Symbolism can be defined as a figure, character, or object used to represent complex or abstract ideas. By expressing an idea in the form of an image, the reader can visualize the concept in a more concrete way. The old expression “a picture is worth a thousand words” applies to symbolism as the author creates a visual representation of ideas. The use of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne helps illuminate the overall meaning of the work. At the beginning of the book, the reader is introduced to a dark and gloomy city that had previously built a prison and a cemetery. In the midst of the depressing landscape, there is a beautiful rose bush. "But on one side of the doorway, and rooted almost upon the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate buds, which might be imagined offering their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as entered, and to the condemned criminal as he went out to his doom, testifying that Nature's deep heart could have mercy and be kind to him (Hawthorne 10) This rose bush represents change, beauty, and hope for the prisoners waiting for their freedom. Being bright and beautiful, the rose bush is strikingly different from the depressing darkness of the rest of society. “In the contrast between the wild rosebush, with its flowers transformed into buds, and the prison, metaphorically transformed into an unnatural flower - the black flower of civilization - Hawthorne transforms his conflict between prisoner and prison (or prisoner and crowd) into a much broader context. The rose bush is beautiful, also wild and natural; the black flower is ugly, even civilized and unnatural. Nature has a compassionate heart and is kind; civilization, it seems, does not. (Baym 6)This rose bush was a symbol of...... middle of the card...... ath of the governor. So one topic of gossip and conversation, Hester and Dimmesdale's adultery, evolved into a more recent one, the governor's death. The symbolism in The Scarlet Letter allows the reader to understand complex ideas more clearly. Starting with the title of the book itself, Nathaniel Hawthorne weaves together various symbols throughout the novel. The same symbol can mean different things to different people because symbols are subject to the reader's interpretation. Nathaniel Hawthorne used symbolism to clarify the overall meaning of The Scarlet Letter. Works CitedBaym, Nina. The Scarlet Letter: A Reading. Boston: Twayne, 1986. Print.Bloom, Harold. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Chelsea House, 1996. Print.Hawthorne, Nathaniel and Herbert Spencer. Robinson. The Scarlet Letter;. New York: Globe Book, 1969. Print.