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As said by Oscar Wilde, “ Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” Throughout the world, many see colors as simple beauty and pick their favorite colors based on how the color looks on the outside. However, there is more to color than the outside and how it looks. The inside of the color can be symbolically represented as it is in the book the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The Scarlet Letter book full of symbolism , the colors black, red and gray are used as symbols to represent the characteristics and feelings of the characters in this book.
First of all, in the book the Scarlet Letter the color black, is seen as a symbol of darkness and dishonesty throughout the book. For example, on page 46 chapter 1, while describing the prison, it says “Found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, the prison.” As flowers are often sought to represent beauty and happiness, with the black flower being seen as a dark gloomy symbol that was shunned as looked upon by the people, as it was the prison.
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Another example of black being used in the book is when Pearl is looking into a mirror. Not just any mirror but a small black mirror, as it says on page 92 chapter 6 “but another face in the small black mirror of Pearl's eye. It was a face, fiend-like, full of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of features that she had known full well, though seldom with a smile, and never with malice, in them.' As she looks into herself in the mirror, she sees the darkness and evil in her eyes and describes her eyes as empty and pitch black.
This black is similar to the last example, as they both have a very dark gloomy characteristic. That is why the color black in the Scarlet Letter represents darkness and dishonesty.
Secondly, the color red is also represented in the book. Red in the book, represents loneliness and shame. As the whole point early in the book is the sin and punishment of Hester Pryne, as she wears an embroidered A on her the whole time as a punishment. As on page 50 chapter 2, the letter is introduced as a punishment it says “In fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery”. Even though the description of the letter seems nice, the meaning of it wasn’t at all. Hester wears this letter on her clothes every day to remind her of the sin she committed, therefore making her feel the heavy guilt and shaming her constantly. In addition, this also isolates Hester from society as in puritan culture someone who has committed a sin is a shame and isn’t looked at the same as normal people. With Hester being isolated from society, this makes her extremely lonely and anti-social. That is why the color red always worn by Hester symbolizes the loneliness and shame that Hester goes through every day.
Lastly, the color gold is symbolized in The Scarlet Letter as a sense of happiness and relief for characters throughout the book. First of all, as Hester first puts on the letter A as her punishment, she adds some gold to the outside. On page 50 chapter 2, it says “with elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread appeared the letter A”. As the “A” was supposed to be a punishment for Hester, the little part of gold on the A gave her something to feel good about and give her relief from the constant guilt that had been put on her. In fact, she made other women of the town jealous of her by the way that she could make anything look beautiful. With the letter on her chest, it not only allowed Hester to remember what he wrongdoings were but with the gold it allowed her to feel more like herself and find a little happiness in her gloomy life. Throughout the book, there wasn’t much happiness and relief, but that is what the color gold symbolized in the book The Scarlet Letter.
To conclude, throughout the book, the colors black, red and gray are used as symbols to represent the characteristics and feelings of the characters in this book. Even though colors are often overlooked for how they look on the outside, there is an endless possibility of what colors can symbolize in a book. That’s what the book The Scarlett Letter did, as it gave new meanings to the simple colors.
Color Symbolism Through The Scarlet Letter Book. (2024, Feb 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/color-symbolism-through-the-scarlet-letter-book-essay
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