Lastly, the most obvious symbol within this work is the scarlet letter itself. This symbol, originally meant as a token to proclaim Hester’s sin for the entire world to see, is interpreted differently, by different people, throughout the story. As the book progresses though, it becomes obvious that the way in which the people interpret the meaning of the letter has, in fact, nothing to do with the badge itself; rather, the way in which the people view the scarlet letter at any given time is representative of the way in which they view Hester Prynne, the adulteress in their midst, at the very time. At first, the people of the town, particularly the women, believe that Hester’s punishment was not severe enough. They believe that the mark should, at the very least, have been branded on her forehead with a hot iron. As time passes, though, and Hester remains humble and repentant, the meaning of the letter changes, as “many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification” (Hawthorne 148). Instead of adulteress, the A is now interpreted as meaning able, referring to the time and effort Hester gives to many a sick or impoverished member of the town. Though the townspeople come to re-interpret the letter in this way, Hester, for as long as she chooses to wear it, continues to feel the same sharp pain which it first brought with it. It has such an effect on her that when she put it back on (at Pearl’s demand) in the forest, Hawthorne says “[a]s if there were a withering spell in the sad letter, her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood, departed, like fading sunshine; and a gray shadow seemed to fall across her” (193). This spell, though, was not just attuned to Hester and her sin, for when Hawthorne picked it up years later in the Custom House, he experienced such a sensation that he could not hold onto the letter and let it fall to the floor. But while Hester was of the view that her sin would never be dispelled, and therefore the letter would never lose its stigma and most of the townspeople were of the mind that she had served her penance and should no longer have to wear the token, there were others who interpreted the scarlet letter differently, even from the very beginning. Those outside the boundaries of normal society, the Indians (wild men from the forest) and the servants (on the border of society, but not completely free from its touch), had been of the view, from the very beginning, that the scarlet letter brought with it great honor, and that the one who wore such a token “must needs be a personage of high dignity among her people” (Hawthorne 224). Throughout the story, though, one lady, Mistress Hibbins persists in her view that the scarlet letter was “the Black Man’s mark” (Hawthorne 170). Interestingly enough, she is the one keeps asking Hester to come to the forest with her, to meet the Devil and sign his book, showing that her interpretation of the meaning of the scarlet letter is tied up in her view of Hester Prynne.
Hester Prynne’s story seems to have no great meaning in and of itself. However, when viewed in the context of the time period, it comes to represent Puritan society in general. In truth, Hester’s wanderings along the immoral pathways of her mind are only significant from the journeys taken by the minds of others because hers are the ones Hawthorne recounts. Indeed, Hester’s badge of shame, which she is forced to wear on her chest for all to see, is only different from the tokens that others carry because she cannot keep her sin hidden--everyone knows about it. Hawthorne used the story of Hester Prynne, along with the many symbols scattered throughout his story to give an overview of the very nature of Puritan society.
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