Social Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter
The Numerous Important Social Symbols in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Book
Aug 20, 2009
The Scarlet Letter is much more than just the story of Hester Prynne’s adulterous affair with her minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, and their illegitimate child Pearl –it is also one of the first truly American novels and an incredibly complex work of fiction. The social and religious symbols employed by Hawthorne act as connective threads that draw careful readers further into the writing and that add much more depth and richness to the story.
The social symbols used in The Scarlet Letter allow Hawthorne to criticize the Puritanical society in which he placed his characters, as well as explore the fundamental ideas of punishment and redemption within that society.
The Scarlet Letter as a Symbol of Shame
The scarlet letter itself acts as a socially symbolic image from the beginning of the story to the end, serving many functions depending on its placement and the context of the writing. Since the scarlet letter is a very visible form of punishment, it functions easily as a window through which Hawthorne shows readers the message he wants to convey.
At first, the scarlet letter is a mark of shame for Hester; it marks her out as being different and ostracized from her community. Despite this shame, the rich embroidery Hester gave the letter also acts as a mark of her defiance against the stigma placed on her and her refusal to let the letter control her completely.
Eventually, the scarlet letter loses its stigmatized meaning for Hester as well as the townspeople. She no longer feels the shame of her punishment, and the A comes to mean angelic or able to the people whose homes she visits when they are in need. This meaninglessness of her punishment also acts as a way for Hawthorne to criticize the harshness of society with regard to the way women were treated.
Additionally, he allows it to act as a reminder of how tied to Puritan social customs the scarlet letter was: when a group of Indians visits the town, they think that the letter marks Hester as a person of importance and distinction, as opposed to the fallen women she was to those around her.
The meteor that appears near the end of the story leaves a bright A in the sky, leading some to believe that the recently deceased Governor Winthrop has become an angel also causes Dimmesdale to reflect on the scarlet letter Hester wears, and that he feels he too should wear.
Dimmesdale also has a scarlet letter A, although it is on the flesh of his chest, symbolizing his secret shame for his part in the affair and his desire to be punished for it as well.
Pearl Prynne as a Symbol of Evil, Nature and Redemption
Pearl is one of the most widely misunderstood characters in The Scarlet Letter. For much of the book she acts solely as “the scarlet letter endowed with life,” as Hester calls her, and is denied any humanity until the end of the novel.
Pearl is regarded as evil, since she is the result of adultery and since she is so in tune with nature, which the Puritans regarded as being evil. Throughout the novel, Pearl separates herself from society in order to be in the woods, where animals consistently approach her as opposed to fleeing her.
Hester’s child is her punishment in physical form, a constant token of her affair and an overactive, sometimes spiteful reminder of her shame. However, Hester's interactions with Pearl are also her only wealth, hence Pearl's name, and they allow Hester to achieve through raising her child what she could not through her affair or her failed marriage. In this way, Pearl acts as Hester's redemption.
Since Pearl is the result of a passionate affair, the results of that passion continue to show in her actions –both through her wildness, her torment of her mother and her inability to assimilate with Puritan society until her father acknowledges himself, all mark Pearl as being “other.” She is not capable of being fully human within the context of her society and the novel until her paternity is socially established, and so until that point she acts only as the scarlet letter made flesh.
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