What Does Guilt Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

In the book, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, an anti-transcendentalist, writes about a Puritan society through the 1700s. They believed that all earthly pleasures would lead you towards the devil. In the book, the main character, Hester Prynne, had just been released from prison. As Hester emerges through the prison door, she holds her newborn child and makes her way to the scaffold in which she is forced to stand, while the townspeople shame her. Hester Prynne has something catching to the eye on her dress, the scarlet letter A. The letter A is embroidered on her bosom as a sign of Adultery, a sin she has committed. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses symbolism through Burrs, Pearl, and the Scarlet letter to contribute …show more content…
In the book, Arthur Dimmesdale the reverend, becomes tortured by his guilt. He is the man who committed adultery with Hester, and is the father of the baby, Pearl. Burrs are a type of seed that are prickly and tends to stick to objects it gets attached to. In the book, it shows how the seed of guilt starts to become hurtful to Dimmesdale, and won't let go. Hawthorne wrote, “taking a handful of these, she arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter...to which the burrs, as their nature was tenaciously adhered”(Hawthorne 121). Within in this quote, Hawthorne explains the Pearl aligning the Burrs on Hester's Scarlet letter. The burrs represent sin, and sticking to the scarlet letter was a way that Hawthorne demonstrated guilt from the sin sticking to you. After Pearl takes these Burrs and aligns them along Hester's scarlet letter, she then throws them towards Dimmesdale. Hawthorne then adds, “The sensitive clergyman shrunk with nervous dread from the light missile”(Hawthorne 122). Hawthorne explains the Burrs being thrown at Dimmesdale, but not sticking on to him. This shows the Burrs not sticking to him because he was not ready to confront his guilt. The Burr sticking to Hester proved the sin she has committed, however when they don't stick to Dimmesdale it proves he did not come clean with his sin, making him …show more content…
The scarlet letter represents the sin of Adultery. The letter “A” was embroidered on Hester's chest for all the townspeople to see what terrible sin she had done. This was a way that Hester would live in eternal guilt. Hawthorne describes, “It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself”(Hawthorne 51). This describes the drastic change in how people saw her, they saw her as a sinner, who would have to live with this guilt for the rest of her life. However, Dimmesdale, the father, did not receive any punishment. Dimmesdale did not tell the sin that he had done, thus leading him into a spiral of guilt and torture. The scarlet letter was not only a way to remind Hester of her action, but also Dimmesdale. Hawthorne writes, “she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real!”(Hawthorne 58). In this, Hawthorne explains how Hester couldn't believe that the Scarlet letter has lead to her being humiliated in front of the town and had indeed been known uilty of the act of adultery. This not only made Hester feel guilty, but also Dimmesdale because he did not go up onto the scaffold with Hester, instead he denied everything.
Overall, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter to demonstrate the theme of guilt. He uses Burrs,