It is easy to see why the Scarlet Letter is the central symbol of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Vast networks of symbols and their meaning entwine throughout the book, all centred on this stitched brand put on the protagonist, Hester. At face value, the Letter was meant as a punishment for Hester’s adultery– but the meanings that different characters apply to the letter are as individual as they are. The narrator also refuses to tell whether whether the Letter– or even the whole Puritan colony– is subject to supernatural powers, despite referencing these events through the mouths of his characters. In short, the narrator refuses to associate the Scarlet Letter with any objective significance. And this nameless narrator of the novel (nameless
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When they do, it is Hawthorne’s opportunity to give an outsider’s opinion on the idiosyncrasies that define Hawthorne’s Boston: Puritan austerity, superstition, and of course the Scarlet Letter. These Puritans “torment Hester Prynne… with their cool, well-acquainted gaze at her familiar shame” (224, Signet Classic edition) in regards to her wearing the letter. But what the strangers to Puritan society glean is that “the wearer of this brilliantly embroidered badge must needs be a personage of high dignity among her people” (224). The Puritans torture Hester for the same thing that these foreigners would respect her for. It is impossible to say which interpretation is more “correct”; it is perfectly reasonable to believe bright colour and illumination, rare in Puritan dress, would mark someone as powerful rather than criminal. On the other hand, the Puritans who created it did so with punishment in mind. But there’s not a single word from the narrator as to which one is more correct. As the narrator never tells us the objective meaning behind the Scarlet Letter, there’s a vacuum open to speculate about that meaning. However, this open vacuum is the meaning. Through leaving this open vacuum, Hawthorne paints shows it as impossible to embody a single, objective meaning in the Letter by including two equally valid– and maybe not even mutually exclusive– polarized
When they do, it is Hawthorne’s opportunity to give an outsider’s opinion on the idiosyncrasies that define Hawthorne’s Boston: Puritan austerity, superstition, and of course the Scarlet Letter. These Puritans “torment Hester Prynne… with their cool, well-acquainted gaze at her familiar shame” (224, Signet Classic edition) in regards to her wearing the letter. But what the strangers to Puritan society glean is that “the wearer of this brilliantly embroidered badge must needs be a personage of high dignity among her people” (224). The Puritans torture Hester for the same thing that these foreigners would respect her for. It is impossible to say which interpretation is more “correct”; it is perfectly reasonable to believe bright colour and illumination, rare in Puritan dress, would mark someone as powerful rather than criminal. On the other hand, the Puritans who created it did so with punishment in mind. But there’s not a single word from the narrator as to which one is more correct. As the narrator never tells us the objective meaning behind the Scarlet Letter, there’s a vacuum open to speculate about that meaning. However, this open vacuum is the meaning. Through leaving this open vacuum, Hawthorne paints shows it as impossible to embody a single, objective meaning in the Letter by including two equally valid– and maybe not even mutually exclusive– polarized