On the Symbolic Meaning of the Letter “A” in the Scarlet姓名：胡钰琴班级：1002 学号：2010403210223Abstract:There are many different views among scholars about the symbolic meaning of the letter “A”in the scarlet letter. For instance, “A”for “adultery”, “angel” and “able”. Contrary to these scholars, this paper holds opinions that the letter “A” is the symbol of “adore”, “alone”“admirable”. This article focuses on these four things to analyze the whole novel.Key words:the Scarlet Letter, symbolism, romantic, Hester一、IntroductionThe Scarlet Letter is considered as the most famous novel of the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, who is one of the greatest romantic writers in the 19th century. This novel told us a story about Hester Prynne, who committed adultery with her puritan minister Arthur Dimmesdale and has given birth to a child, Pearl, during the time her husband was disappeared. So, she was forced to wear the letter “A” on her bosom all the time as a punishment. But when Hester’s former husband—Chillingworth knows the adultery after his arrival in Boston, he began to revenge on and torments Dimmesdale until his death. Many years later, Hester dies and she is buried with Dimmesdale. Their love continues after life, and the scarlet letter changes its meaning in people’s heart. In this work, Hawthorne successfully uses symbolism by concentrates on his creative characteristics and experience and make the scarlet letter his most famous masterpiece around the world.Nathaniel Hawthorn was born on the fourth of July, 1804 in Sales, Massachusetts. Some of his ancestors were big shots in seventeenth-century New England, which was under the control of Puritanism. One of them was a colonial magistrate, notorious for his participation in the persecution of Quakers, and another was a judge at the Sales Witchcraft Trail in 1692. Gradually, the family fortune declined. Hawthorne’s father was a sea captain, who died in an accident and left his mother and him behind to struggle to live for themselves. Young Hawthorn was quite aware of the misdeed of his Puritan ancestors, and this awareness made him believe that evil was at the core of human life. To some extent, Hawthorn wrote some of his books, such as The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gambles to try to make up for the sin of his ancestors.He is an extremely renowned American writer of fiction. He not only hascreated quiet a few classic novels, but also has written quantities of thought- provoking short stories, including The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables(1851), The Blithesome Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860). And another novel-length romance, Fanshawe , was published anonymously in 1828. Until now, Hawthorn and his works have been the focus of discussion from the Chinese and foreign scholars. Contemporary response to Hawthorne's work praised his sentimentality and moral purity while more modern evaluations focus on the dark psychological complexity. McFarland said," The style of Hawthorn is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective ,wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes... We look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth".In the terms of the book The Scarlet Letter ,literary historians believe that it was undoubtedly the first great American novel. The story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, which is under Puritan command. A young woman, named Hester Prynne, is sent ahead to America by her husband---an old and ugly scholar. However, for many years, he himself doesn’t arrive. Obviously, it is possible that he has been lost in the sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester and a young local minister called Arthur Dimmesdale fall in love with each other. They commit adultery secretly. Because of Hester’s Pregnancy, the secret is finally discovered.So the scarlet letter “A” on Hester’s breast represented the act of adultery that she had committed and was taken punishment for her sin and her secrecy. But adultery is not the main focus of The Scarlet Letter, just as the novel is not really a love story .Henry James ,who has learned directly from Hawthorne’s artistry ,made this comment :”To Hawthorne’s imagination the fact that these two persons [Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale ] had loved each other too well was of an interest comparatively vulgar ; what appwaled to him was their moral situation in the long years that were to follow.”(Tongming. A History of American Literature 103)Actually,the theme of The Scarlet Letter is characterized by multiplicity and various conclusions are dram in the filed of the thematic studies. It seems that scholars have shown major concern with such diathesis as the original sin, the moralconsciousness of Hawthorne, religious belief, individual and society, thoughts of female doctrine and the conflict between the head and the heart. At home ,some scholars focus on such themes as the symbolism in the scarlet letter ,the meanings of “A”,the ideas of marriage, moral problems and religious complex ,sin and redemption , the loneliness diathesis of the novel and analysis of wheather Hester gets rebirth and so on . Meanwhile some scholars abroad constrates on the following themes: the persistence of theocracy, reforming America and its men,original sin, the exclusion of the traditional villain from contemporary American literature ,the puritans of today: anti-Whig argument of the Scarlet Letter, branding the body American: violence and self-fashioning from The Scarlet Letter to American psycho, individual and community, Hawthorne’peal:woman-child of the future,A" for Atlantic: The Colonizing Force of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the dating problem of Hawthorne ,postponing politics in the novel，the dark problem of this life, motivation in the scarlet letter,writing skills of the novel However, very few scholars have ever done a thorough research into the life and death of the novel .二、BodyA. “A” for AdoreThe letter “A” stands for Hester Prynne’s sincerity love to her minister Arthur Dimmesdale. We can know that though the expression on Hester’ face when she was bring to the scaffold. “In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors.” In order to protect the man she love she was willingly to take the punishment, sins and hash remarks all alone. When Hester’ term of confinement was finally at an end she can totally throw the letter away and leave the place where she suffered humiliate a lot and emerge into another state, hiding her character and identity under a new exterior. However, she didn’t choose to do so because on this land lived the man she loves, they fell in love with each other here. This love, which gave her the most courage and power to enduring the huge pain, also supported her to expect the coming of their happy life. So, we can say that the letter “A” Hawthorne showed us was not just a symbol of sins but also the symbol of the great love between Hester and Arthur.B. “A” for AloneHester and Chilli ngworth’s marriage was a tragedy. She was fair-faced women, who marriedChillingworth’s a knowledgeable but misshapen doctor. He thought that the disable of his bodycan be made up by knowledge and techniques and totally ignored Hester’s inner heart. A marriage which lack of comprehension and communication was doomed to be unhappy. However, when Hester met with her minister Dimmesdale, they two fell in love with each other soon. But that behavior was prohibited by the puritan beliefs. When Hester gave birth to Dimmesdale’s child Pearl, the whole thing came to light. And she was forced to wear the letter”A” on her bosom the whole lifetime as a punishment. Hester accepted the court’s sentence in the eye of all people’despise. After her confinement was finished she and Pearl live in a cottage that away from the residential area.None of her friends dared to meet her and herself also felt that she didn’t even belong to this world. Pearl, her daughter was her world. Hester always dreamed of one day her lover could stay with her and comfort her. It had been seven years since she was deserted by the society. At last, Hester talked into Demmisdale to get rid of all burden and go with her. At that time, she was no longer alone.C. “A” for AdmirableHester’s courage to pursue her true love was very admirable. She broke the bondage of social moral codes and deserted the traditions. In order to protect her lover she would rather to take all condemns. As a woman, she is strong and brave. At the end of the story, Hester’s inner beauty had won all other people’s respect and admiration.三、ConclusionThe scarlet letter was a novel about saving one’s souls. The original meaning of the letter “A” was symbolizing humiliation. Obviously, Hawthorne was also trying to convey to us other important information by creating the figure Hester. Her thoughts were filled with rebellion and struggle. From the transformation of the conception of the letter “A”, we can figure out the praiseHawthorne gave to Hester.Besides the characters, the most obvious symbol is the scarlet letter itself, which has various meanings depending on its context. It is a sign of adultery, penance, and penitence. It brings about Hester's suffering and loneliness and also provides her rejuvenation. In the book, it first appears as an actual material object in The Custom House preface. Then it becomes an elaborately gold-embroidered A over Hester's heart and is magnified in the armor breast-plate at Governor Bellingham's mansion. Here Hester is hidden by the gigantic, magnified symbol just as her life and feelings are hidden behind the sign of her sin.Still later, the letter is an immense red A in the sky, a green A of eel-grass arranged by Pearl, the A on Hester's dress decorated by Pearl with prickly burrs, an A on Dimmesdale's chest seen by some spectators at the Election Day procession, and, finally, represented by the epitaph "On a field, sable, the letter A, gules" (gules beingthe heraldic term for "red") on the tombstone Hester and Dimmesdale share.In all these examples, the meaning of the symbol depends on the context and sometimes the interpreter. For example, in the second scaffold scene, the community sees the scarlet A in the sky as a sign that the dying Governor Winthrop has become an angel; Dimmesdale, however, sees it as a sign of his own secret sin. The community initially sees the letter on Hester's bosom as a mark of just punishment and a symbol to deter others from sin. Hester is a Fallen Woman with a symbol of her guilt. Later, when she becomes a frequent visitor in homes of pain and sorrow, the A is seen to represent "Able" or "Angel." It has rejuvenated Hester and changed her meaning in the eyes of the community.四、References 【参考文献】[1] 赵欢浅析《红字》中“A”的象征意义[ J ].语文学刊，2010（09）[2] Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Scarlet Letter, II.THE MARKETPLACE, 1850.[3]卢翎婧.解析红字A 在《红字》中的内涵意义[ J ].青年文学，2011（06）[4 ] 亓志梅《红字》中的多重空间研究[D];山东师范大学;2011年[5 ] 于洋;霍桑的科技观及其短篇小说的悲剧性[D];黑龙江大学;2010年[6 ] 王桂菊象征主义完美大师[D] ;北京交通大学;2010年[7]丁珏;穿越黑暗——霍桑笔下的恶人形象研究[D];湖南大学;2010年[8] 兰红梅;美国文化中的清教因素[D];成都理工大学;2010年[9]郭蕾;《红字》中丁梅斯代尔的文体学分析[D];中国石油大学;2010年[10] 吴雪萍;从语境视角看《红字》的两个中译本[D];内蒙古大学;2010年[11]菁菁;对《红字》主人公海斯特·普林和亚瑟·丁梅斯戴尔的历史原型分析[D];内蒙古大学;2010年[12] 武洁《炼狱》与《红字》相似性比较研究[D];内蒙古大学;2010年[13] 贾鹤鸣戏仿视角下的厄普代克“《红字》三部曲”[D];兰州大学;2010年。