THE SCARLET LETTERSymbols, Motifs, & Themes

TERMS REVIEW

Symbolism• Symbols represent abstract ideas or concepts• Symbols have a literal meaning, but suggest

another meaning

Motif• Recurring symbols, images, and literary devices

Theme• Central, underlying, and controlling idea

SYMBOLISM• Scarlet Letter• The letter A symbolizes Hester’s sin and

shame. It is what sets her apart from everyone else (46, 50-51).

• Pearl• Pearl is the embodiment of Hester’s shame

and the product of her sin (46, 77, 127).

MOTIFS• Letter A• Scarlet Letter• Meteor• Able• Angel

• Scaffold• Hester’s Introduction (43, 48, 122)• “Electric Chain” (Chapter 12)• Dimmesdale’s Death (Chapter 23)

MOTIFS CONTINUED•Reflections• Hester sees a fiend-like face when she

looks at Pearl (80).

• Pearl sees Hester’s reflection in the armor in the Governor’s Hall. The scarlet letter is large and distorted (88).

• Dimmesdale sees diabolical shapes when he looks at himself in his mirror (120).

• Chillingworth realizes that he is a transformed man and sees himself as a frightful man he no longer recognizes(142).

THEMES

• Forest vs. Marketplace • “We must not always talk in the market-place of

what happens to us in the forest”(197).• Private vs. public• Free vs. restricted• Internal vs. external

• Guilt• Shame• Punishment

• Revenge• Sin