《红字》中的原罪与象征意义

The Sin and Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter

Wang Na

English department Bo Hai Universtity

Ⅰ. Introduction

Hester Prynne, wife of an old man who had been absent in England for two years, because the mother of an illegitimate child in Puritan New England and was forced to wear the Scarlet Letter A on her chest as punishment for her adultery. Roger Chillingworth who was Hester’s husband, recently arrived in town after a year of residence away the Indians. He appeared suddenly when Hester stood on the scaffold that morning. Chillingworth also forced Hester to name the real father of her child but Hester refused, so Chillingworth decided to live in this town for a long time to find the real father of Hester’s child. He commanded Hester not to betray the relationship between them and she swore she would keep his secret. After she went out from the prison, she lived in a small house on the outskirts of town with his daughter, who was named pearl. She settled down to earn a living from needlework, an out cast from society and still wearing the scarlet emblem on her breast. Throughout Chillingworth extracts a promise from Hester that she would not reveal his true identity and embarks on his mission to fing the man with whom his wife had cheated on him. He soon suspected Dimmesdale and immediately began crashing Dimmesdale’s heart in order to punish him

for the sin he had committed with Hester, while at the same time, Hester had kept and raised pearl despite staunch objections by many of the puritan people . Eventually, Hester revealed Chillingworth’s symbolism is so successful in this novel. 。

Ⅱ. The biographical introduction of Hawthorn

Nathaniel Hawthorn was born in Salem in 1804.He was the second of three children of his family. Hawthorn’s father, a sea captain’ had died of yellow fever in Dutch Guiana, when he was four years old. His mother withdrew into the bedroom when she heard her husband was dead. So under the condition, Hawthorn spend his childhood being isolated from his mother and sisters. In few years, Hawthorn left Salem and entered Bowdoin college, in Maine. He made friends with Henery Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce who became the fourteenth president of the United States. From 1825 to 1836, he lived in Virtual Solitude in this idle town, Salan. Because there was little in his own actual experiences as get to serve as literary material, Hawthorn gathered his material by observing and listening to others. During this period in Salem, Hawthorn had harvested the richness of his background. In the 1830s, he edited a magazine in Boston and afterwards worked at the customs office. Then he lived for a few months in 1841 at Brook Farm. In 1841 he married Sophia Peabody. Then they lived a very happy life and Hawthorn accepted two other political appointments. Hawthorn’s main works are: 1) Twice-told

Tales 2) Mosses From an old Manse 3) The Scarlet Letter 4) The house of seven Gubles 5) The Blithedale Romane 6) The Marble Faun. In these six main works, The Scarlet Letter is considered to be most meaningful one which is deepest roots of man’s moral nature. It is a complex story of guilt, it effected various persons. To create vivid and symbolic imagines is his ability.

Ⅲ. The sin in the Scarlet Letter

Sin is the main theme in the Scarlet Letter. All of the characters in the book were somehow affected by the main sin which was adultery. The three main characters were surrounded by the sin and they couldn’t escape from it.

A. Hester’s sin

Hester Prynne’s sin is an adulteress, and the result of her sin is that she has to wear the Scarlet Letter “A” on her bosom, and the sin has taken away everything that belongs to her and brings her only one thing her daughter Pearl. Everyone shunned her. The sin she has committed brings her the worst thing and even makes her think that the death would be an easy way to escape from the society, for she said in the novel “I have thought of death, have wished for it, would have even prayed for it, were it fit that such as I should pray for anything.”①In the past, Hester was innocent，natural and didn’t know the true love . But now the sin Hester

committed changes her personality changing into a plain, drab, somber and serious womanhood. Her plain gray clothes symbolizes her temperament and disposition. On the other hand, the sin plays an important part on her and also there were some good effects on her. Because of the sin ，she becomes more caring and giving, and was endlessly helping people who was sick and poor and doing neighbors’ favors. Hester thought that it was her obligation to help people and she also forced herself into a life of service to help others. And even when she left this town, she felt obligation to come back and fulfilled her punishment. In all, the sin made her life worse, but it changed her character somewhat for the better.

B. Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin

Dimmesdale’s sin is different from Hester’s, though they are both adulterers. They are sinners and saints. Hester is a sinner outside and a saint inside. Arthur Dimmesdale is the reverse: outside, he is a town minister inside an adulterer. In all the characters, Dimmesdale is the most pitiful. Because of the sin, he whipped himself but he dared not to face the sin. The gradual deterioration of his health was aggravated by Chillingworth, who seek his revenge. Dimmesdale trusted Chillingworth with his medical care. He did not realize that Chillingworth was Hester’s husband and his worst enemy who was not believable. The result was that

Dimmesdale continually placed his hand over his heart, covering the Scarlet Letter that was permanently etched there and confessed his sin. C. Roger Chillingworth’s sin

In the three characters, Chillingworth’s sin is worse than Dimmesdale and He ster’s, for Chillingworth’s sin was secret and revenged. He didn’t realize his sin, but paid more attention to the others’. He used deception and manipulation to make them speak out the true thing and made the other persons miserable. He was dirty in his Character and had no advantage in it. He was disfigured horribly and became a twister who was scarred by sin.

Hawthorn, as a descendant of Puritans, is the heir to a strong tradition of sin. After Adam was expelled from the garden of Eden, every man and woman was thought to be born an awful and vile sinner, who could be redeemed only by God. The Scarlet Letter was a study of the effects of sin on the hearts and minds of Hester, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. In every case, the effect was devastating. Sin changed the sinners. It darkened their vision and weakens the spirit’s defenses against further temptation. People treated the sin in different ways: some would hide it, some would embrace it, some would rob from it. But no matter how the sin was handled or dealt with, it would always leave its mark. The mark of the sin will always be symbolism in The Scarlet Letter “A”

on the black ground.

Ⅳ. The symbolism in the Scarlet Letter

A. The symbolism of the characters’ names in the Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism. Throughout the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify puritanical and romantic philosophies. It is necessary to explain the symbolism of the four major characters’ names.

1. Hester Prynne

Hester Prynne is one of the main characters in the Scarlet Letter. Hawthorn gives her many symbolisms. First, “Hester sounds like Hestier, who is Zeus’ sister in Greek mythology. She is a very beautiful, kind woman. Hawthorn uses this character to signify Hester’s character to show that Hester is kind, beautiful and true. Nathaniel Hawthorn describes her in Chapter two like this “The young woman was tall, a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale, she had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine whit gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature to a marked brow and deep black eyes…”.② Hester loved Dimmesdale who was a respectable minister in the hostile colonists, so she refuses to speak out the name of her daughter’s father, who in fact was Dimmesdale .She and her daughter lived alone in the hostile colonists and live far away from people, because people all look down upon them. But she proved her worth with her

uncommon sowing skills and provided community service. Hester’s own sin gave her “sympathetic knowledge of the sin in other hearts.” At last, the colonists came to think of th e Scarlet Letter as “the cross on a nun’s bosom” which is an accomplishment. Second, Hester is the homophone of word “haste”. She falls love with Arthur hastily and gives birth to pearl for which she forces to wear the letter “A” on the chest, which stands for adultery. Adultery is nothing but the original sin of human being. Just like in the Holy Bible, Adam and Eve, who lived in the Garden of Eden, eat the forbidden fruit on the tree. After that, they began to know good and evil, and also they began to know sex. They received the punishment from the God, who send them forth from the Garden of Eden. In this novel, Hester was tortured physically and mentally for her sin. Hester said to Dimmesdale in the forest later, “what we did had a conser vation of his ow n, we felt so!” Their sin was as bad as Adan and Even’s. The punishment of puritan society was somehow too hard on a woman who was led by human instinct.

2. Pearl

Pearl was known as the devils child when she was young, Pearl didn’t know the true meaning of the letter on her mother’s bosom. After Dimmesdale died and as Pearl grew older, Hester would tell her the true meaning of the Scarlet Letter “A” and then Pearl began to realize she was

the true result of the letter A. Because Pearl was influenced by her mother’s kindness and skillfulness, when she grew older, she would live her life her life truly and honestly.

In this novel, Pearl was also full of symbolisms, God’s treatment for Hester’s sin was quite different. First, the most significant symbolic meaning of Pearl in the novel was her association with the Scarlet Letter. When Hester revealed before the crow, it is her first impulse to clasp Pearl closely to her bosom：“Not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress.”③“In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token on her shame would but poorly sever to hide another, she took the baby on her arm…”③Hester embroidered the scarlet letter with gold thread fantastically, and she contrived Pearl’s garb with the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination. the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full playing contriving Pearl’s garb. “and, indeed, of the child’s while appearance, that it irresistibly remi nded the beholder of the token which Hester Prynne was doomed to wear upon her bosom.”③Pearl really is a living scarlet letter, which is endowed with life. If Pearl had never been born, Hester would never be found adultery, thus never be forced to wear letter “A” upon her chest. Without the burden, Pearl, she would have led a much better life. Although Hester had so much trouble with Pearl, she still felt that Pearl would really bring joy

to Hester’s life. Pearl was beautiful girl. “There was fire in her and throughout her; she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment.”④As the Bible said “the kingdom of heaven is like merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding on Pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and brought it.”⑤Hester named her only daughter Pearl, purchased with all she had, so she was her only treasure. Second, Pearl symbolized God’s way to punish Hester for adultery. Pearl would harass her mother over to wear the letter “A” and sometimes she played games with her mother. Third, Pearl also symbolized the moral in the novel. Hester and Dimmesdale should face their sin and then take responsibility for their sin. The first thing that Pearl saw in her infancy was the scarlet letter on her mother’s bosom. When she was a baby, she even reached up and touched the letter on her mother’s bosom causing Hester to feel ashamed of and agony at it. Later, when she threw flowers to her mother and jumped around every time, she hit the scarlet letter A. She also made the letter “A” to wear. When she found Hester remove the scarlet letter from her chest in forest, Pearl started screaming and comulsing and refused to cross the stream until Hester reattached the letter, she was really a constant mental and physical reminder With Pearl at her side, Hester would never escape from the punishment of her wrong deed. Fourth, Pearl makes Dimmesdale admit his crime. To their surprise, she always asked the minister why he always kept his hand over his heart

and asked why her mother always wore the letter “A” on the bosom. At the same time, Pearl let Dimmesdale stand on the scaffold where Hester suffered from her public humiliation before several years, he met Hester and pearl and he invited them to join him on the stand. When they hold hands, Pearl asked Dimmesdale “wilt thou stand here with mother and me, tomorrow noontide?”⑥Dimmesdale answered “ not so, my child, I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother and thee, one other day, but not tomorrow.” ⑥Then Pearl laughed and attempted to pull away his hand from his bosom. Pearl was pure and innocent. So Pearl is a living Scarlet Letter and a reminder for Dimmesdale to admit his crime.

Above all, Pearl is one of the most complex and misunderstood symbols in the novel. Pearl had developed into a dynamic symbol that is always changing. Pearl is a source of many different kinds of symbolisms.

3. Dimmesdale

He was Pearl’s father and also a respectable minister at that time. He daren’t face Pearl, in other words, he had no courage to admit the true thing. In other’s eyes, he was a kind minister, but in his own mind,he finally realized his sin. His name is full of symbolisms. Arthur Dimmesdale, whose initials are AD, which also stands for adultery. The writer may tell us that “Dimmesdale” has many symbolic meanings.

“Dim” means dark and weak, “Dale” means valley. He loved Hester and Pearl deeply, but he only showed his love in the dark or in the forest. His response to his sin is to lie. He stood before Hester and the public and proceeded to give a moving speech to make Hester reveal the real father’s name. Though he never actually said that he was not the other partner, he always talked of father in third person, such as “if thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I change thee to speak out the name of thy fellow—sinner and fellow—sufferer”. ⑦ He didn’t concede his guilt for seven years, at the same time he was tortured by his sin for many years. He hated the sin, but he dared not to tell the truth to the public. When he finally decided to expose the truth and told his fellowers how he deceived them, he was afflicted by the sin then died. At the end of the story, the writer put the morals which press upon the readers from the poor minister’s miserable experience into on sentence, “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world; if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst way be inferred!”⑧Dimmesdale is an invisible Scarlet Letter and he symbolised cowardice.

4. Roger Chillingworth

Chillingworth is an old, ugly, cruel, deformed and demented person. He is presented as a scholar and physician who has traveled to distant

places before deciding to settle in America. His name has the symbolism. “Chilling” come s from “Chilly” which means “cold unfriendly”. It indicates that he is cold and calm in his character. He married to Hester, because Hester was a young, beautiful woman and he wanted to light his chilly and lonely heart. After he found Hester had another man’s daughter, he tried to find the real father of the child. When he found Dimmesdale was the adulterer, he disguised himself as one trust friend of the minister and then he dig into the man’s heart with keen pleasure for a long time. At last, he caused the poor minister to die. He looked as if he would have been successful, but in fact he was a failure in his character. So the author Hawthorn called him Chillingworth and indicated that the man was cold, calm, unfriendly, and unkind in his heart. Chillingworth’s sin was beyond Hester and Dimmesdale’s.

B. Other symbolisms in the Scarlet Letter

1. The gesture of Dimmesdale

The gesture of Dimmesdale’s placing his hand over his heart was also symbolic. The minister attempts to cover his sin and prevents his exposure. It also suggested he was very nervous and reflected his grievous state.

The scaffold was also a symbol which was of penitence and God’s platform on the Day of Judgment. Dimmesdale had great difficulty in standing on the platform and confessing his sins, he did it under the darkness in order that no one saw him, as if he were trying to hide himself from God. In the end, however, he bravely stood on scaffold and confessed his sin in the daytime and before a crowd of puritan people who respect him for a long time. The confession finally gave him a sense of peace.

3. The prison

The prison which appeared in the opening chapter of novel was a symbol of isolation and alienation.

4. The rose bush

The rose bush growing across the prison symbols the salvation and hope to all the prisoners. Later in the book Pearl stated that she was plucked from the rose bush and was born. This symbolized that Pearl was not only Heste r’s salvation but also Dimmesdale and everyone else. Because Pearl was born in a world of sin and she was saved and then everyone must find their salvation.

The forest was symbolizes the Nature, which had two meanings of aspects. The darkness and lightness. That the rays of sunshine fell on Pearl but don’t reach Hester, symbolimes that she has no ability to find happiness and warmth. The darkness was full of her life. But when she met with Dimmesdale and decided to flee from Boston with him, the darkness was dispelled. As a symbol of her freedom, she threw away the scarlet letter and undid her hair, then a flood of sunshine lightened the forest, dispelling the darkness.

6. The symbolic meaning of the colors that Hawthorn employs in the novel.

The dark, sober, sable garments represent her dull and gloomy life filled with grief, guilt and sorrow. The bright colours, which she dressed Pearl symbolize the child’s activities. The color of the letter carries special significance. The colour associated with the devil and the puritan believed that Hester’s sin was a mark of Satan. Pearl also made herself a letter, which was made up of seedweed that was bright green. This colour symbolizes her future which is full of sunshine.

The scarlet letter abounds with symbolisms which Hawthorne uses to unify the novel and add a deeper meaning to the story. The chief symbol in the novel is the scarlet letter “A”, which openly symbolizes Hester’s adultery. For Dimmesdale and Hester, the scarlet letter stands for

agony which Hester displays in her isolated life and which Dimmesdale displays in his deteriorating health. By the end of the novel, the town’s people think that Hester’s scarlet “A” stands for ability, for poor.

C. Different meanings of the Scarlet letter “A”

The letter “A” which wore on Hester’s bosom, had been changed its meaning for many times. This change was significant and it showed growth in the characters. It then became a symbol of alone and alienation and finally it became a symbol of able, angel and admiring.

1. Adultery

The letter “A” worn on Hester’s bosom symbol izes adultery. This is a puritan way to treat the person who is sin. Hester worn the letter “A” on her bosom for a long time when she walked through the street. She was always looked down upon by other puritan people. At the same time, she was ashamed of her sin but she didn’t show it. She thought i “here, she said to herself, had been the sin of her guilt and here should the scene of her earthly punishment…” in fact she was a happy, kind and skillful woman. Though the puritan people treat her badly, she still did something good to them. Pearl was her burdern which also stood for her sin but at the same time Pearl also brought a happy life to her. Hester was a very strong woman, because she was able to hold up so well against what she must face. To avoid the puritan people, Hester would have moved from

the town with her daughter Pearl, and seek a place where no one knew of her great sin. Hester chose to stay in Boston, which showed a lot of strength and integrity.

2. Alone

In this novel, Hester was alone in the town. She had no friend there, except Pearl. And also Pearl had no partners. So the scarlet letter A stands for Hester’s lonely life in New England. In this novel, it said that “it had been built by an earlier settler and abandoned because the soil about it was too sterice for cultivation, while its comparative remoteness put it out of the sphere of that social activity which already marked the habits of the emigrant.”⑧Because of Hester’s shameful history, he was separated from the other puritan people. Hester’s social life was virtually eliminated. But Hester had the rare capacity. In this novel, it said that “however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it. Every gesture, every word and even the silence of those with whom she came to contact, implied, and often expressed that she was banished and as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs and senses than the rest of human kind. She stood apart from moral interests…seemed t obe the sole portion that she retained in the universal heart.”⑨

3. Ability, Angel and Admiration

Then, the scarlet letter “A” changes its meaning, changing into “ab ility”, “ange l” and “admira tion”. In the past, people in the town condemned Hester for her sin with Dimmesdale. But now they believe that the scarlet l etter “A” on her bosom stand s for her ability which is her beautiful needlework and her assistance to the poor and the sick. As it said that “the letter was symbol of her calling, such helpfulness is found in her so much power do and power to sympathize---that many people refused to interpret the scarlet letter A by its original signification.” ⑩At last, a lot of puritan people realized Hester’s character “do you see that woman with the embroider badge? It was our Hester the town’s own Hester ---who was so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comforting to the afflicted!”⑩

Above all, the three characters in The Scarlet Letter are significant; they show the progressive possession of her sin, her lonely life, and her ability. Hester is a strong admirable woman who goes through more emotional torture that most people go through in a life time. So Hester becomes admirable quickly in people’s mind.

Ⅴ.Conclusion

The Scarlet Letter is the most successful work in the ones of Hawthorn’s. The sin is the main theme through the novel. Though the sin makes Hester’s life worse, it changes her character for the better.

Dimmesdale’s sin is different from Hester’s. Outside, he is an admirable minister, but in fact he is an adulterer. He whipped himself, but he daren’t to face his sin. Chillingworth’s sin is the worst. His sin is secret and revenged. He lures them by the way of deception and manipulation. In all, there are two kinds of sin: one is the love between Hester and Dimmesdale which is forgivable. The other is the sin which Chillingworth did harm in order to punish them and it was not forgivable. On the effect of the Bible, people thought that human had the original sin at the beginning of their birth. First, the sin in the Scarlet Letter is not separated from the Bible. Second, people were under the control of puritan, the sin that the main characters confessed connects with the background at that time.

Hawthorn used the symbolisms so skillfully that some famous writers said that in the Scarlet Letter where there were words and persons, there were symbolisms. The symbolisms pass through the novel.

Hester is a visible scarlet letter. She symbolizes a beautiful kind and able woman.

Dimmesdale is an invisible scarlet letter. He symbolizes darkness weakness and hypocrisy.

Chillingworth is a creator of the scarlet letter. He symbolizes obduracy, brutality.

Pearl is a living scarlet letter. She is active and full of energy. She

symbolizes God’s way to punish Hester for adultery and she makes Dimmesdale admit his crime. Pearl is one of the most complex and misunderstood symbols. She is a source of many different kinds of symbolisms.

The main symbol of the Sca rlet Letter is the letter “A” that Hester Prynne was sentenced to wear on her chest. Although the “A” means “adulteress” at the beginning, in the end the letter “A”changes into “ability”“angel” and “admiration”.