Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne uses diction and symbolism to show the negative effects of stifling conformity verses the positive empowerment found in embarrassing one's own truth. He tries to impress upon his readers that an outsider, whether from another physical location, or simply someone who thinks and acts outside that society's definition of acceptable behavior can in fact facilitate positive change within that society. The secret in this novel most likely represents an idea, privacy, or even …

…the characters represented church, government, society at large, truth and feminism. The scarlet letter "A" itself originally represented guilt or shame, then destiny or understanding, and eventually angel or able. Hawthorne believed Puritanism, which represents an unbending society of judgmental people, debilitates that society and breeds hypocrisy. In short, what we say and do are worlds apart in a society with great restriction on behavior and belief. Embracing society's diversity will benefit the entire society.