Pearl

Quick: you're the most sinful woman in probably the entire New World, not counting
those heathen Indians, you've just given birth to a girl, you feel really bad about your
adultery, and you want to convince the town leaders that you should be allowed to keep
the child. What do you name her?
(A) Humiliation
(B) Sin-Deny
(C) Sorry-for-Sin
(D) Abstinence
(E) Pearl
Yep. Hester names her daughter "Pearl," as in pure, white, and definitely not sinful. (Oh,
and A through D? Totally Puritan names.) But that's not what "pearl" means to Hester.
To Hester, it means the pearl of great price, the pearl in Jesus' parable that is bought at
"great price."
If you're thinking by now that Pearl is much more of a symbol than an actual character—
well, you're right. But let's see what we can make of her.

Sassy Pants
Pearl is too smart for her own good. When she sees her mother meet with Dimmesdale
in the woods, she knows that something's up: "Doth he love us?" she asks her mom.
"Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?" (19.33).
Somehow, Pearl picks up on what no one else does: that Dimmesdale is her father.
Okay, she does have the advantage of knowing that he and her mom have secret
meetings in the woods, but, come on, the girl is only seven years old when this
happens. Most 7-year-olds we know are too busy undressing Barbies to notice what the
adults are doing,
She also has quite a way of talking:
"What a strange, sad man is he!" said the child, as if speaking partly to herself. "In the
dark night-time, he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stood with
him on the scaffold yonder! And in the deep forest, where only the old trees can hear,
and the strip of sky see it, he talks with thee, sitting on a heap of moss! And he kisses
my forehead, too, so that the little brook would hardly wash it off! But, here, in the sunny
day, and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him! A strange, sad
man is he, with his hand always over his heart!" (21.10-12)
Again, this doesn't sound like any 7-year-old we know. (Except maybe this one.) Our
question: is Hawthorne even interested in making Pearl seem like a real 7-year-old,
even a Puritan one? Or is she just there because the story needs her?
Witch-Girl
If she's just there for the story, then Hawthorne spends a surprising amount of time
talking about how awesome she is. She's full of "native grace," and so pretty that she
was "worth to have been brought forth in Eden"—and then left there so the angels could
play with her.
That might have been an easier life for her, since the Puritan community is pretty intent
on shunning her as much as they shun her mom, since she's "an imp of evil, emblem
and product of sin" (6.7). All the kids ignore her, and if they do come up to her, she
throws stones at them while screaming in a way that sound like "a witch's anathemas in
some unknown tongue" (6.7).Pretty freaky.
And check out the way she plays when she's alone:
The unlikeliest materials—a stick, a bunch of rags, a flower—were the puppets of
Pearl's witchcraft, and, without undergoing any outward change, became spiritually
adapted to whatever drama occupied the stage of her inner world. Her one baby-voice
served a multitude of imaginary personages, old and young, to talk withal. The pine-
trees, aged, black, and solemn, and flinging groans and other melancholy utterances on
the breeze, needed little transformation to figure as Puritan elders; the ugliest weeds of
the garden were their children, whom Pearl smote down and uprooted most unmercifully
… In the mere exercise of the fancy, however, and the sportiveness of a growing mind,
there might be a little more than was observable in other children of bright faculties;
except as Pearl, in the dearth of human playmates, was thrown more upon the visionary
throng which she created. The singularity lay in the hostile feelings with which the child
regarded all these offsprings of her own heart and mind. (6.9)
Translated, this passage means that Pearl has a vivid imagination; she makes little
playmates out of all kinds of inanimate objects, like sticks, rags, and flowers. (Note that
the narrator calls this "witchcraft": come on, Hawthorne, lay off the girl a little.) Sure,
most kids do this, especially if they don't have endless episodes of Wonder Pets to
watch after school. The difference is that Pearl hates her toys. She doesn't make little
people to play house; she makes them so she can "[smite] them down."
No wonder she gets called names like "witch-baby" (12.26).

Hester Prynne - Hester is the book’s protagonist and the wearer of the
scarlet letter that gives the book its title. The letter, a patch of fabric in the
shape of an “A,” signifies that Hester is an “adulterer.” As a young woman,
Hester married an elderly scholar, Chillingworth, who sent her ahead to
America to live but never followed her. While waiting for him, she had an affair
with a Puritan minister named Dimmesdale, after which she gave birth to
Pearl. Hester is passionate but also strong—she endures years of shame and
scorn. She equals both her husband and her lover in her intelligence and
thoughtfulness. Her alienation puts her in the position to make acute
observations about her community, particularly about its treatment of women.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HESTER PRYNNE.
Pearl - Hester’s illegitimate daughter Pearl is a young girl with a moody,
mischievous spirit and an ability to perceive things that others do not. For
example, she quickly discerns the truth about her mother and Dimmesdale.
The townspeople say that she barely seems human and spread rumors that
her unknown father is actually the Devil. She is wise far beyond her years,
frequently engaging in ironic play having to do with her mother’s scarlet letter.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF PEARL.
Roger Chillingworth - “Roger Chillingworth” is actually Hester’s husband in
disguise. He is much older than she is and had sent her to America while he
settled his affairs in Europe. Because he is captured by Native Americans, he
arrives in Boston belatedly and finds Hester and her illegitimate child being
displayed on the scaffold. He lusts for revenge, and thus decides to stay in
Boston despite his wife’s betrayal and disgrace. He is a scholar and uses his
knowledge to disguise himself as a doctor, intent on discovering and
tormenting Hester’s anonymous lover. Chillingworth is self-absorbed and both
physically and psychologically monstrous. His single-minded pursuit of
retribution reveals him to be the most malevolent character in the novel.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF ROGER CHILLINGWORTH.
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale - Dimmesdale is a young man who achieved
fame in England as a theologian and then emigrated to America. In a moment
of weakness, he and Hester became lovers. Although he will not confess it
publicly, he is the father of her child. He deals with his guilt by tormenting
himself physically and psychologically, developing a heart condition as a
result. Dimmesdale is an intelligent and emotional man, and his sermons are
thus masterpieces of eloquence and persuasiveness. His commitments to his
congregation are in constant conflict with his feelings of sinfulness and need
to confess.
Governor Bellingham - Governor Bellingham is a wealthy, elderly
gentleman who spends much of his time consulting with the other town
fathers. Despite his role as governor of a fledgling American society, he very
much resembles a traditional English aristocrat. Bellingham tends to strictly
adhere to the rules, but he is easily swayed by Dimmesdale’s eloquence. He
remains blind to the misbehaviors taking place in his own house: his sister,
Mistress Hibbins, is a witch.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF GOVERNOR BELLINGHAM.
Mistress Hibbins - Mistress Hibbins is a widow who lives with her brother,
Governor Bellingham, in a luxurious mansion. She is commonly known to be a
witch who ventures into the forest at night to ride with the “Black Man.” Her
appearances at public occasions remind the reader of the hypocrisy and
hidden evil in Puritan society.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF MISTRESS HIBBINS.
Reverend Mr. John Wilson - Boston’s elder clergyman, Reverend Wilson is
scholarly yet grandfatherly. He is a stereotypical Puritan father, a literary
version of the stiff, starkly painted portraits of American patriarchs. Like
Governor Bellingham, Wilson follows the community’s rules strictly but can be
swayed by Dimmesdale’s eloquence. Unlike Dimmesdale, his junior
colleague, Wilson preaches hellfire and damnation and advocates harsh
punishment of sinners.
Narrator - The unnamed narrator works as the surveyor of the Salem
Custom-House some two hundred years after the novel’s events take place.
He discovers an old manuscript in the building’s attic that tells the story of
Hester Prynne; when he loses his job, he decides to write a fictional treatment
of the narrative. The narrator is a rather high-strung man, whose Puritan
ancestry makes him feel guilty about his writing career. He writes because he
is interested in American history and because he believes that America needs
to better understand its religious and moral heritage.

Critical Essays Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter

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Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most prolific symbolists in American literature, and a
study of his symbols is necessary to understanding his novels. Generally speaking, a
symbol is something used to stand for something else. In literature, a symbol is most
often a concrete object used to represent an idea more abstract and broader in scope
and meaning — often a moral, religious, or philosophical concept or value. Symbols can
range from the most obvious substitution of one thing for another, to creations as
massive, complex, and perplexing as Melville's white whale in Moby Dick.

An allegory in literature is a story where characters, objects, and events have a hidden
meaning and are used to present some universal lesson. Hawthorne has a perfect
atmosphere for the symbols in The Scarlet Letter because the Puritans saw the world
through allegory. For them, simple patterns, like the meteor streaking through the sky,
became religious or moral interpretations for human events. Objects, such as the
scaffold, were ritualistic symbols for such concepts as sin and penitence.

Whereas the Puritans translated such rituals into moral and repressive exercises,
Hawthorne turns their interpretations around in The Scarlet Letter. The Puritan
community sees Hester as a fallen woman, Dimmesdale as a saint, and would have
seen the disguised Chillingworth as a victim — a husband betrayed. Instead, Hawthorne
ultimately presents Hester as a woman who represents a sensitive human being with a
heart and emotions; Dimmesdale as a minister who is not very saint-like in private but,
instead, morally weak and unable to confess his hidden sin; and Chillingworth as a
husband who is the worst possible offender of humanity and single-mindedly pursuing
an evil goal.

Hawthorne's embodiment of these characters is denied by the Puritan mentality: At the

end of the novel, even watching and hearing Dimmesdale's confession, many members
of the Puritan community still deny what they saw. Thus, using his characters as
symbols, Hawthorne discloses the grim underside of Puritanism that lurks beneath the
public piety.
Some of Hawthorne's symbols change their meaning, depending on the context, and
some are static. Examples of static symbols are the Reverend Mr. Wilson, who
represents the Church, or Governor Bellingham, who represents the State. But many of
Hawthorne's symbols change — particularly his characters — depending on their
treatment by the community and their reactions to their sins. His characters, the
scarlet A, light and darkness, color imagery, and the settings of forest and village serve
symbolic purposes.

Characters

Hester is the public sinner who demonstrates the effect of punishment on sensitivity and
human nature. She is seen as a fallen woman, a culprit who deserves the ignominy of
her immoral choice. She struggles with her recognition of the letter's symbolism just as
people struggle with their moral choices. The paradox is that the Puritans stigmatize her
with the mark of sin and, in so doing, reduce her to a dull, lifeless woman whose
characteristic color is gray and whose vitality and femininity are suppressed.

Over the seven years of her punishment, Hester's inner struggle changes from a victim
of Puritan branding to a decisive woman in tune with human nature. When she meets
Dimmesdale in the forest in Chapter 18, Hawthorne says, "The tendency of her fate and
fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where
other women dared not tread."

In time, even the Puritan community sees the letter as meaning "Able" or "Angel." Her
sensitivity with society's victims turns her symbolic meaning from a person whose life
was originally twisted and repressed to a strong and sensitive woman with respect for
the humanity of others. In her final years, "the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which
attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be
sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too." Since her character
is strongly tied to the scarlet letter, Hester represents the public sinner who changes
and learns from her own sorrow to understand the humanity of others. Often human
beings who suffer great loss and life-changing experiences become survivors with an
increased understanding and sympathy for the human losses of others. Hester is such a
symbol.

Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is the secret sinner whose public and private faces are
opposites. Even as the beadle — an obvious symbol of the righteous Colony of
Massachusetts — proclaims that the settlement is a place where "iniquity is dragged out
into the sunshine," the colony, along with the Reverend Mr. Wilson, is in awe of
Dimmesdale's goodness and sanctity. Inside the good minister, however, is a storm
raging between holiness and self-torture. He is unable to reveal his sin.

At worst, Dimmesdale is a symbol of hypocrisy and self-centered intellectualism; he

knows what is right but has not the courage to make himself do the public act. When
Hester tells him that the ship for Europe leaves in four days, he is delighted with the
timing. He will be able to give his Election Sermon and "fulfill his public duties" before
escaping. At best, his public piety is a disdainful act when he worries that his
congregation will see his features in Pearl's face.

Dimmesdale's inner struggle is intense, and he struggles to do the right thing. He

realizes the scaffold is the place to confess and also his shelter from his tormenter,
Chillingworth. Yet, the very thing that makes Dimmesdale a symbol of the secret sinner
is also what redeems him. Sin and its acknowledgment humanize Dimmesdale. When
he leaves the forest and realizes the extent of the devil's grip on his soul, he
passionately writes his sermon and makes his decision to confess. As a symbol, he
represents the secret sinner who fights the good fight in his soul and eventually wins.

Pearl is the strongest of these allegorical images because she is nearly all symbol, little
reality. Dimmesdale sees Pearl as the "freedom of a broken law"; Hester sees her as
"the living hieroglyphic" of their sin; and the community sees her as the result of the
devil's work. She is the scarlet letter in the flesh, a reminder of Hester's sin. As Hester
tells the pious community leaders in Chapter 8, ". . . she is my happiness! — she is my
torture . . . See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so
endowed with a million-fold the power of retribution for my sin?"

Pearl is also the imagination of the artist, an idea so powerful that the Puritans could not
even conceive of it, let alone understand it, except in terms of transgression. She is
natural law unleashed, the freedom of the unrestrained wilderness, the result of
repressed passion. When Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, Pearl is reluctant to
come across the brook to see them because they represent the Puritan society in which
she has no happy role. Here in the forest, she is free and in harmony with nature. Her
image in the brook is a common symbol of Hawthorne's. He often uses a mirror to
symbolize the imagination of the artist; Pearl is a product of that imagination. When
Dimmesdale confesses his sin in the light of the sun, Pearl is free to become a human
being. All along, Hester felt there was this redeemable nature in her daughter, and here
she sees her faith rewarded. Pearl can now feel human grief and sorrow, as Hester can,
and she becomes a sin redeemed.

Chillingworth is consistently a symbol of cold reason and intellect unencumbered by

human compassion. While Dimmesdale has intellect but lacks will, Chillingworth has
both. He is fiendish, evil, and intent on revenge. In his first appearance in the novel, he
is compared to a snake, an obvious allusion to the Garden of Eden. Chillingworth
becomes the essence of evil when he sees the scarlet letter on Dimmesdale's breast in
Chapter 10, where there is "no need to ask how Satan comports himself when a
precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom."

Eventually, his evil is so pervasive that Chillingworth awakens the distrust of the Puritan
community and the recognition of Pearl. As time goes by and Dimmesdale becomes
more frail under the constant torture of Chillingworth, the community worries that their
minister is losing a battle with the devil himself. Even Pearl recognizes that Chillingworth
is a creature of the Black Man and warns her mother to stay away from him.
Chillingworth loses his reason to live when Dimmesdale eludes him at the scaffold in the
final scenes of the novel. "All his strength and energy — all his vital and intellectual
force — seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up,
shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight." As a symbol, Chillingworth's
job is done.

The Scarlet A

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 Aover 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 being the
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.

Light and Color

Light and darkness, sunshine and shadows, noon and midnight, are all manifestations
of the same images. Likewise, colors — such as red, gray, and black — play a role in
the symbolic nature of the background and scenery. But, similar to the characters, the
context determines what role the light or colors play. The Scarlet Letter's first chapter
ends with an admonition to "relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and
sorrow" with "some sweet moral blossom." These opposites are found throughout the
novel and often set the tone and define which side of good and evil envelop the
characters.

In Chapter 16, Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest with a "gray expanse of
cloud" and a narrow path hemmed in by the black and dense forest. The feelings of the
lovers, weighed down by guilt, are reflected in the darkness of nature. Every so often,
sunshine flickers on the setting. But Pearl reminds her mother that the sun will not shine
on the sinful Hester; it does shine, however, when Hester passionately lets down her
hair. The sun is the symbol of untroubled, guilt-free happiness, or perhaps the approval
of God and nature. It also seems to be, at times, the light of truth and grace.

Darkness is always associated with Chillingworth. It is also part of the description of the
jail in Chapter 1, the scene of sin and punishment. The Puritans in that scene wear gray
hats, and the darkness of the jail is relieved by the sunshine of the outside. When
Hester comes into the sunshine from the darkness, she must squint at the light of day,
and her iniquity is placed for all to see. Noon is the time of Dimmesdale's confession,
and daylight is the symbol of exposure. Nighttime, however, is the symbol of
concealment, and Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold at midnight, concealing his
confession from the community. In the end, even the grave of Dimmesdale and Hester
is in darkness. "So sombre is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light
gloomier than the shadow . . ." The light, of course, is the scarlet letter, shining out of
the darkness of the Puritanic gloom.

Colors play a similar role to light and darkness. One of the predominant colors is red,
seen in the roses, the letter, Pearl's clothing, the "scarlet woman," Chillingworth's eyes,
and the streak of the meteor. At night and always with the physician, the letter is
associated with darkness and evil; in the other associations, it is a part of nature,
passion, lawlessness, and imagination. The context determines the meaning. Black and
gray are colors associated with the Puritans, gloom, death, sin, and the narrow path of
righteousness through the forest of sin. Three chapters that contain a multitude of color
images are Chapters 5, 11, and 12.

Setting

Even Hawthorne's settings are symbolic. The Puritan village with its marketplace and
scaffold is a place of rigid rules, concern with sin and punishment, and self-examination.
Public humiliation and penance are symbolized by the scaffold, the only place where
Dimmesdale can go to atone for his guilt and escape his tormentor's clutches. The
collective community that watches, at beginning and end, is a symbol of the rigid Puritan
point of view with unquestioning obedience to the law. The Church and State are
ubiquitous forces to contend with in this colony, as Hester finds out to her dismay. They
see Dimmesdale as a figure of public approval, Chillingworth, at least initially, as a man
of learning to be revered, and Hester as the outcast. Predominant colors are black and
gray, and the gloom of the community is omnipresent.

However, nearby is the forest, home of the Black Man but also a place of freedom. Here
the sun shines on Pearl, and she absorbs and keeps it. The forest represents a natural
world, governed by natural laws, as opposed to the artificial, Puritan community with its
man-made laws. In this world, Hester can take off her cap, let down her hair, and
discuss plans with Dimmesdale to be together away from the rigid laws of the Puritans.
As part of this forest, the brook provides "a boundary between two worlds." Pearl
refuses to cross this boundary into the Puritan world when Hester beckons to her.
However, the forest is also a moral wilderness that Hester finds herself in once she is
forced to wear the sign of her guilt.

The forest is also a symbolic place where witches gather, souls are signed away to the
devil, and Dimmesdale can "yield himself with deliberate choice . . . to what he knew
was deadly sin." In these instances, the forest is a symbol of the world of darkness and
evil. Mistress Hibbins knows on sight those who would wander "in the forest" or, in other
words, secretly do Satan's work. When Dimmesdale leaves the forest with his escape
plan in mind, he is tempted to sin on numerous occasions during his journey back to the
village. The forest, then, is a symbol of man's temptation.

Every chapter in The Scarlet Letter has symbols displayed through characterization,
setting, colors, and light. Perhaps the most dramatic chapters using these techniques
are the chapters comprising the three scaffold scenes and the meeting in the forest
between Hester and Dimmesdale. Hawthorne's ability to introduce these symbols and
change them through the context of his story is but one of the reasons The Scarlet
Letter is considered his masterpiece and a peerless example of the romance novel.

Critical Essays Major Symbols in Moby-Dick

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Introduction

Symbols in literature are usually objects used to represent or suggest important

concepts that inform and expand our appreciation of the work. Moby-Dick offers some
of the most widely known symbols in American literature. Being widely known, however,
does not imply that the symbols are simple or easy to understand. Like the themes in
the novel, the symbols are ambiguous in enriching ways.

Father Mapple's Pulpit

Father Mapple's pulpit in the Whaleman's Chapel effectively represents this former
harpooner's approach to his ministry. Everything about the chapel reminds a visitor of
life and death at sea. Father Mapple is the captain of the ship, the congregation his
crew. The pulpit itself is shaped like the prow of a ship and features a painting of a
vessel battling a storm near a rocky coast, an angel of hope watching over it. Without
much effort, we can see that the pulpit represents the leadership of the pastor and
implies that God himself is the pilot of this ship. Mapple's "shipmates," as he refers to
the congregation, often find themselves battling storms on rocky coasts — either
literally, in ships, or figuratively in the rest of their lives. They need the hope and
consolation of God's grace, as represented by the angel.

Mapple ascends to the pulpit by climbing a rope ladder like one used to mount a ship
from a boat at sea. He then pulls the rope up after him, effectively cutting off contact
with worldly matters. In similar ways, the captain of a whaling ship assumes the pilot's
role as he cuts off contact with land; the ship becomes a floating microcosm at sea.
Melville makes effective use of contrast throughout the novel; here, it is between
Mapple and Ahab. Mapple is an elderly but vigorous man of God who sees his role as
leading his ship through rocky waters by gladly submitting to the will of a higher
authority. Ahab is an ungodly man who doesn't mind wielding authority but resents
submitting to it. He wears his defiance proudly. In this sense, the pulpit represents the
proper position for a ship's captain, performing his duty in leading his congregation
toward an understanding of performing God's will.

Queequeg's Coffin

The symbolism of Queequeg's coffin changes as the novel progresses. Initially, the
coffin represents Queequeg's apparently impending death and his nostalgic link to his
home island. The coffin is shaped like a canoe because of the custom on Kokovoko of
setting the corpse adrift in such a craft. The belief was that eventually it would float over
the ocean to the sky, which connects to the sea, and ultimately to one of the islands
(stars) in the sky. Queequeg saw similar canoe coffins in Nantucket, and the custom of
setting the corpse adrift is widespread among sea-faring people around the world.

The coffin represents ongoing life when it becomes Queequeg's sea chest after he
decides not to die. It represents hope for renewal and a practical means of saving life
when it is rigged to serve as a life buoy. Finally, the coffin is a symbol of hope and even
rebirth when it springs from the vortex of the sunken Pequod to provide Ishmael with a
means of staying afloat until the Rachel rescues him.

The White Whale

The White Whale is one of the best known symbols in American literature. What it
represents depends entirely on who is noticing. To Starbuck, Moby Dick is just another
whale, except that he is more dangerous. Early in the novel, Starbuck challenges
Ahab's motives for altering the ship's mission, from accumulating oil to killing the White
Whale. On the quarter-deck in Chapter 36, Starbuck calls it "blasphemous" to seek
revenge on a "dumb brute . . . that simply smote thee from blindest instinct!" If Starbuck
sees anything beyond that in the whale, it is that Moby Dick represents the captain's
madness and a very serious diversion from the ship's proper mission.

The Samuel Enderby's captain, who has lost an arm to the White Whale, sees it as
representing a great prize in both glory and sperm oil but seems very reasonable in his
desire to leave the whale alone. He says to Ahab, "There would be great glory in killing
him, I know that; and there is a ship-load of precious sperm in him, but, hark ye, he's
best let alone; don't you think so, Captain?" (Chapter 100) Ahab points out that the
"accursed thing is not always what least allures."

To some, the White Whale is a myth. To others, he is immortal. But one significant
question is, What is the White Whale to Ahab? Ishmael grants that Ahab views the
whale as an embodiment of evil. Ishmael himself is not so sure. The narrator often sees
 both sides of a question, never more so than in Chapter 42, "The Whiteness of the
Whale." There he tells us that Moby Dick's whiteness might represent good or evil, glory
or damnation, all colors or the "visible absence of color."

For Ahab's interpretation, it is helpful to consider the captain's comments in the pivotal
Chapter 36. There, the captain says he sees Moby Dick as a "mask," behind which lies
a great power whose dominance Ahab refuses to accept. Ahab sees that inscrutable
power as evil. Some scholars argue that it is not the whale, or the force behind the
whale, that is evil; the evil is in Ahab. Others see the captain as simply insane. Ahab is
out of control as he rants about attacking the force behind the façade of Moby Dick. He
wants to kill the whale in order to reach that force. Ahab seems to want to be a god. As
great and charismatic a man as he can be in his finest moments, the captain is
destructively egocentric and mad for power. To Ahab, we might conclude, the White
Whale represents that power which limits and controls man. Ahab sees it as evil
incarnate. But perhaps it is just a big, smart fish.

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Figurative Language In The Scarlet Letter

Please identify examples of figurative language in The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven
Gables as he probed the darker side of Puritan New England.

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Expert Answers
MWESTWOOD | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR

Here are some more examples of figurative language:

The Scarlet Letter

Metaphor - Often Hawthorne compares happenings and objects to abstract qualities.

 In Chapter 1, the symbolic rosebush at the prison door is compared to "a token that the
deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him [the prisoner who enters]."
  Roger Chillingworth is compared to a fiend and calls himself this. In Chapter 10, he
rejoices in his discovery of what is on the chest of the Reverend Dimmesdaleand is
compared to Satan:

Had a man seen old Roger Chillinworth, at that moment of his ectasy, he would have no need to
ask how Satan comports himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven.

 Called "an imp" and "a sprite," n Chapter 8 Pearl is likened to a bird by Rev. Mr.
Wilson, "What little bird of scarlet plumage may this be?"
 Governor Billingham calls Hester's scarlet letter a "badge of shame."
 Hester declares that Pearl is her "torture." "See ye not....she is the scarlet letter, only
capable of being loved,.."
 In Chapter 10, Dimmesdale suffers from "some black trouble of the soul," a metaphor
for his sin and gnawing conscience.
 Chillingworth is likened by Pearl to the Black Man, a metaphor for Satan, who conducts
the black masses in the forest primeval also a metaphor for a place of moral danger.
 The "babbling stream" is a metaphor for the honesty of nature since Pearl will not cross
this stream until Hester replaces her scarlet letter upon her bosom.
 Hester is alluded to as a "self-enlisted Sister of Charity" in Chapter 20
 In his famous statement of theme, also in Chapter 20, Hawthorne employs "face" as a
metaphor for one's pretenses, or facade, that he puts forth to the public, or the metaphoric
"multitude":

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude,
without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

Metonymy - At times Hawthorne uses something closely related for the things actually meant.

 In Chapter 11, the Reverend Dimmesdale longs to speak to his congregation from his
pulpit and confess,

"I, whom you behold in these glack garments...I, who ascend the sacred desk...."

Here the word desk stands for Dimmesdale office as minister and religious leader.

 heart is often used for the soul in this novel. And, in Chapter 11, also, it is used to mean
the the souls of Dimmesdale's congregation:

...[Dimmesdale's] heart vibrated in unison with theirs, and...sent its own throb of pain through a
thousand other hearts....

The House of Seven Gables

Metaphor
  In Chapter 2, Hawthorne writes that Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon, has taken "no part in
the business of life," a comparison to social interaction.
 In this same chapter, the sun rays are compared to "its golden gleam." ( this phrase also
contains alliteration with the /g/.)
 Frequently, Hepzibah is referred to as the "maiden lady" or "elderly maiden."
 Hepzibah's first customer is later referred to as "the little cannibal of Jim Crow" ["Jim
Crow" is a gingerbread cookie in the shape of a dancing black man and Ned Higgins is
the "cannibal" because he devours it.]
 In Chapter 11, there is an organ grinder with his monkey, whom Hawthorne
admits "symboliz[es] the grossest form of the love of money." Thus, the monkey is a
metaphor for Judge Pyncheon.

Doppelgangers

 Gothic doubles are the Judge and Colonel Pyncheon, the younger and older Clifford
Pyncheon [2 sides], Mr. Holgrave shares interest in human psychology, the "secret
character," as does Hawthorne.

FURTHER READING:
https://www.enotes.com/topics/house-seven-gables/in-depth
https://www.owleyes.org/text/scarlet-letter/read/the-Cust...

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MWESTWOOD | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Much like the Pyncheons, Nathaniel Hawthorne's family lived under the darkness of the sins of
its ancestors. Yet, Hawthorne's Puritan heritage provided the backdrop for two of his famous
novels, The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851), novels replete with
his characteristic symbolism, which effectively develops Hawthorne's themes and motifs. In fact,
it is in the use of symbolism that Hawthorne made his most significant contributions to American
literature.

The Scarlet Letter

 The scarlet letter - Interestingly, this major symbol changes meaning throughout the
narrative as it takes on various appearances. In its initial form, the red A represents
Hester's sin of adultery. Yet, the letter does not rest upon Hester's bosom unobtrusively as
it is elaborately embroidered gold lettering weighs upon Hester's heart, and as Pearl
throws wild flowers or prickly burrs at it, and delights in its exaggerated form in the
armor breastplate at the governor's mansion, making it "the most prominent feature of her
appearance." Later in the narrative, the letter connotes the positive meanings of "Angel"
as it appears in the sky while Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold. Further, the
townspeople see the letter as signifying "Able" as Hester tends the sick and dying and
earns some respect from the Puritans. Finally, the A is revealed upon the chest of the
minister, a stigmata of his adultery.
 The prison door - Evidence that Puritanism has not eradicated sin, the heavily timbered
door represents the harsh and relentless justice of the Puritans.
 The rosebush - The counterpart to the punishment of the prison, the rosebush represents
mercy and grace.
 Pearl - Named for Matthew 6:1 "the pearl of great price," Pearl is the incarnation of
Hester's sin, as well as the possibility of redemption for both Hester and Arthur as he
pays the price of confession.
 The forest - The spiritual wilderness where Hester can, at least, be herself and where she
and the minister can speak freely, but they can find their way only on a narrow path. It is
a symbol of darkness and evil, where witches gather.
 Mistress Hibbins - witchcraft
 Reverend Wilson -Puritan world

The House of the Seven Gables

 The House - Representative of the Pyncheon family, the house is embedded in the past as
it is built upon the foundation of the house of Matthew Maule, who was accused of
witchcraft. Thus, it represents a decaying family.
 The portrait of Colonel Pycheon - As the standard for greed, the colonel looks down
upon the living. It seems to frown as Gervayse Pyncheon agrees to exchange the house
for Matt Maule's help in finding the Maine land grant.
 The deed hidden behind the portrait - The ambitions of the Pycheons' are stymied by
their ancestor's portrait that hides the land grant deed desired the living relatives. This
hidden deed is symbolic of the frustrations of the Pyncheons.
...The truth is, that, once in every half century, at longest, a family should be merged into the
great, obscure mass of humanity, and forget all about its ancestors.

 Maule's well - Symbolic of the persistence of Matthew Maule's curse, the well bubbles
up periodically.
 The daguerreotype of Judge Pyncheon - According to Holgrave, the photo uses
sunlight, "[to bring] out the secret character with a truth that no painter would ever
venture upon." The photograph can supposedly see into the soul.
 Ghosts - Matthew Maule laughs at the Pyncheon family after preventing the Colonel'
ghost from telling Alice of the deed.

FURTHER READING:
https://www.enotes.com/topics/house-seven-gables/in-depth
https://www.enotes.com/topics/nathaniel-hawthorne
https://www.enotes.com/topics/scarlet-letter/in-depth

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LORI STEINBACH | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR

Anyone who has studied Nathaniel Hawthorne for long knows that he is rather obsessed with the
dark themes of Puritanism, perhaps for good reason, and his condemnations are consistently
evident in his writing.

The Scarlet Letter is Hawthorne's master work and it is replete with figurative language of all
kinds. In particular, he uses figurative language to condemn the New England Puritan beliefs.
The Puritans were consumed with sin: avoiding it, pointing it out in others, and hiding it from
everyone else. We all struggle with sin, but the Puritans were not a very forgiving lot. Everything
was quite literally black and white with them, at least from Hawthorne's point of view, and he
uses settings as one way to depict the darkness of Puritanism.

In all of Hawthorne's writings, the forest is the place where sin abounds and Satan rules. The
forest was often personified as a place of evil. In this quote from Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses
figurative language to describe Hester's moral state. In chapter 18 he says:

She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and
shadowy, as the untamed forest.

Here Hester's rather tempestuous moral life is compared to a wild and untamed forest. She now
lives in a kind of metaphorical forest, though she does not live in the literal forest (but ironically
she does live on the outskirts of town, of course). She lives in an isolated moral wilderness as
well a literal isolation, and it is all because of her sin which cannot be pardoned. This is in
perfect keeping with the Puritan view of sin as personified by the forest.
The House of the Seven Gables is another work in which Hawthorne depicts some of the darker
aspects of Puritanism. One of the themes of this novel, according to the author's preface, is the
idea of a generational curse, the belief that the sins of the father are visited on the son. This
concept is found in Numbers 14:18, which says:

The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and
transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and the fourth generations.

This sounds just like something that Hawthorne's Puritans would believe and even revel in--at
least for other people. When Colonel Pyncheon builds his house on stolen land, the people
believe he has established a curse which will be visited upon his family for generations. People
told him that

he was about to build his house over an unquiet grave.... The terror and ugliness of Maule’s
crime, and the wretchedness of his punishment, would darken the freshly plastered walls, and
infect them early with the scent of an old and melancholy house.

The figurative language in this passage includes personification, such as the "unquiet grave" and
the "terror and ugliness" which will "infect" the house. The so-called curse does seem to have a
life of its own as it rather violently and unexpectedly ends the life of at least three of the
Colonel's descendants.

Hawthorne uses language as a weapon against the Puritans, and by using figurative language he
ensures that we "feel" each dart of condemnation as he throws them.