Summary:
Imagery and symbolism are used throughout The Scarlet Letter to define and develop characters, set scene and tone, and to aid in plot progression. The most prevalent symbol that develops Hester's character is the letter `A'. The reader is introduced to the `A' in the very beginning of the book when Hester walks out of the prison. The letter is embroidered on her chest and is meant to stand for adultery.
Imagery and symbolism are used throughout The Scarlet Letter to define and develop characters, set scene and tone, and to aid in plot progression.
Hester and Dimmesdale are the most human characters. They can be seen as both good and evil, because both good and evil lie within them. Hawthorne uses symbolism to portray both sides of the spectrum.
The most prevalent symbol that develops Hester's character is the letter 'A'. The reader is introduced to the 'A' in the very beginning of the book when Hester walks out of the prison. The letter is embroidered on her chest and is meant to stand for adultery, it stands as a physical reminder of Hester's sin. Ultimately, the letter gives Hester strength and empathy that no one else in the Puritan society has or could hope for; Hester bears her cross and becomes a better person for it.
The use of light and dark also develop and expose Hester. When she first emerges from the prison she is bathed in sunlight, which symbolizes her inherent goodness. However, as the book progresses, Hester is continually seen in darkness. When Pearl and Hester walk in the forest, Hester is always masked in the darkness, not because she is an evil person, but both because she believes she has not made full penance for her sins and because Dimmesdale has not confessed to his part in Hester's predicament. In Chapter 16, when Hester meets with Dimmesdale in the forest, sunshine occasionally flickers through the canopy of trees, showing the closer the lovers get to acceptance and absolution of their sins, the more the light, and goodness, are drawn to them.
Dimmesdale's character is symbolic of every human's battle between head and heart. In his head, he knows the law of Puritan society and that he is a sinner inside, but in his heart he loves Hester and Pearl and dismisses all he stands for as a Puritan minister. His internal struggle adds to the symbolism of the scaffold scenes which move the plot along.
When the book opens, Dimmesdale is portrayed as having great strength, but as the book progresses Dimmesdale loses that strength. Unlike Hester, whose conflict is known and external, Dimmesdale's conflict remains unexposed and internal. As the book progresses, Hester gains strength and is bettered by the letter, but Dimmesdale is torn down and tortured his guilt, which, for his character, is ultimately symbolized by the letter 'A'. Hester refuses to expose Dimmesdale, believing it is his duty to confess, so Dimmesdale must lose everything he has- physically and mentally- before he can find the strength to confess.
Hester and Dimmesdale, the book's most human characters, are Pearl's parents. Pearl is symbolic of innocence and goodness. She can be likened to the cartoon angel that perches on a person's shoulder and urges them to do the right thing when faced with a moral dilemma. Pearl received her name from Hester because, though she is a great treasure, she came at a great price. She exists as a living manifestation of Hester's (and Dimmesdale's) sins. Pearl's existence is the reason Hester is completely ostracized from society, yet, her existence is also the reason Hester's life was not executed for her crimes. Over the course of the book, the sunlight and Pearl are constantly presented together, which is evidence that even though Pearl was born out of sin, she herself is not evil. She embodies passion, freedom, and the carelessness of youth and innocence; she is symbolic of the youth and passion that Hester lost when she first dawned the scarlet letter. As a symbol Pearl is presented in juxtaposition to both Chillingworth and Puritan society. She is a physical manifestation of all that is good, innocent and free; whereas Chillingworth is representative of evil and jealously, chained to his obsession with finding and destroying Hester's lover. In much the same way Pearl is used a foil to Roger Chillingworth, she is shown in stark contrast to Puritan society. Her wild and inquisitive nature is in complete opposition with the rigidness of Puritan society. The people of Boston shun Pearl because of the circumstances of her birth, but also because Pearl refuses to conform to their oppressive way of life. She is out of place and enjoys it; she lives, truly lives, instead of just existing.
The final character developed through Hawthorne's symbolism is the twisted Chillingworth, Hester's husband. His character is flat and representative of evil, not just human flaw, but Satan-like evil. Pearl sees through him and fears him from the beginning, she describes him as the Black Man. Chillingworth is a man of intellect and science, which gives evidence to the belief that science is a tool of the devil, it disproves lessons taught in the bible and goes against Christian, and Puritan, dogma. When Chillingworth decides to hunt Hester's lover, he does so methodically and systematically, using logic and reason, and loses touch with any emotion or human empathy. He becomes obsessed with torturing and violating Dimmesdale, becoming the greatest sinner of the book because he plays God's role in the punishment of the sinners. Ultimately, Chillingworth is the epitome of Puritan society, which punishes sinners instead of letting God handle the situation.
Hawthorne uses imagery to set the scene and tone of the book, consistently from the beginning to the end. The first example of imagery as a symbol is the rosebush and the weeds in from of the prison. The weeds, ragged and black, are symbolic of Puritan society; whereas the rosebush, thriving and beautiful, represents freedom and passion, and the idea that good can thrive out of nothing or the oppression of Puritan society. Then, the scarlet letter itself, one of the more obvious symbols, is shown in the sky during the second scaffold scene. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth interpret the letter as a sign of Dimmesdale's guilt, the townspeople, however, think it stands for 'Angel' to signify Governor Winthrop's death and his passing into heaven. Pearl is particularly infatuated with the letter 'A', and throughout the novel she draws attention to the letter. Dimmesdale, taking his cue from the appearance of the letter in the sky, carves the letter into his chest, and is revealed in the third scaffold scene. The forest is another important symbol, representing the unknown, and sometimes evil, and the division of freedom of natural laws over the oppression of Puritan law. Every chapter of The Scarlet Letter has imagery that defines the setting and tone of the book, and is crucial to the central plot of the story which revolves around the three scaffold scenes.
The plot of The Scarlet Letter is developed through the scaffold scenes, which form the introduction, climax and conclusion of the story. The first, taking place in Chapter Two, introduces the four main characters and begins to define their relationships. Hester, with her letter 'A' is shown to be a very strong character; she refuses to tell the public who her lover was. The public is there to pass judgment, as they will be in the final scene. Church and state are represented by the governor and the ministers present for Hester's judgment. Chillingworth is there also, symbolic of evil. The second scaffold scene, when Dimmesdale goes up on the scaffold to try and find some sort of penance for his sins and relieve his guilt, again brings the four characters together again. Pearl and Hester join Dimmesdale on the scaffold, and Hester and Dimmesdale are brought together by Pearl, forming an 'electric chain', a bond of sinners and the product of their sin. Chillingworth enters the scene, symbolic of evil, and the idea that evil is omnipresent. Dimmesdale leaves a glove on the scaffold, a token of his presence, which is overlooked by the townsperson who later brings the glove back to him. The third scaffold scene, the book's climax, is Dimmesdale confession and forgiveness. Dimmesdale is finally able to escape Chillingworth through confession with turns his struggle external, and alleviates the guilt he has felt for seven long years. Dimmesdale also reveals his scarlet letter, which he has carved into his chest over and over as an act of penance. Chillingworth loses his victim, and his reason for living and dies shortly thereafter. Pearl, in finally being recognized by her father, gains her humanity, a hint that she will be okay in her years to come. And Hester finally gains a sense of satisfaction that she was recognized and that her lover was able to confess on his own. She finds that there was a reason she kept his secret for those seven years and that he has gained absolution for his sins through his public confession. This scene brings together all the symbols originally present in the opening of the book: judgment, the scarlet letter, Church and State, and the four characters; and also presents two new symbols, absolution and death.
Throughout the novel, Hawthorne consistently uses symbolism to express good and evil, to define his characters, set the tone and develop setting and to moves the entire story. Hawthorne's way of changing his symbols depending on the context and the very use of symbolism in the novel is what makes The Scarlet Letter a transcendentalist romance that can be rivaled by none other.
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