The Significance of the Letter in The Scarlet Letter Essay

The Scarlet Letter: The Significance of the Letter Adultery has been around almost as long as people. It has maintained a harsh punishment, from banishment to death, but in the Puritan world of colonial America (from about 1620-1640), its punishment may have been worse than either. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is a lonely Puritan woman who commits infidelity with a preacher and has a son from the untruthful union. To punish her for this act, the council of leaders forces her to wear a large â€Å"A† on her bosom, to let all know what she has done. She is not put to death immediately because her husband is missing and may or may not be alive. The letter â€Å"A† has different meanings for different†¦show more content†¦To Hester the â€Å"A† also symbolizes her falter from the path towards God. Not only does it remind her of her falter, it also teaches her not to return to her sin. Hawthorne shows this when Hester is defending her right to keep Pearl. She is responding to th e governor’s claim that she does not deserve to keep Pearl and says, â€Å"I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this!, answered Hester Prynne, laying her finger on the red token.† This defense by Hester shows that she has learned from the shame of the scarlet letter. The committee was worried that the sin of the letter would make teaching Pearl impossible, but Hester is claiming that it is the exact opposite. She is saying that the â€Å"A† has shown her that the sin was wrong and because of this she will avoid any further sin. As time progresses in the novel Hester comes to regard the â€Å"A† as a necessary evil. This can be seen when Chillingworth hints that the committee may have the â€Å"A† taken off of Hester and she replies that it is not up to them to decide. She says â€Å"It lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off this badge, calmly replied Hester. Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport†(165). She knows that wearing the letter is hard, but she thinks that only God can remove the letter. She also believes that she must wear it to work towards repenting the sin.Show MoreRelatedSymbolism And Its Significance Of The Scarlet Letter2696 Words   |  11 PagesDiscuss Hawthorne’s use of Symbolism and its Significance to the Themes of the novel -The Scarlet Letter Symbolism is a powerful tool used in the Scarlet letter. Hawthorne creates a metaphorical image where he presents two completely opposite objects and highlights its similar characteristics. The significance of symbolism gives a poetic style to the characters of the story. 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