“A pure hand needs no glove to cover it” is a quote from the book Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The quote I have just cited relates to the novel completely. Meaning, that if you are virtuous and truthful you will not need to put on any facades. The entire book consists of being sneaky, and very deceitful. Not only are the characters being secretive, and withholding information but so are some of the items written in the novel. There are subtle and deeper meanings in a lot of the objects, and even a person mentioned. Symbolism plays an important role in the Scarlet Letter and is shown in various matters; it includes the meteor, Pearl, The forest, the black man, and most importantly, the infamous Scarlet Letter.
The most obvious of all symbols in the book is the scarlet letter. The symbol for it changes throughout the novel, when it was first handed to Hester Prynne as a result of her sin, it was meant to stand for shame. As the novel went on, it stood for change. In the beginning of the novel as well, it was meant to be seen as adulteress, but as time passed, and Hester changed by doing charitable work, the meaning changed to ‘able’. Hester even knit her own letter “…behold her plying her needle at the cottage window” (pg 78). It proves that hester knows that she has done wrong, and that she is willing to pay for it.
The meteor in the novel blasted about the sky and created the letter ‘A’ in a bold red color, “…beheld there the appearance of an immense letter---“ (pg 152). The town’s people believe that the meteor is a symbol for Angel. The minister had passed away earlier that night, and the Puritan community assumed that it was a message from God. Dimmesdale on the other hand see’s this as his doom. He on the other hand assumed that it meant ‘A’ for adulterer. He saw it as God trying to expose him for his sin, “Not but the meteor may have shown itself at that point; but with no such shape as his guilty imagination gave it; or, at least,...