child from it. Hester now has to wear the symbol A upon her chest to represent the crime
of adultery. The scarlet letter stands for able, because after Hester was committed of the
crime she helped the citizens in the community. “Sorrow awakens her sympathies, so that
she becomes a nurse. In fact, the best deeds of Hester’s life come about through her fall
from grace. Her charity to the poor, her comfort to the broken-hearted, her unquestioned
presence in times of trouble are the direct result of her search for repentance” (”Scarlet
Letter” 3). The scarlet letter A also symbolizes angel, because the letter appeared in the
sky after the Governor died. The Puritan community took this as a sign from God that the
Governor passed on to heaven and became an angel. The gravestone for both
Dimmesdale and Hester is seen “only by one ever glowing point of light gloomier than
the shadow” and the light reveals the letter A symbolizing angle. This symbolizes angel,
because both Hester and Dimmesdale were united after death and their sins were
forgiven (Waggoner 239 -240). One main symbol in the novel is the struggle between
light and darkness, which represents the fight between good and evil. The rose bush is an
example of a symbol for the struggle between light and darkness. The Scarlet Letter was
suppose to have a happy conclusion and that is what the rose bush by the prison was
suppose to symbolize in the first chapter. Instead, the rose just added light to
Hawthorne’s dark tale. The forest scene in the novel is another example of the fight
between darkness and light. The forest scenes showed the hardships that Hester had to
face every day, such as when she reaches into the light and it moves away from her hand:
“Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid
of something on your bosom. Now see! There it is, playing a good way off. Stand you
here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me, for I wear no
thing on my bosom yet!” (Hawthorne 192). This scene suggests that she will never be
welcome in the light and that she must stay in the forest where it is dark. Lightness also
takes on another form for Hester, she is both dark and light. The light will not accept her,
but in her own way she is light, explained in this passage: “Hester tries to subdue her
spirit and sensuality, hiding it all beneath a sad cap. But she can’t do it. One breath of
fresh air, one ray of sunlight, one moment alone with her lover in the forest, and she is
herself again, reaching passionately for a life of freedom and fulfillment” (”Scarlet
Letter” 3). This shows how she has turned towards darkness. She has become “able”,
giving her help to those in the Puritan community; yet, with one moment alone with
Dimmesdale and she lost everything that she strived for. This shows another struggle
between light and darkness. Another symbol that leads to the struggle between light and
darkness is the way Hester and Dimmesdale hide their love for each other. Hawthorne
uses Hester and Dimmesdale to symbolize the “conflict between the desire to confess and
the necessity of self-concealment” (Crews). The forest scenes and the scaffold scenes are
examples of the struggle for Hester and Dimmesdale. When the two meet in the forest
and the scaffold, it proves that they can never show their love to each other in public.
Their sin has become so great that is has created a different world for them, forcing them
to meet in the darkness of the shadows. The way Hester and Dimmesdale plan their
escape is another example of the struggle between light and darkness. They meet in the
darkness of the forest shows that their escape is bound to fail. There is a storm over them
and shadows upon them, showing that they cannot get away from their sins. This is
proved when Dimmesdale turn himself in at the scaffold, because no matter how hard he
tries he can not get away for his sins. Hester Prynne is another symbol within the novel,
she symbolizes the heroine of the novel. Hester stands up for herself and for what she
believes. She is “a woman fighting for her natural rights and freedoms.” Compared to the
“tight-mouthed Puritans” she is a true woman. She knows that she has committed a crime
and has accepted it and learned to live with it. Hester has even tried to relieve herself of
the sin by doing good deeds for the Puritan society, although they have treated her with
such disrespect, knowing that they will never truly accept her. A symbol is shown in
Hester’s dress on the day she stand for the first time on the pillory: “The young woman –
the mother on the child – stood fully revealed before the crowd, with a burning blush,
and yet a haughty smiles, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her
towns people and neighbors. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with
an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A. It
was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that
it has all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and
which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what
was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony” (Hawthorne 57). The symbol
that this creates is one that she creates for herself, it expresses her desire and
individuality. Dimmesdale symbolizes the coward in the story as well as the hypocrite.
Dimmesdale continues to try to make peace with God, although he never will.
Dimmesdale cannot make peace with God for one simple fact, he does not know how to
do so. He not only does not know how to, he does not care if he lives or dies, and by the
end of the novel he is so weak he can barely lift himself. The sin has engulfed him into a
void that he does not know how to leave. When he meets Hester in the forest, he sees it
as a way out. He is so weak and willing to try anything that he accepts Hester’s plan
without much hesitation. Yet, being the hypocrite that he is, he turns around and
confesses everything at the scaffold. Pearl is another main symbol that the novel is built
around. Pearl symbolizes Hawthorne’s first child, Una. Pearl symbolizes Una because she
was actually modeled after her. Pearl also represents the idea that the full acceptance of
responsibility for sin is better then denying it. Accepting the consequences fully is also
better that ignoring this responsibility altogether or even accepting it halfway. Hester
accepted the responsibility for her sin, which was Pearl. In fact, Pearl was not only
Hester’s responsibility, but her gift. Pearl was indeed Hester’s “pearl”. Pearl was a
treasure that Hester paid for greatly, and took the consequences. Hester paid by giving
her life up for Pearl, she lost everything she ever had or could have gained in the Puritan
society. The Puritans cast Hester away, making her an outsider for the community. More
importantly, Pearl symbolizes the scarlet letter A and the fate of Hester. Pearl looks very
much like the scarlet letter. When Pearl is first introduced she is dressed in crimson and
gold, just like the A that Hester wears upon her chest. Pearl continually reminds Hester of
her sin. Pearl reminds Hester so much of her sin, because of the fact that she dresses her
like the letter. Hester also is reminded of her sin by Pearl because of her childlike wonder
of the letter; Pearl is always asking why her mother wears the letter upon her chest, and
why she cannot wear one. Not only does Peal represent the scarlet letter, but she also
symbolizes fate. In the forest scene, she tells her mother to go and pick up her own letter,
pointing to it. Fate also points it’s finger at the letter saying that she must live with the sin
that she has committed. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written around
the symbols in the novel itself. Each symbol had an effect within the novel that should
not be taken for granted. The symbols in the novel are not just “signs or tokens of
something.” They are in fact the “meaning from the work of which they are part.”
Hawthorne uses double meanings for every symbol within the novel, leaving the final
definition of the symbols entirely up to the reader (”The Scarlet Letter” 8)
HTML1DocumentEncodingutf-8″ The House Of The Seven Gables”. The story of The
House Of The Seven Gables streches over two centuries. It’s the classic scenario of two
rival families, in this case the Pyncheons ( weathly aristocratic puritans) and the Maules
( humbler paupers). The story of these two families begins with Matthew Maule, who
owned a certain amount of land and built himself a hut to live in, in this new puritan
settlement. Maule was a hard working but obscure man, who was stubborn and protected
what was his. His rival arrived at the settlement about 30 to 40 years after Maule had
been there. Colonel Pyncheon, an ambicious and determined man, had a high position in
the town. It was said that Colonel Pyncheon was very much for the execution of those
who practiced witchcraft, and it was also said that he very strongly sought the
condemnation of Matthew Maule for being a wizard. Pyncheon did manage to have
Maule executed but not before Maule placed a curse on Pyncheon and his decendants.
These were Maules exact words :
” God, God will give him blood to drink !”
Many of the characters in the book were influenced by actual people in and
during Nathanial’s life. For example : Colonel Pyncheon was based on The Reverend
Wentworth Upham, a Minister and mayor of Salem. He wrote the books : Lecture’s on
Withcraft and History of Witchcraft and Salem Village. The Maule name was derived
from Thomas Maule, a Quaker merchant living in Salem at the time of the trials. In
Nathanials American Notebooks he records that his great great grandfather Judge
Hathorne, the judge in the witch trials, injured a neighbor named English once, who
never forgave him. Yet English’s daughter married Hathorne’s son. In the same way, the
decendants of the Pyncheons and the Maules finally unite in marraige at the end of the
story. The Pyncheon and the Maule who get married at the end are Phoebe and Holgrave.
Phoebe is a smiling, public young woman. Holgrave is a kind artist ( daguerreotypist )
and is also the last desendant of Thomas Maule ( this is revealed at the end of the story).It
is believed that his cousin, Susannah Ingersoll, was who he had in mind when creating
the character of Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon. There is also evidence that Hawthorne had
himself in mind when creating the character of Holgrave, and of his wife,Sophia Peabody
Hawthorne, when creating Phoebe.***( Include other examples of the evidence that
suggests this)***
Ever since Hawthorne decided to become a writer he was determined to be a
success. He wrote for many years but none of his publications drew the attention
Hawthorne wanted. At the time he wrote the House of the Seven Gables, he had just
finished with The Scarlett Letter which had won him much fame. At this time
Hawthorne was preoocupied with his worth in America’s literary marketplace. He
promised his publishers and friends that his next book would have a “prosperous close”,
which meant something along the lines of a happy ending which did not come naturally
to Hawthorne. He found himself in a tight spot when trying to end the book, which took
him several months to write. I believe it did the story more harm than good, because
while reading the final chapter, ” The Departure”, it felt as though the seriousness and
many of the true significances of parts of the story weren’t there anymore. As though he
just ended the story that way to please the audience ( with a happy ending, everyone
becomes rich and moves onto a country house, Holgrave and Phoebe get married,and the
bad guy Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon just dies.).
Hawthorne was a very insightful, yet confusing man. Some would even say hypocritical
because he would criticize or claim something and in the end, praise what he critisized
and claim the opposite of what he originally said. I, on the other hand wouldn’t say he
was a hypocrite, rather he was mysterious, not letting anyone know his true intentions but
just letting them interpret things their own way. He incorporated this into much of his
writing, also. In The House Of The Seven Gables Hawthorne gives us alot of details and
symbols but he never really tells us what they mean, leaving them to our own
interpretations.
HTML1DocumentEncodingutf-8″Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a
story that is thick with allegory. “Young Goodman Brown” is a moral story which is told
through the perversion of a religious leader. In “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman
Brown is a Puritan minister who lets his excessive pride in himself interfere with his
relations with the community after he meets with the devil, and causes him to live the life
of an exile in his own community. “Young Goodman Brown” begins when Faith, Brown’s
wife, asks him not to go on an “errand”. Goodman Brown says to his “love and (my) Faith”
that “this one night I must tarry away from thee.” When he says his “love” and his “Faith”,
he is talking to his wife, but he is also talking to his “faith” to God. He is venturing into the
woods to meet with the Devil, and by doing so, he leaves his unquestionable faith in God
with his wife. He resolves that he will “cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven.” This is
an example of the excessive pride because he feels that he can sin and meet with the
Devil because of this promise that he made to himself. There is a tremendous irony to this
promise because when Goodman Brown comes back at dawn; he can no longer look at
his wife with the same faith he had before. When Goodman Brown finally meets with the
Devil, he declares that the reason he was late was because “Faith kept me back awhile.”
This statement has a double meaning because his wife physically prevented him from
being on time for his meeting with the devil, but his faith to God psychologically delayed
his meeting with the devil. The Devil had with him a staff that “bore the likeness of a great
black snake”. The staff which looked like a snake is a reference to the snake in the story
of Adam and Eve. The snake led Adam and Eve to their destruction by leading them to the
Tree of Knowledge. The Adam and Eve story is similar to Goodman Brown in that they are
both seeking unfathomable amounts of knowledge. Once Adam and Eve ate from the Tree
of Knowledge they were expelled from their paradise. The Devil’s staff eventually leads
Goodman Brown to the Devil’s ceremony which destroys Goodman Brown’s faith in his
fellow man, therefore expelling him from his utopia. Goodman Brown almost immediately
declares that he kept his meeting with the Devil and no longer wishes to continue on his
errand with the Devil. He says that he comes from a “race of honest men and good
Christians” and that his father had never gone on this errand and nor will he. The Devil is
quick to point out however that he was with his father and grandfather when they were
flogging a woman or burning an Indian village, respectively. These acts are ironic in that
they were bad deeds done in the name of good, and it shows that he does not come from
“good Christians.” When Goodman Brown’s first excuse not to carry on with the errand
proves to be unconvincing, he says he can’t go because of his wife, “Faith”. And because
of her, he can not carry out the errand any further. At this point the Devil agrees with him
and tells him to turn back to prevent that “Faith should come to any harm” like the old
woman in front of them on the path. Ironically, Goodman Brown’s faith is harmed because
the woman on the path is the woman who “taught him his catechism in youth, and was
still his moral and spiritual adviser.” The Devil and the woman talk and afterward, Brown
continues to walk on with the Devil in the disbelief of what he had just witnessed.
Ironically, he blames the woman for consorting with the Devil but his own pride stops him
from realizing that his faults are the same as the woman’s. Brown again decides that he
will no longer to continue on his errand and rationalizes that just because his teacher was
not going to heaven, why should he “quit my dear Faith, and go after her”. At this, the
Devil tosses Goodman Brown his staff (which will lead him out of his Eden) and leaves