The Scarlet Letter Symbols Displaying Character Emotions
The Scarlet Letter - Symbols Displaying Character Emotions
Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter uses many different types of symbols throughout his book to portray the feelings and emotions of the characters. Hester, the main character of the book, is filled with many feelings, including pride and acceptance, surrounding her sin of adultery. Many of the people around Hester also reflect similar emotions and feelings and are reflected by the author through the use of colors. Nathanial Hawthorne employs many symbols throughout his book, as he uses the colors red, black, and white to represent the emotions of Hester and those around her.
The most frequently used color symbol in The Scarlet Letter is red. Red most noticeably represents the sin committed by Hester, as shown by the scarlet “A” she is forced to wear on her bosom. The scarlet letter, like her sin, is something that she will never be able to forget and is something she can never escape from. The color red is also used to represent the result of the sin, as Pearl is usually dressed in red clothing. Pearl is called a wide variety of names pertaining to the color red in the book such as “Ruby”, “Coral”, “Red Rose”, and “a little bird of scarlet plumage.” Red is also used by Hawthorne to represent the passion and sensuality of the other characters in the book. Red is used to represent the sin further with the red “A” formed from meteors and the “A” appearing on Dimmesdale’s chest. The wild red rose bush that formed outside of the prison where Hester was being held represented Hester’s place in a Puritan society that would no longer accept her for who she was. Hawthorne states that “This rosebush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history…It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track.” The meaning to this quote shows how powerful colors can be to show the true emotions of the characters and the setting around them.
Another frequently used color used by Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter is black. Black is mainly used to represent the darkness and evil that is living throughout this book. Very early in the book, Hawthorne refers to the prison as the “black...