Title
All of the renditions of cover art for the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne feature the image of big red letter “A”, this letter “A” is the scarlet letter as the reader soon finds out. This scarlet letter and its meaning are what drives the entire novel so it makes sense that every illustrator who made a image to be used as cover art for The Scarlet Letter would include this monumental letter on their cover. That being said the other parts and features in each of these illustrations are what make each one individual and give them each different meanings. It is up to the artist to decide which of the many symbols to include from the novel, in order to make a truly meaningful cover. Cover two shows the themes of identity, …show more content…
In cover two, the reader sees many hands pointing at the scarlet letter, this symbolizes this isolation that Hester must feel while simply living in society. The isolation that Heaster must feel can be seen in the quote “Come, therefore, let us fling mud at them” (Hawthorne 70). Here many of the children in the village are throwing mud at Hester and Pearl because they are outcasts. The social standards in puritan life are very harsh, this makes it difficult to have an individual identity, that is anyway different than the puritan lifestyle. This lack of identity and individuality is also present in cover two’s art. It is obvious that all of the citizens shown in this cover are making a blind assumption onto what type of person Hester is simply by the letter on her bosom,and without really knowing her. This adds to the theme of society by showing that all or close to all of the people in te town have identical thoughts and values, which is near to impossible if the people could just be who they truly are. Overall the reader can plainly see the themes of identity, isolation and society in cover …show more content…
Cover four does a fabulous job of presenting the theme of sin in a visual manner. This cover presents three images all representing sin and judgement. First the reader sees the scarlet letter in the top left, obviously representing the sin of adultery that Hester committed. Then the reader sees an image of Hester herself which also shows directly the sin that she, herself, has committed. And finally the reader sees a picture of the church, this represents two things; Dimmesdale and the judgement from the church. Since Dimmesdale is a priest the image of a church represents him well, and he aligns perfectly with the theme of sin because he too committed the sin but was not found out until the day of his death. This untold sin gave him far more guilt than just the normal sin and social discrimination that Hester dealt with. Secondly the church represents the judgement Hester receives from the church due to the sin she committed. The church never gives up on their judgement of Hester, this is know because of the quote, “It bore a device, a herald 's wording of which might serve for a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend; so somber is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow:—"On a field, sable, the letter A, gules.”(Hawthorne 180). This tells the reader that even of Hester 's tombstone there lay
All of the renditions of cover art for the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne feature the image of big red letter “A”, this letter “A” is the scarlet letter as the reader soon finds out. This scarlet letter and its meaning are what drives the entire novel so it makes sense that every illustrator who made a image to be used as cover art for The Scarlet Letter would include this monumental letter on their cover. That being said the other parts and features in each of these illustrations are what make each one individual and give them each different meanings. It is up to the artist to decide which of the many symbols to include from the novel, in order to make a truly meaningful cover. Cover two shows the themes of identity, …show more content…
In cover two, the reader sees many hands pointing at the scarlet letter, this symbolizes this isolation that Hester must feel while simply living in society. The isolation that Heaster must feel can be seen in the quote “Come, therefore, let us fling mud at them” (Hawthorne 70). Here many of the children in the village are throwing mud at Hester and Pearl because they are outcasts. The social standards in puritan life are very harsh, this makes it difficult to have an individual identity, that is anyway different than the puritan lifestyle. This lack of identity and individuality is also present in cover two’s art. It is obvious that all of the citizens shown in this cover are making a blind assumption onto what type of person Hester is simply by the letter on her bosom,and without really knowing her. This adds to the theme of society by showing that all or close to all of the people in te town have identical thoughts and values, which is near to impossible if the people could just be who they truly are. Overall the reader can plainly see the themes of identity, isolation and society in cover …show more content…
Cover four does a fabulous job of presenting the theme of sin in a visual manner. This cover presents three images all representing sin and judgement. First the reader sees the scarlet letter in the top left, obviously representing the sin of adultery that Hester committed. Then the reader sees an image of Hester herself which also shows directly the sin that she, herself, has committed. And finally the reader sees a picture of the church, this represents two things; Dimmesdale and the judgement from the church. Since Dimmesdale is a priest the image of a church represents him well, and he aligns perfectly with the theme of sin because he too committed the sin but was not found out until the day of his death. This untold sin gave him far more guilt than just the normal sin and social discrimination that Hester dealt with. Secondly the church represents the judgement Hester receives from the church due to the sin she committed. The church never gives up on their judgement of Hester, this is know because of the quote, “It bore a device, a herald 's wording of which might serve for a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend; so somber is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow:—"On a field, sable, the letter A, gules.”(Hawthorne 180). This tells the reader that even of Hester 's tombstone there lay