Essay On The Meaning Of The Scarlet Letter

The scarlet letter stands for adultery and only adultery and nothing more. In “The Meaning of the Scarlet A,” Claudia Durst Johnson describes how the “A” In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, evolves in the meaning as the story goes on. Johnson is incorrect in her assertion as the “A” maintains the meaning of Adultery throughout the book. The first reason Claudia gives is, “Much of the meaning of the scarlet letter resides in Pearl because she is the result of Hester’s adultery.” (Johnson, 108), and that, “If she is identified with the scarlet letter, then the reader needs to consider her characteristics to determine some of the letter’s meaning.” (Johnson 109). If “her characteristics” and actions “determine some of the letters meaning” and everything she does angers of frightens the community like committing a sin and that, “there is the likeness of the scarlet letter [Pearl] running beside her side [Hester].”(Hawthorne 103). Hester considers Pearl as a reminder of her sin, which was adultery, and the community considered Pearl the living scarlet letter which means the A stand for Adultery and nothing else. The second reason is, “But the ‘A’ on her breast begins to represent different things as Hester’s story unfolds. For example, as a result of her charitable acts
“A wise sentence!’ remarked the stranger, gravely bowing his head. ‘Thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone.” The letter was given to her for committing Adultery and was to be used as a “living sermon” against sin and if they changed it it couldn’t be used for the initial reason that it was