Scarlet Letter Essay

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Christa Clough
October 12, 2012
English III
1st Period
The Symbolism of The Scarlet Letter Have you ever read a book with lots of symbolism? Did you notice there was one symbol the author went to great extents to represent to the reader? The Scarlet Letter is a well known book that has been read for many generations. It is one of those books that has lots of symbolism but has one primary symbol that is concentrated on throughout the book. This major symbol is a scarlet letter A. This letter is worn by a young girl that has committed a detestable sin in her community. The young girl who endures wearing the letter is Hester Pryne. She lives in a society that wants to be perfect and they call themselves Puritans. The letter A, a symbol for adultery, was worn on Hester’s bosom as her penalty for her sin. She was to wear it for the rest of her existence as a daily reminder of what she had done. This made her a living and walking sermon of why people should not sin. When she would go out into town she would be that sermon to the people, and when she would go to church she would be someone for the preacher to have a sermon on. Hester was a striking, young woman who had been married off to an elderly man whom she did not love. Her husband, Chillingworth, sent her ahead of him to prepare a home for them in the puritan society, but after years of him not showing up she fell in love. She committed adultery with this man whom she loved named Arthur Dimmsedale. Her sin was revealed from the baby who she carried in her womb, but she would not tell of Arthur’s sin and bring him down with her. In the Scarlet Letter it tells of her showing her scarlet letter to the

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