In a society that was intolerant, simplistic and religious, there was a woman who had violated one of the major beliefs in which the town’s members believed in. Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery with the minister of the town and had a child while still being married to her long, lost husband. As a punishment of this sin, Hester has to stand in front of the whole town on a scaffold while holding her baby, Pearl, as described in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne uses items such as the scaffold and the forest to symbolize different turning points in the novel as well as to describe how Puritan society was in the 1600s.
The scaffold plays a huge role in the novel by symbolizing as sin and shame at the beginning …show more content…
The Puritans’ ran a very strict, intolerant, and religious society. They did not put up with people breaking the laws or doing bad things. For example, Hester committed adultery and she was punished for that. She had to make the letter ‘A’ and wear it for the rest of her life to serve as her punishment. “On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (6). With the A being described liked this it shows that Hester takes pride in her needlework and she takes pride in how she looks. The Puritans did not really like people being different from them. They did not like the Native Americans because they dressed different and they had different values. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (5). Right before Hester was walking out of the prison a group of women were saying mean things about Hester just because she did something wrong. That shows that the other people in the town did not feel comfortable with change. Overall, the Puritans lived a very strict life and they were comfortable with how they did things.
In conclusion, there are many different symbols in The Scarlet Letter. The scaffold and the forest were the two main symbols while there were other things such as the sunshine and the brook that played a big role in the
The scaffold plays a huge role in the novel by symbolizing as sin and shame at the beginning …show more content…
The Puritans’ ran a very strict, intolerant, and religious society. They did not put up with people breaking the laws or doing bad things. For example, Hester committed adultery and she was punished for that. She had to make the letter ‘A’ and wear it for the rest of her life to serve as her punishment. “On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (6). With the A being described liked this it shows that Hester takes pride in her needlework and she takes pride in how she looks. The Puritans did not really like people being different from them. They did not like the Native Americans because they dressed different and they had different values. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (5). Right before Hester was walking out of the prison a group of women were saying mean things about Hester just because she did something wrong. That shows that the other people in the town did not feel comfortable with change. Overall, the Puritans lived a very strict life and they were comfortable with how they did things.
In conclusion, there are many different symbols in The Scarlet Letter. The scaffold and the forest were the two main symbols while there were other things such as the sunshine and the brook that played a big role in the