How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Symbols In The Scarlet Letter

Symbolism is one feature in The Scarlet Letter that Nathaniel Hawthorne uses quite a lot; and I find it especially interesting how he is able to cleverly use metaphors to get this symbolism across. Symbolism runs wild throughout the book in the form of Pearl. Pearl is like an extended metaphor in a sense because, throughout the romance, Hawthorne uses her as a living reminder of the Scarlet Letter and the sin that Hester commits. This strategy adds an interesting element to the book since the reader is constantly reminded of Hester’s condemnation without Hawthorne having to continually speak of the Scarlet Letter and the sin attached to it. I personally feel bad for both Hester and Pearl because of the way others treat them. It angers me that no one gives Pearl a chance because she deserves to be seen as an individual and not just the result of a sin her mother committed. Even Hester believes “that her deed
had been evil; she could have no faith, therefore, that its result would be for good.
Day after day, she looked fearfully into the child’s expanding nature, ever dreading to detect some dark and wile peculiarity, that should correspond with the guiltiness to which she owed her being” (Hawthorne 104). If Pearl remains in the settlement, she’ll have her mother’s sin to carry as a burden until the day she dies.
My favorite metaphor in the book is, “The very law that condemned her---a giant of stern features, but with vigor to support, as well as to annihilate, in his iron arm---had held her up through the terrible ordeal of her ignominy” (Hawthorne 91). At first, I didn’t quite go far enough in my analysis of the passage; but when I delved deeper, I found that he is slyly comparing the Puritan settlement to this “great giant with stern features.”
I realized that, in different words, Hawthorne is saying Puritanism is a large institution with rigid rules; however it still manages to have a reasonable amount of followers who conform to its rigidity, so that it has the power to, as the saying goes, rule with an iron fist. The metaphor can be taken a bit further if “law” is replaced with “God.” We see that there is no difference between the laws of God and the laws of the settlement in this particular Puritan Society. We also see that anyone who breaks even the minutest law will be judged cruelly by their peers; to the point where they are ostracized and their “sin” follows them for the rest of their time there. It’s as if the Puritan leaders believe they are being led by God to harshly punish anyone who looks at them the wrong way, which, in turn, creates a society with no room for mistakes. I believe this metaphor is one of the most important in the text because of all of the themes that can be drawn from it. It displays Hawthorne’s feelings towards Puritanism and the ideas of transcendentalism, while at the same time accurately portraying Puritan culture in the time period. I find it remarkable that Hawthorne is able to convey so much in so little words. His usage of metaphors and symbolism inspires me to become more concise and informative in my own writing