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The Effective Use of Symbolism The novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel
Hawthorne is an intriguing account of a Puritan community that experiences a
breakdown in beliefs. The story deals with a woman, Hester, who commits adultery
with a Calvinistic minister resulting in the birth of a child (Martin 110). As
compensation for her crime of passion and her refusal to name her lover, Hester
is sentenced to wear an embroidered scarlet letter on her bosom. It is this
letter, or secret sin, that becomes the emphasis of the novel and assumes many
different roles (Martin 111). Hawthorne starts the novel by portraying the
literary reality associated with the different aspects of the letter (Martin
110). From the start, “Hawthorne seems to say, this is a scarlet letter; because
of that, it is capable of further meaning. The letter will have to carry the
burden of the tale” (Martin 111). Hawthorne’s use of symbolism is fully
developed in the multi-meanings hidden in the scarlet letter through a variety
of characters. The scarlet letter represents different ideals to different
people and should be given the proper consideration (Martin 114). In the Puritan
community, the letter is viewed as a moral obligation to inform others of
Hester’s sin, one that they feel should be “dragged out into the sunshine”
(Hawthorne 43). They believe the letter symbolizes psychological and religious
truth. The Puritans are “ a people amongst whom religion and law were almost
identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly Foti 2 interfused,
that her mildest and severest acts of public discipline were alike made
venerable and awful” (Hawthorne 40). It is said that “meager, indeed, and cold,
was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders at the
scaffold” (Hawthorne 40). The Puritans are firmly against Hester’s actions and
feels that she has disgraced them along with herself. They feel that she must
take responsibility for her actions. The effect of her punishment however is not
what the Puritans had hoped to achieve.
Hester’s sin has grown from that of
passion to one of purpose. Even with Hester’s sympathetic attitude, she was not
filled with regret and therefore the letter had not done its task (Martin 122).
To the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the scarlet letter contains a whole new
meaning. He views the letter as a constant reminder of his sin and cowardice.
His guilt continues to grow as a result of his not being able to come forth in
front of the community and take responsibility for his actions. His guilt and
sin become magnified by his inability to stand beside Hester at the scaffold.
Dimmesdale, also is ironically charged with questioning Hester and trying to
convince her of the importance of identifying her fellow sinner (Hawthorne 52).
He begins to feel more and more grief and it begins to affect his mental and
physical state. He soon becomes weak; however, it is believed by the community
to be because of his “too unreserved self-sacrifice to the labors and duties of
the pastoral relation” (Hawthorne 80). When Dimmesdale is believed to be near
death, the community again believes it is because “the world was not worthy to
be any longer trodden by his feet” (Hawthorne 88). Dimmesdale seems to be
haunted by “Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth. This
diabolical Foti 3 agent had the Divine permission, for a season, to burrow into
the clergyman’s intimacy and plot against his soul” (Hawthorne 94).
Chillingworth proposes to Dimmesdale that a “sickness, a sore place, if we may
so call it, in your spirit, hath immediately its appropriate manifestation in
your bodily frame” (Hawthorne 99).
However, Dimmesdale denies and refuses to
discuss it with him. Dimmesdale becomes weaker and weaker because “by the
constitution of his nature, he loved the truth, and loathed the lie, as few men
ever did. Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self!
(Hawthorne 105). Before Dimmesdale’s death, he finally confesses to his sin on
the scaffold and frees his soul and conscience. Spectators have testified to
seeing “on the breast of the unhappy minister, a SCARLET LETTER—the very
semblance of that worn by Hester Prynne—imprinted in the flesh” (Hawthorne 182).
Dimmesdale’s own personal suffering and guilt becomes known after the
consequence of his sin is immersed. Since women are of less account than men,
they are coerced physically rather that psychologically (Baym 283). Forced to
wear a symbol of shame in public, Hester is left alone behind that symbol to
develop, as she will. Hester Prynne is torn in two between the different
meanings she possesses towards the scarlet letter. The pain inflicted by the
letter remains with Hester, while at the same time she takes satisfaction in
having the letter. She views the letter as “an armor of pride that is also a
mantle of suffering” (Martin 114). The letter serves as a constant reminder to
Hester of her sin and brings the coldness of the community on her. She becomes
isolated from others and looked down upon by everyone. The letter seals Hester’s
fate and ruins any chances of her having a decent future. On the other hand,
Foti 4 Hester also views the letter with pride.
She feels her act was not one of
sin but one of passion. Her act of adultery was rooted from the love she had for Dimmesdale and belief in “the supremacy of her passion” (Martin 122). It is also
believed that “Not a stitch in that embroidered letter has an effect, but she
has felt it in her heart” (Hawthorne 43). The letter ironically brings Hester
both joy and pain (Martin 120). When standing on the scaffold in front of all
the relenting eyes, “Hester Prynne might have repaid them all with a bitter and
disdainful smile” (Hawthorne 45). Hester, despite the coldness of the community,
chooses to refrain. She slowly begins to gain the sympathy of certain members of
the community and “Her breast, with its badge of shame, was but the softer
pillow for the head that needed one” (Martin 122). The letter brings her glory,
yet this honor works against her and results in pain (Martin 120). Everything
about Hester from her appearance to her being now all implies a certain
contribution to her letter. Clearly after everything Hester has been put
through, she still cannot come to “hate her sin” (Martin 121). Because of this
she succumbs to the entire letter brings upon her yet remains able to avoid
becoming bitter. Hester’s secret serves as an “emblem” of different fates of the
Puritan generation. “Hawthorne seems to adorn the subject rather than present
it, conceal it with fancy needlework, so that the Capital A might have been
thought to mean…anything other than adulteress” (Fiedler 250).
He portrays the
guilt as craftwork, which he attributes to Hester’s prototype: “sporting with
her infamy, the lost and desperate creature had embroidered the fatal token with
golden thread and the nicest art of needlework (Hawthorne 56). This suggests the
symbol “A” may have represented the proceeding Foti 5 ages “forgotten art” that
was now replaced by the darkest shade of Puritanism. The Scarlet Letter is
concerned not only with passion but also with America (another possible
signification of Hester’s letter). “It attempts to find in the story of Hester
and Dimmesdale a paradigm of the fall of love in the New World” (Fiedler 249).
However the many interpretations of the letter “A”, the common symbol by readers
is “adultery”. Although the letter contains various interpretations, it proves
to serve only one purpose: that being to make Hester’s sin of adultery known to
everyone. The letter is the revolving element throughout the novel. The Puritans
brand Hester with this letter as punishment for her moral straying. The letter
flourishes and takes on different meanings. Although the outcome of the
situation is not what the Puritans had intended, the letter has served a
purpose. The novel opens with the introduction of the letter and when it draws
to a close this symbol is still the most important factor. The individual
meanings of the letter and the events surrounding and resulting from the letter
signify once again and emphasis the importance of the symbolism of the scarlet
letter to the overall effect of the novel. Foti 6
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