"On a field, sable, the letter A, gules." (Hawthorne 240) The gravestone of Hester and Dimmesdale bears this statement. At the end of the book, Hawthorne, leaves the reader full of symbols, ideas and questions as to what this poignant book was really about. Was it really simply the story of a Puritan woman accused of adultery, or was it really meant to tell the world what Nathaniel Hawthorne felt about Puritan society? The symbols presented in this novel, when combined, show how Puritan society went against nature. This can be seen especially clearly in the case of Pearl.

Peral is always looked at from two different angles; positively by natural standards, and negatively by Puritan standards. Descriptions of Pearl are always full of comparisons to beauty in nature, such as, "A lovely and immortal flower" (Hawthorne 79). However, to the Puritan society, she is regarded as evil, being the...