Symbolism and The Scarlet Letter

Symbolism, simply defined, is when one thing, a person or an object for example, is used in place of another, sometimes used as foreshadowing. Hawthorne was a master of symbolism, throughout his books, strong symbolism and vivid imagery are used to take the readers mind through a maze of thought provoking, heart wrenching realism, in which the reader actually feels part of. Many examples of symbolism can be found throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet …showed first 75 words of 820 total…

…showed last 75 words of 820 total…her chest, and allowed Pearl to be born. Symbols vary from the Scarlet ‘A’ upon Hester’s chest, to a living person, and even to a rosebush leading the path to the town prison. Hawthorne used symbolism in just about every possible way. In fact, there are so many ways that it is probably impossible to find all of them. Symbolism was found throughout this book in many places, some of which were very obscure.