The Scarlet Letter Alphabet Significance Review
By students
Student
Jason
Letter is for…
A is for the letter
A
Lauren
B is for blame
Kristen L.
C is for
Chillingworth
Tarryn
D is for
dysfunctional
Becki
E is for eggshells
Karleigh
F is for fear
Melissa
G is for guilt
Significance
The letter A stands for the scarlet letter in the book which is an A. This
letter takes on many meanings throughout the novel, defines Hester's
character, and is an early symbol in Pearl's life. The first meaning associated
with the letter is adultery, the sin committed by Hester and Dimmsdale, this
sin is the reason Hester receives the scarlet letter. This leads to Hester's
shunning from society. The second meaning associated with the letter is
"able". This is given a few years after the adultery incident and after new
people have arrived and old ones forgotten about why Hester has the letter.
Able is given to the letter because Hester helps the poor by sewing and
helping doing chores. She exhibits great kindness. The third meaning given
to the letter is angel, this is given because after funeral a great "A" is seen in
the sky and the people take it as a sign that the deceased is now an angel in
heaven.
Blame which neither Dimmesdale nor Hester seem to feel towards each
other. This shows an amazing strength of character on both their parts, but
especially Hester’s. She doesn’t blame him for refraining from standing on
the pedestal of shame with her and she recognizes that they both share in the
sin and guilt.
Chillingworth comes to Boston after sending Hester over 2 years earlier. He
sees Hester standing on the scaffold and discovers her crime. He changed
his name to Chillingworth so that he could look for clues on who comitted
this crime along with his wife. (his sin is actually darker than that of the
one Dimmesdale and Hester comitted) Chillingworth is to help get
Dimmesdale back to health and he later finds out that he is the father of
Pearl.
The very nature of this situation is weird. The people in this book all have
secrets that they think are not known by anyone else, so they try to hide it.
Chillingworth knows that Dimmesdale is the father but he doesn’t tell on
him. Chillingworth is Hester’s husband, but he won’t let anyone know this.
Instead he uses this information for his own use. Dimmesdale slept with
Hester but he won’t tell anyone and he inflicts emotional and physical pain
upon himself. After all this, he still doesn’t think that he’s forgiven and he’s
the MINISTER.
Hester does not want to attract attention to herself while she walks through
the marketplace, and so therefore she acts as if she is walking on eggshells.
Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth also act like they are walking
on eggshells because they both have massive secrets to hide and have to be
careful not to reveal the secrets to society or else there will be major
consequences.
All the puritans are fearful of sin. Hester is fearful of the nature of pearl.
Dimmesdale is afraid of being shunned by his community, due to his sin. He
wants to be able to do good, but he is scared the great sin he committed will
hold him back. Fear is a common emotion among the characters in The
Scarlet Letter. Many characters are portrayed as black, and disfigured,
which symbolizes sin, which in turn develops into fear.
Hester is found guilty of adultery at the beginning of the novel and she feels
the shame of this guilt everyday by having to wear the scarlet letter. Roger
Chillingworth is also guilty of the worst sin in the novel. He makes
Dimmesdale suffer the worst possible pain. Dimmesdale is guilty in being
the partner is Hester's crime of adultery. He is the minister and he falls into
sin by doing this. Each day he feels his guilt burning in his chest and he
Kelly
H is for Hell
Jen
I is for
Ryan
J is for Justice
Davis
K is for Kindness
Scott
L is for light
Dori
M is for minister
Stephanie
N is for
needlework and
naughty
Wes
O is for ostracize
Heather
P is for Pearl
Rob
Q is for
questionable
becomes sickly because of this.
H is for Hell. The fear that comes from as a result of Hell is what drives the
crazy things they do in the novel. The Puritans are all so scared of Hell, and
what could possibly lead them there, they unintentionally do sinful things to
stay out of it-such as embarrassing Hester and not forgiving her, making her
fight for her child, and making her stand all by herself on the scaffolds
against the town. The whole town is built on a foundation of fear from Satan
and Hell.
Ignominious- this word means shameful or disgraceful. In The Scarlet
Letter, Hester can be described as ignominious because to the town she has
committed a most evil sin.
Justice is consistently given, but is rarely brought to the one’s who deserve
it. Hester has to suffer while Dimmsdale is free to go as he pleases. Hester
is strictly punished for betraying her marriage even though Chillingworth
agrees that their marriage was never founded on love.
Throughout most of the novel everyone was so mean to Hester yet she was
still kind to the poor and needy.
Hester, Dimmsdale, and Chillingworth are always in the dark which
symbolizes their sin. Towards the end of the book Hester begins to appear
in the light which shows that she is being forgiven for her sin.
One of the main characters, Dimmsdale, is a minister. Back in the 1600's,
the ministers of a community had a high social standing and basically
helped to run the community, along with the governors. Since Dimmsdale
was looked up to so much in his community as a speaker for God and all
things good, for him to confess his sin with Hester was unimaginable.
Confessing would have forced many Puritans to question their faith and
question God.
Needlework-- Needlework is the way Hester makes her living. Her skill in
needlework is how she made such a beautiful letter A, that caused some
townspeople to think that the punishment was not sufficient. Her needl
ework, how decorative it is, is also extremely against Puritan beliefs. They
wore drab, boring gray clothes. Her main customers were those of higher
standing; i.e. governors with balls to attend etc. She uses her skill in
needlework to make the fancy dresses Pearl wears- she dresses Pearl
differently from the other children in the Puritan town-- she is different from
them; the way that Pearl dresses may contribute to the belief that Pearl is
evil; or at the very least not good.
"Naughty"-- is one of the many words used to give you an image of Pearl as
a bad, evil child. Other words used are "imp" and "elf" These words make
the reader believe that she is bad, as everyone sees her; that she was born a
child of sin so she must be sinful.
Ostracize- the word means to be excluded from a group. Hester, after she
committed her sin, was definately ostracized from the rest of the Puritan
community.
Pearl is the embodiment of the scarlet letter. She represents Hester's sin and
acts a reminder to herself and everyone of what Hester has done. Though
the scarlet letter may be removed, Pearl cannot be. When Pearl claims to
have been plucked from the rose bush and not created by God she
symbolizes descent and her mother's stray from Puritan belief.
"Q" for questionable beliefs. The puritans had many religious beliefs that
would seem somewhat eccentric in recent times. Hester was punished
severely for something that is very common today, and carries no legal
consequences (adultry). Along with this, Hester's "partner in crime" was a
leader, a reverend, supposedly a man of god. It seems as though some would
Torrie
R is for Roger
Ramil
S is for scarlet
James
T is for torture
Kristen G.
U is for unclean
Sara
V is for
Vengeance
(Def: Infliction of
punishment in
return for a wrong
committed;
retribution)
Sarabeth
W is for Water
Roberto
X is for
xenophobic
David
Y is for Yearning
Jamie
Z is for
be "spiritually stumbled" and question the merit and honor of their bliefs
and fellow believers.
Roger is an amazingly significant person because he is the man who wants
revenge against Arthur Dimmesdale. Roger is the intelligent man gone evil.
He was once a smart, intellectual person but turned vengeful and cruel when
he found out who the partner of Hester was. Even his name describes his
character- Chillingworth. He is the evil force against Hester and Arthur. As
Dimmesdale and Hester agree, Chillingworth has committed the real sin.
He hurts the human heart out of hatred, not love. He tortures Dimmesdale
with his secret aura and does all he can to finish his deed of evil.
The letter S is significant in The Scarlet Letter because it is the name of the
novel. Also, the letter S stands for the color of the letter which is scarlet.
When Pearl makes her own letter it is made of seaweed and wasn’t that
scarlet. Throughout the novel the meaning of the letter scarlet letter varies
from adulteress, angel, and able.
this is signifacant for several reasons. One of them being because it is
repeated throughout the whole book. For instance, when Hester is on the
scafold with pearl as a child and then when Roger Chillingworth is torturing
Dimmesdale. This may only be two instances but Chillingworth slowly
tortures dimmesdale throughout several chapters bringing out his fiendish
character. This is mainly why torture is significant because it brings out the
otherwise bad and inhumane side of people that we would not normally see.
U is for Unclean. In the eyes of the puritans, Hester is unclean. She
committed one of the worst sins and will never by forgiven by these people.
They will not even let her embroider a wedding veil because it symbolizes
purity, and purity is something that Hester doesn't have.
Chillingworth of course wants to have revenge on the person that was
Hester’s partner of sin. His vengeance has been inflicted upon Arthur
Dimmesdale. As the minister of the town, he is the most unlikely suspect,
but with Chillingworth’s knowledge and intellect he is drawn to this man.
In the end, his assumptions are right and Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl.
But, throughout the past seven years, he has convinced Dimmesdale that a
man should not die with sin in their hearts and should be truthful and
confess their wrong-doings. Knowing this, Dimmesdale slowly begins to
die, mentally and physically, from the guilt he feels for his sins.
Pearl is constantly assosciated with water. She sees her reflection in the
pool, and again in the brook. She is also compared to the brook. They both
have this gushing life force which comes from a mysterious “well spring”.
Xenophobic which is the fear of foreigners, yet it can be used for the fear of
anything foreign. This describes the townspeople fear for the foreign
mentality for Hester’s attitude of her letter at the beginning of the book.
Instead of shame Hester has nothing but a sense of pride almost. Very
perplexing.
Hester is yearning for social acceptance as well as for the love of
Dimmesdale.
Before Dimmesdale commited this awful sin, he had much religious zeal.
He was very involved in church and was the minister. People looked up to
him, and he had a lot of faith and emotion when it came to his religion.
After he commited adultery, he started questioning his faith and did not
have the zeal that he used to have. He felt very guilty and sinful.