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The paradox is that the Puritans stigmatize her with the mark of sin and, in so doing, reduce her to a dull, lifeless woman whose characteristic color is gray and whose vitality and femininity are suppressed. She struggles with her recognition of the letter's symbolism just as people struggle with their moral choices. She is seen as a fallen woman, a culprit who deserves the ignominy of her immoral choice.

Hester is the public sinner who demonstrates the effect of punishment on sensitivity and human nature. His characters, the scarlet A, light and darkness, color imagery, and the settings of forest and village serve symbolic purposes. But many of Hawthorne's symbols change - particularly his characters - depending on their treatment by the community and their reactions to their sins. Wilson, who represents the Church, or Governor Bellingham, who represents the State. Examples of static symbols are the Reverend Mr. Some of Hawthorne's symbols change their meaning, depending on the context, and some are static. Thus, using his characters as symbols, Hawthorne discloses the grim underside of Puritanism that lurks beneath the public piety. Hawthorne's embodiment of these characters is denied by the Puritan mentality: At the end of the novel, even watching and hearing Dimmesdale's confession, many members of the Puritan community still deny what they saw. Instead, Hawthorne ultimately presents Hester as a woman who represents a sensitive human being with a heart and emotions Dimmesdale as a minister who is not very saint-like in private but, instead, morally weak and unable to confess his hidden sin and Chillingworth as a husband who is the worst possible offender of humanity and single-mindedly pursuing an evil goal. The Puritan community sees Hester as a fallen woman, Dimmesdale as a saint, and would have seen the disguised Chillingworth as a victim - a husband betrayed. Whereas the Puritans translated such rituals into moral and repressive exercises, Hawthorne turns their interpretations around in The Scarlet Letter. Objects, such as the scaffold, were ritualistic symbols for such concepts as sin and penitence. For them, simple patterns, like the meteor streaking through the sky, became religious or moral interpretations for human events.

Hawthorne has a perfect atmosphere for the symbols in The Scarlet Letter because the Puritans saw the world through allegory. Symbols can range from the most obvious substitution of one thing for another, to creations as massive, complex, and perplexing as Melville's white whale in Moby Dick.Īn allegory in literature is a story where characters, objects, and events have a hidden meaning and are used to present some universal lesson. In literature, a symbol is most often a concrete object used to represent an idea more abstract and broader in scope and meaning - often a moral, religious, or philosophical concept or value. Generally speaking, a symbol is something used to stand for something else. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most prolific symbolists in American literature, and a study of his symbols is necessary to understanding his novels.