Be On the Symbolism in'The Scarlet Letter'

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　　Abstract：The greatness of 'The Scarlet Letter' is mostly owing to its superb use of symbols. This paper will analyze the symbolic meaning of several important characters, token, background and natural settings.
　　Key words：Symbolism; The Scarlet Letter; Symbolic meaning
　　中图分类号： I106 文献标识码： A 文章编号：1672-1578（2013)01-0014-01
　　Nathaniel Hawthorne is an outstanding American romanticism fiction writer in 19th century. The Scarlet Letter is regarded as his masterpiece and one of the indubitable masterpieces of American literature. The greatness of 'The Scarlet Letter' is mostly owing to its superb use of symbols. This paper will analyze the symbolic meaning of several important characters, token, background and natural settings.
　　Using rich symbols is the most obvious characteristic of The Scarlet Letter. It is considered as the first symbolic novel of America. Symbolism is a writing way in which one thing stands for another thing. In literature it is most often a concrete object is used to represent something broader and more abstract.
　　Symbols appear everywhere in The Scarlet Letter. This makes up of the profound influence of the novel. Without any doubt, the most important symbol in this novel is the letter A. And also, it carries more meaning.
　　Basically, the letter A is the mark of adultery. When Hester's term of imprisonment is ended, she chooses to move into a small thatched cottage on the outskirts of Boston. Geographically, Hester lives in isolation. Meanwhile, she is a complete social outcast and the target of vicious abuse by the "respectable" women and the thoughtless children of the community. Even the strangers don't dare to get close to her because of her scarlet letter. Spiritually, the letter A is the symbol of loneliness and alienation.
　　But, when we know that, under these hard circumstance, Hester supports herself and her child through her skill as a seamstress. And soon her handiwork becomes what will be termed the fashion. Hester has made her an independent and dignified woman rising from a sinner. It's not easy at that time to do the same as she does. Undoubtedly, the letter A turns into a symbol of "Able".
　　At the end of the story, Hester's quiet, uncomplaining acceptance of her position and untiring services to the sick, the poor and the troubled have won her much respect among those people who once condemned her. Then the letter A becomes a symbol of "Angel".
　　The deepest symbolic meaning of the letter A should be Hester's spirit of revolt. She bravely faces the humiliation of the scaffold. And her defiant acceptance of her punishment is demonstrated in her deliberately dressing Pearl as a symbol of the mother's sin. She urges the minister to leave Boston and start a new life elsewhere. So courage and frankness is a spark in Hester's human nature. 　　The change of the symbolic meaning of the scarlet letter A manifests the process that Hester turns the symbol of crime into the symbol of moral integrity.
　　At the same time, we shouldn't neglect the importance of the symbol: Pearl. Basically, she is the symbol of beauty, purity and indomitable vitality just like the wild rose growing beside the prison.
　　Furthermore, Pearl is a symbol of spirit of revolt. Her birth breaks the puritan regulation. And her childhood is a period to struggle against hypocrite. And, in a way, Pearl and the letter A are just the same thing. To Hester, Pearl is the scarlet letter in another form --- an alive scarlet letter. However, to Dimmesdale, Pearl also becomes a kind of living conscience. She repeatedly request Dimmesdale to acknowledge his relationship to Hester and her in daylight. She has been almost entirely a symbol of punishment.
　　Besides the letter A and Pearl, Hawthorne sought the symbolic meaning of the three adult sinners.
　　Hester is a well-known sinner. She is the symbol which turns crime to moral integrity. Dimmesdale is a hidden sinner who symbolizes weakness and hypocrisy. Chillingworth is an unforgivable sinner. He is the symbol which turns a victim to a true sinner.
　　Hawthorne uses the three sinners to illustrate the great influence of man's sin on his soul.
　　In the first scaffold scene, it stands for Puritan society's cruel law. In the send scaffold scene, it stands for Dimmesdale's cowardice and hypocrisy. At last, the scaffold is the symbol of both confessing the sin and purifying the soul.
　　Finally, the symbolic meaning of the forest and the brook are pointed out briefly.
　　In general, Hawthorne's abundant and special symbolic style paves the way for symbolism novels. He deserves the title of the pioneer of symbolism. And with this, he can stand shoulder by shoulder with other great authors in the world of literature.
　　Bibliography：
　　[1]Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter[M].Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1992.
　　[2]Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter[M].Trans, Naiqiang Yao, Shanghai:Translation Press, 1998.
　　[3]Paul, R, Steward, Ph. D. Cliffs Notes on Hawthorne's[M]. Washington: Lincoln Nebraska, 1982.
　　[4]Yingmeng, Hu. A course in American Literature[M]. Nanjing: NanKai University Press, 1997.
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