Free Essay on Symbols and Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter - The Symbolic Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Highly Symbolic Scarlet garner Hyatt Waggoner, a noted Hawthorne scholar, says, The Scarlet Letter is Hawthornes most widely read and admired novel and is also the one that has inspired the most inconclusive debate . . . (Waggoner 118). Much of the trouble in interlingual rendition The Scarlet Letter stems from the fact that the story is highly symbolic. The Scarlet Letter opens with the stark image of the throng of people surrounding the prison door. Hawthorne creates a idea by using the, sadcolored, garment and, gray, steeplecrowned hats, to give the reader a feeling a gloom and sadness. Among these dark, sad images Hawthorne interjects the wild red rose. As Hawthorne puts it, to symbolize round sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and brokenheartedness (McMichael, 1033). The prison is symbolic of moral evil which would be sin and the cemetery is a symbol of natural evil which would be death. It is commonly agreed that the color in are used extensivly in The Scarlet Letter as symbols. This is illustrated by the scene by the prison door, but the use and importance of the symbol grows as the book moves along. Pearl, is often identified with the color red, which Waggoner identifies as evil. Pearl is not an evil child in the true sense of the word, but she is a reflection of her parents immorality and their love. The color red, along with images of bright glow show Pearl to be the product of a moment of passion between Hester and Dimmesdale. fair(a) like the red rose at the start of the story, Pearl is meant to relieve the sorrow and misery. The most famous symbol is of course the scarlet letter itself. Called, The set forth Sign, by Waggoner, the letter A exhibits itself a number of times and in a number of ways throughout the story. The A may appear on Dimmesdales chest, it appears as Pearl, in the sky as a huge letter formed by a comet in the mirror at the Governors mans ion and on Hesters tombstone (McMichael 1150). The letter itself is red, which at first glance would seem to confirm Mr. Waggoners theory that red in the story is a representation of evil. A faux pas can be made, however, that even in the letter A that red is symbolic of hope and spirit.