Essay Prompt 1

In the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, symbolism is involved in nearly every aspect of the book. From the names of the characters shedding light on their character, to the scarlet letter itself, Hawthorne ingeniously incorporated symbolism throughout the book. The most prevalent symbolism in the book is its namesake, the scarlet letter. The letter represents many things from a representation of the sinful deed she committed (adultery), to the town's opinion of Hester, to Hester's own blooming confidence in herself.

The most obvious inference to be made about the scarlet letter is its actual purpose in the time period, that is, to humiliate an adulterer and make sure that he or she is known to be an adulterer by the whole town. A scarlet letter is a red letter "A" that must be worn always by the sinner. In this way, the scarlet letter symbolizes the very deed that was done and is a negative symbol, and is used throughout the novel as a way of referring to adultery without actually mentioning such inappropriate topics like sex or infidelity.

A second thing the scarlet letter represents is the town's opinion of Hester. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester frequently mentions that the scarlet letter feels heavy like she is carrying around the town's opinion of her always. Despite her attempts to fit into the town, she always has the letter and the letter will always show what the town thinks of her. Therefore, the scarlet letter is once again seen as a negative symbol.

The third representation of the scarlet letter is how it shows her own confidence in herself and her place in the town. She embellishes it and rather than hiding it, she wears it if not proudly, then more confidently. The thing about it is that she's not proud of it but her general acceptance of it and eventual removal of it on her own volition as opposed to keeping it on for life represents her self confidence. Rather than wearing it to show the town what a terrible person she is, she wears it to display her sewing skills (because her job in the town is that of a seamstress) and she stops caring about what the town thinks until she finally has the "moxy" that is the general "spunk" to remove it herself. It, or rather the eventual lack of it, displays her personal growth.

It is therefore clearly apparent that the scarlet letter does have great symbolic value. Although the book is about Hester Prynn's trials and life in a small puritan town, the book is called The Scarlet Letter, not The Life and Times of Hester Prynn. This is because of how the scarlet letter and the symbolism it carries with it sets the real mood and tone of the tale that would be otherwise if not impossible, very, very hard to do.