The book The Scarlet Letter, has a lot of symbols and symbolism in it. This will tell you about only four of the many symbols. It will also tell you about them and what they mean in the story. It will also give you some quotes out of the story to prove the meanings. The symbols that will be described are the letter A, Pearl, Plants, and the names of the characters.
The latter A signifies many different things. The first thing that it signifies in the story is the word adultery. It means adultery because Hester Prynne commits adultery and has to wear the letter every day to represent that. Hester is mocked and ridiculed all of the time because of the letter. The letter also stands for angel. It stands for angel because the governor died and the people say that the comet that looks like an A stands for angel and the death of the governor. The letter then represents able. It represents able because Hester has been very dignified and honorable while she wears it and she works hard and has became saint like. .
Pearl, Hester's daughter is also symbolic. She is the result of Hester's sin. One Pearl symbolizes treasure because she is all Hester has. Second of all, she was a great price Hester gets mocked and humiliated every day and Pearl is all she has to show for her sin. Hester is not ashamed of what she has done though. .
There are also many symbolic plants in the novel. The first one is the rosebush theat has grown out in front buy the jail door. It symbolizes the frailty and the beauty that the prisoner will not see inside of the jail. The rose in the governor's garden that Pearl wants. It symbolizes the beauty that she does not have in her life. The black rose that Chillingsworth showed Dimsdale had found in the cemetery on top of one of the unmarked graves. "They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to have confessed.
