hester. The
letter's
refusal to be
swept away, Pearl's refusal to join an unlettered Hester, and Dimmesdale
insistence that
Hester do what ever it takes to quiet Pearl, force Hester to reaccept the
symbol of the sin
she had wrongly divorced, and therefore allow Dimmesdale and Hester
to share a mutual
public shame.
When Hester tosses her sin aside in the forest
scene, she is not successful in
leaving her sin
forever. "The mystic token alighted
on the hither verge of the stream.
With a hand's
breath further flight it would have fallen into the water, and have given the
little brook
another woe to carry onward . . ." (pg. 185) The brook does not carry off
Hester's letter,
and therefore, the disgrace of her sin is still close by. When Hawthorne says
that Hester's new
thoughts "have taught her much amiss" (pg. 183) he also gives Hester
one last chance
to reaccept the sin that she has committed and the Puritan Code which she
has so strongly
rejected. By keeping the letter close at
hand, Hester may still return to her
rightful place in
shame.
Very much in tune with this letter is Pearl.
Pearl immediately recognizes that the
letter has been
cast aside, and recognizes that in a way she has been cast aside too. Pearl
has always been
another symbol of the sin between Hester and Dimmesdale, as much, or
maybe more than
the scarlet letter itself. When Hester removes the letter from her bosom,
in Pearl's eyes,
she also removes her child. "At length, assuming a singular air of
authority,
Pearl stretched
out her hand . . . and pointing evidently towards her mother's breast. And
beneath, in the
mirror of the brook, was the flower-girdled and sunny image of little Pearl,
pointing her
small finger too." (pg. 191) This quote symbolizes the two aspects of
Pearl
both commanding
Hester to return the letter to her bosom. The elfish, disobedient Pearl
and the Pearl who
creates beauty both point to their mother in a mixture of shock and
disgust. Pearl
recognizes the fact that Hester can not toss her sin aside so lightly, and
makes Hester
recognize that fact also.
Also worthy of note, is the fact that Pearl
makes Hester pick up the letter and
reattach it
herself. "'Bring it hither' said
Hester. 'Come thou and take it up!' answered
Pearl." (pg.
193) Pearl wants no part of Hester's sin, and frankly tells Hester so. She
knows that the
sin of Hester and Dimmesdale can only be borne by them, and reminds
Hester of this
fact by making her retrieve that which she wrongly threw away. Hester
finally perceives
this fact, but not in its deeper meaning. "But, in very truth, she is
right as
regards this
hateful token. I must bear its torture yet a little longer - only a few days
longer
- until we shall
have left this region . . . " (pg. 193) Hester reattaches the letter, but
mistakenly
believes that it could ever be fully removed from her. As is seen later in the
book,
Chillingworth, a symbol of punishment, is intent on following Hester and
Dimmesdale to the
ends of the Earth.
Hester also reattaches this letter in order to
pacify Pearl, as requested by
Dimmesdale.
"'I pray you' answered the minister, 'if thou hast any means of pacifying
the
child, do it
forthwith! . . . I know nothing that I would not sooner encounter than this in
passion a child!
. . . it has a preternatural effect. Pacify her, if thou loves me!'" (pg.
192)
The whimpering
minister requests Hester to quiet Pearl by refastening the letter of shame
on her bosom.
Pearl's cry remind Dimmesdale of the sin that they are both pretending they
can disown, and
it bothers him.
All of these factors demand that Hester take
back the symbol of her guilt. By
reaccepting this
guilt, it gives Hester a chance to become the humble and faithful ultra-
Puritan that she
was. Hester's reattachment of the letter also allows Hester and
Dimmesdale to
share their moment of public humiliation together in the market square
upon the
scaffold. When Chillingworth, a symbol of all that is evil tries to dissuade
Dimmesdale from
doing this, it further adds to the joy of Dimmesdale in being relieved of
his secret sin.
" (Chillingworth) 'Madman, hold! . . . Wave back that woman! Cast off this
child! All shall
be well! . . . Would you bring infamy on your sacred profession?' 'Ha,
tempter! Methinks
thou art to late!' answered the minister . . . 'With God's help I shall
escape thee
now!'" (pg. 230) Dimmesdale joins Hester on the scaffold, that in all
truth,
Hester had been
on for seven years. Dimmesdale revels in his dying gasps as he is free
from his
treacherous sin. "'Is this not better,' murmured he, 'than what we dreamed
of in
the forest?' . .
. (Hester)'Better? Yea' . . . " (pg. 231) If Hester had not retrieved her
letter
in the forest,
this moment would never have occurred. Hester and Dimmesdale would have
run off, but they
would never be as close as they are in this scene. This is where the
retrieval of the
letter helps Hester the most.
The actions of Pearl, Dimmesdale, and fate all
return the letter to Hester. They
give Hester back
both of what made her the sinner and the able. They also gave her a
chance to fully
reconcile with Dimmesdale and her community. In the end, the pain that
Hester received
when she refastened the letter to her bosom was paid back in full.
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