Color Symbolism In Scarlet Letter

A Colorfully Masked World
Color has the ability to do many things, including grabbing attention and forming appearances. It changes the way people or objects are seen, as it is visible to anyone. Without color the world would be dull and completely different from how it currently is. Colors define the appearance of an object or person in many ways and has to do with the light reflected by either of those and how it bounces back or is reflected towards the observer. Colors are able to change how things look and also sometimes feel, which makes it good for a writer to use. Hawthorne makes many choices about the way color is viewed and compared to the physical and mental qualities of people in society. There is more than just a color behind everyone’s appearance including the main characters Hester and Pearl and the rest of society. All of these characters appear with or are symbolized by different colors and all of these colors intentionally convey deeper meanings to the story and the whole purpose of Hawthornes way of conveying
Hester’s colors in appearance are seen as sinful, dark, and Puritan related and in contrast Hawthorne reveals Pearls colors in appearance which unveil innocence and life as well as colors that tie in with the scarlet letter which by the Puritans is viewed as sinful colors. Hawthorne chooses for Pearl to freely express her true self and not wear colors that convey facades put on her by her mother Hester and the rest of society. As for the rest of the community, made up of Puritans, color represents their lack of uniqueness and fear of expressing themselves. Color is used as a symbol to reveal that appearances bring a sense of life to people and is able to be used to express and uncover facades, that are masked inside