Often throughout The Scarlet Letter there are symbolic references made. The story deals with a Puritan woman who commits adultery and raises an illegitimate child named Pearl. The author, Nathanial Hawthorne, seems to be rather fond of using religious and natural images to symbolize different points, possibly because of his own Puritan background. One of the purposes of this symbolism is to show that Puritanism is hypocritical and that their religious viewpoints are against the …showed first 75 words of 722 total…

…showed last 75 words of 722 total…society. This contrast of two almost opposite worlds show a great deal of hypocrisy among the Puritans. The natural world symbols show Pearl as a normal good-hearted child, while the religious symbols show her as not only a horrible mistake, but as a child that almost teeters on the brink of being possessed or demonic in some way. The most important part is that it is the reader's own opinion as to who is correct.