In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses symbolism as a unique literary device to convey his opinions and views upon the reader in an efficient, hidden manner. The art of symbolism, which involves the use of objects or images which represent an idea, meaning, philosophy, or entity beyond itself, expands the plot of the novel to include human society and human interactions. The symbols found throughout the novel allow the readers to relate the symbols to their own world and life, an effect absent from self-evident statements in the microcosm of the fictional Puritan society from the novel. Hester Prynne’s story of sin against Roger Chillingworth, a physician haunted by revenge for Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s sinful partner, and their place in the Puritan society relate the meaning of the work well beyond the pages of the book.
Governor Bellingham’s polished suit of armor symbolizes Hester Prynne’s unnatural place in the society that banished her (SparkNotes). As Hester passes the magnificent artifact of war, the image of her scarlet letter appears in the gleaming metal. Magnified to immense proportions, the burning sign of sin represents Hester’s isolation from society. The armor produces only a reflection of her scarlet letter; likewise, the townspeople’s image of Hester revolves around her sin. The evil associated with Hester’s actions and the letter on her chest consume all aspects of her life, concealing her true beauty, mind, and soul (Warfel). Seeming to expand in the suit of armor, the insignia engulfs her goodness and past, leaving distrust and isolation (SparkNotes).
The rosebush near the prison door serves as an elegant yet powerful symbol of nature’s and God’s wisdom and truth. Filled with disapproval, hatred, and disgust, the townspeople gather to witness Hester’s punishment on the scaffold. However, a small, rich bush of roses lingers between the cold, iron prison door and the sickly scaffold. Blossoming magnificently in the eerie atmosphere, the beautiful red rosebush, a product of God’s craftiness, suggests nature’s and God’s awareness of truths hidden from the townspeople (Warfel). Instead of embracing Hester in cold and hate, the rosebush hints at the warmth of divine understanding and wisdom. Moreover, the red rosebush also symbolizes Hester’s burning, internal flame of passion. Despite the darkness and scold of the townsfolk, Hester’s beauty, life, and love blossom internally amidst a harsh external environment (SparkNotes).
Besides the scarlet letter, other elements of Hester’s attire suggest symbolism. Hester’s cap and hair serve not only as symbols of her true beauty but also as symbols of her soul and its containment. Years ago, Hester’s hair glistened with the radiance of life, beauty, freedom, passion, and love. However, after three agonizing hours on the scaffold and a short prison sentence, her hair, like her vivacity, ceased to exist. Such vivacity only reemerged years later when she dared to remove the cap from her head. However, a connection forged between the cap and its emotional meaning when Hester put her cap back on in the forest so that Pearl would recognize her; As Hester put on the cap, her life, radiance, and beauty disappeared under the cap to once again reveal a sinful, shameful, down-trodden, lifeless woman (Warfel).
The prison of the town symbolizes the darkest aspects of Puritan society and its hypocrisy (Warfel). The original Puritan settlers flooded the lands of North America to establish a “city upon a hill,” a model society operating on God’s laws. Meant to be a safe-haven for humanity free of sin and crime, this settlement veered from its original vision. As suggested by the presence of a prison, even Puritanism, a religion based on purity and worship, cannot be sin-free and crime-free. A prison standing near meeting houses and churches suggests Puritan sin, an ironic thought since the Puritans revered God as their leader on the path to righteousness. Despite their pledge to follow God’s laws, the Puritans gather to witness public punishments and executions without hesitation, seeking entertainment from the pain of others (Warfel). Also, in reference to the Puritan women who scolded Hester on the scaffold, no person in the world can truly worship a God and at the same time take pleasure in the pain of others or condemn alleged sinners to their death (Warfel).
Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne’s husband and the town physician, transforms into a symbol of the Devil and hell throughout the course of the novel. Because of his wife’s sin, Chillingworth embarks on a journey to hunt Hester’s sinful partner and wreak Hell’s revenge and suffering upon him. Isolating Dimmesdale, the minister, as his prime suspect, Chillingworth ventures on a quest for vengeance against him. However, much in the same fashion as Satan fooled God into considering him the most beautiful angel, Roger took up residence with Dimmesdale and presented himself as a wise man with a goal to cure Dimmesdale’s ills (Warfel). Since the Devil yearns to corrupt even the most holy of humans, Chillingworth’s secret operation for revenge against a man of God suggests an interesting connection that equates Chillingworth to Satan himself. With his life revolving around the prospect of revenge, Roger shrivels and disintegrates when Dimmesdale escapes from Chillingworth’s grip and finds redemption (Warfel).
The scaffold near the meeting house of the town hints at the very essence and meaning of sin to the townspeople. Forced upon the scaffold as punishment for her affair, Hester must withstand three long, torturous hours under the disapproving and scornful eyes of the townspeople. Dimmesdale himself rushes to the scaffold at night in an attempt to accept his shame and deal with his self-inflicted punishment of secrecy. The scaffold symbolizes punishment, shame, and the fate of isolation (Warfel). It takes up a life of its own, haunting the town with the terrors with abilities to inflict on the image and life of any member of the society, rich or poor, prominent or unknown.
The scarlet letter attached to Hester’s dress signifies the most prominent and powerful symbol of the novel. First, the beautiful scarlet design denotes the emotional and social faces of sin. Required to wear the “Adulteress” scarlet letter, Hester repents for her transgressions. By doing so, she wears her heart on her sleeve, exposing her emotions and wrongdoings in a physical form for all to see. Also, the scarlet letter embodies the social aspect of Hester’s sin, where the townspeople reject her existence upon seeing the design. The letter hints at her social isolation, almost as a barricade to any assimilation into the community that Hester may attempt. Moreover, towards the end of the novel the scarlet letter changes its meaning to “Able.” Instead of proclaiming sin, the symbol evolves to suggest Hester’s wisdom and goodness. The citizens’ interpretation of the letter as “Able” even hints at Hester’s crucial role in the society. As people depend on her for goods and care, the sinner transforms into a saint of those who condemned her to isolation.
The falling, scarlet meteor that forms a red “A” in the sky also serves as a symbol in the novel. With a unique letter and color, the meteor symbolizes an aspect of Dimmesdale’s life, the first person to see the sign in the sky. Identical to the scarlet letter on Hester’s chest, the meteor serves as Dimmesdale’s personal symbol for his share of the sin (SparkNotes). Even more powerful than Hester’s physical scarlet letter made of cloth, the meteor explodes onto the scene as a divine sign of wrongdoing and a message to the world that God sees all. Moreover, another interpretation of the meteor’s meaning in the novel relates to the naivety of the Puritans. Believing all to be holy and ideal in their society, the townspeople see the meteor’s “A” as a sign of “Angel,” relating to the governor who passed away onto Heaven to become one of God’s angels. However, this element of dramatic irony mocks the townsfolk, since the great Puritan officials and men of power lack absolute purity; their own minister holds in secret a sin worthy of execution, so a governor may live a secret life as well (SparkNotes).
Governor Bellingham’s ornamental, English garden planted in his mansion serves as a powerful symbol of the failure of Old World principles in the New World’s environment. The governor recreates an important, personal aspect of his old world, the garden planted in a manner identical to Old World principles and methods, in the mansion. However, the decaying condition becomes evident to all who visit the mansion, with no way to reverse the damage. This relates to the fact that the governor, a man of politics from the Old World, may be extremely unsuccessful in transplanting ideologies of perfection and total religious purity into the New World. His social “garden,” the community, falls apart. Hester Prynne, bound by isolation, and Arthur Dimmesdale, haunted by an evil physician, face a losing struggle against society (SparkNotes).
The forest that surrounds the town symbolizes two entities; true passions and emotions, and thoughts of the people. The forest shields those who travel through it from sunlight, creating a dark environment hidden from the eyes of society, who may disapprove of many un-Puritan activities. Hidden amidst trees and away from a society that rejects her, Hester reveals her true character. Dimmesdale, Hester’s sinful partner, also reveals himself in the forest during his encounter with Pearl. In addition, Mistress Hibbins meets her fellow witches in the forest, free from the chains of society and free to reveal any secrets. The forest also symbolizes the Devil’s seduction of humans; in the forest, people experience the temptation to violate the rules and morals of society, unleashing their true spirits to commit crimes and sins. The forest, or Satan himself, offers a protective barrier from the eyes of the public behind which any activity remains a secret.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Pearl, Hester’s daughter, functions as a symbol of truth. Despite her age, Pearl expresses her awareness of her mother’s troubles and the evil in the society (SparkNotes). Instead of succumbing to her mother’s will to act like a normal child, Pearl leads her mother toward truth. For example, when the two walk through the graveyard and see Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, Pearl seizes her mother in protection (SparkNotes). Also, although unaware of Dimmesdale’s parental connection to her, Pearl naturally feels and expresses her compassion for him, backing away from the Governor. In addition, Pearl’s indifference toward Dimmesdale finds its roots in the fact that she seeks the revelation of Dimmesdale’s truth; Pearl only accepts Dimmesdale when he confesses to the townspeople, the first time he has acknowledged and exposed the truths about his life. On the other hand, Pearls may also function as a physical body of Hester’s imprisoned emotions (SparkNotes). Pearl, an uncontrollable child, expresses the wildness, excitement, and stubbornness which Hester keeps inside her heart, away from the society. Pearl, however, seems to unleash her mother’s feelings, waging a war of truth on the Puritan way of life (SparkNotes).
The repeating element of sunlight and its description throughout the novel’s array of environments connect to the darkness that lingers in Hester’s mind and body (SparkNotes). While in the forest with Pearl, Hester attempts to grasp the rays of sunlight that flooded the ground. However, the beams of light escape her grasp, appearing to flee from the sinner. This suggests that perhaps the element of light and purity cannot come in contact with an element of darkness and sin; the sunlight from the skies and the evils of sin in Hester’s heart function as opposites that repel each other when joined. When faced with darkness, the sunlight rays can only flee (SparkNotes).
Following her expulsion form common society, Hester and Pearl take up residence in an abandoned house on a hill. The forsaken, lifeless brick home symbolizes Hester’s emotional and social isolation from the Puritan society. Physically, Hester’s residence stands on the outskirts of the town away from the town center (SparkNotes). Hester’s home becomes an entity of her isolation, which in turn indicate her place in society. Moreover, the fact that Hester’s new brick home lacks life and spirit represent her new emotional status (SparkNotes). The barren hearth relates to Hester’s loss of happiness and excitement. The lifeless brick walls of the house resemble her broken physical appearance in a matching gray dress (SparkNotes).
As the Election Day parade unfolds in the Puritan town, the presence of outsiders like Spanish sailors and Native Americans symbolizes the transformation of the town from a homogeneous, “pure” body into a corrupt society too weak to ward off the influx of outside forces. The Puritans, believing that they must follow God’s will, outlawed public smoking and inappropriate forms of expression (Warfel). Living by such laws, they remained pure. However, the fact that by the end of the novel Spanish sailors smoke freely in public and Indian savages stand beside despised Puritans confirms the notion the town’s fall to outside demonic and corrupt influence that allowed the townspeople to intentionally isolate Hester Prynne from the society.
Despite the fact that Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s graves stand at a certain space away from each other, their common, shared headstone symbolizes their spiritual unity in the afterlife (Warfel). The distance between the graves represents the physical, society-bound separation of the two lovers, but the common headstone allows the reader to deduce a final unity in a place beyond Earth. The lovers succeeded in overcoming the physical chains of society and allowing their love to flourish in the spiritual realm, as one entity represented by one headstone that fuses Hester’s and Arthur’s names (Warfel).
Hawthorne’s use of symbolism, meant to produce a greater effect of understanding and realization on the readers, greatly empowers the book and its meaning. The countless symbols and literary devices offer a story wrapped around elements applicable to common life. These symbols force the reader to analyze each element and object in the book to determine its unique meaning to the whole tale. Hawthorne’s symbolic pieces create stories within a larger story, which all represent countless meanings.
Harry Warfel, “Metaphysical Ideas in The Scarlet Letter.” JSTOR: College English.
SparkNotes, “The Scarlet Letter – Themes, Motifs, and Symbols.” The Scarlet Letter.
