Symbolism

THE SCARLET LETTER

CHARACTERS• Hester symbolizes human nature

• Dimmesdale symbolizes hypocrisy

• Pearl symbolizes the scarlet letter

• Chillingworth symbolizes evil

THE SCARLET A• Adultery

• Guilt

• Secret sin

• Punishment

• Darkness

• Evil

• Passion

• Angel

• Able

LIGHT AND COLOR• Dark colors represent:

– guilt– Sadness– Sin– Punishment– Concealment– Puritans– Gloom– death

LIGHT AND COLOR• Light colors represent:

– Purity– Happiness– Truth– Grace– Exposure

SETTING• Puritan community

– Rigid rules– Self-examination

• Scaffold– Public humiliation

• Forest– Freedom– Natural world– Moral wilderness– World of darkness and evil– Man’s temptation

• Brook in forest– Boundary between two worlds