Allegory in The Scarlet Letter

Allegory  Representation of abstract ideas through characters or events  Usually express a deeper, often spiritual, moral, or political meaning  We’re going to look at four levels of allegory in TSL by using the character of Hester (perfected by Dante in The Divine Comedy)

Literal/historical  Things that are actually happening  Hester commits adultery and is shunned by the community while forced to wear the scarlet A on her chest.

Political  The level on which human beings relate to others in the community  Hester defies the law of the Puritan community in having an affair with the minister. What is more at stake? The stability of Puritan law or Hester’s conscience?

Moral or Psychological  How the self relates to the realm of ethics  Hester must wear the A to purge the sin from her soul. The experience transcends a simple purging of the soul and moves into the scope of feminism.

Spiritual  Universal level on which a person relates to the cosmos  Hester represents the free spirit bound to rebel against the repression of absolute authority.

Summary of Fourfold Method  Literal/historical  Things that are actually happening  Political  The level on which human beings relate to others in the community  Moral or Psychological  How the self relates to the realm of ethics  Spiritual  Universal level on which a person relates to the cosmos