Human identity is a confusing concept, difficult to define and often difficult for people themselves to accept, whether philosophers or ordinary citizens. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a complex set of misleading symbols in order to illustrate that an individual's life cannot be defined by a single, solitary characteristic or event. The symbols of the scarlet letter itself, the scaffold, and the forest setting all contain a certain duality of meaning that highlights the variety of human identity. Over the course of the novel, the symbol of the scarlet letter acquires two distinct meanings. , each reflecting how the character of Hester is identified according to the Puritans and, more importantly, alluding to the complexity of each human individual's identity. In the exposition of the novel, the Scarlet Letter is a heavy punishment that is partly imposed by the Puritan community as a legal reprimand, and partly imposed by Hester herself. Having to “for the remainder of her natural life bear a mark of shame upon her bosom” (Hawthorne, 71), Hester is immediately identified as a despicable and ignominious woman to the great Puritan society and to the reader in the early chapters of the novel. Hawthorne uses this identity distinction to suggest that people often define themselves by a particular attribute. Yet it is essential to note that not all identification comes from an external source: Hester also struggles with a degrading view of her own personal identity. The scarlet letter, representative of his wrongdoing, is literally shaped by the work of his own hands. So it is, in a sense, a self-inflicted punishment, so... middle of paper...... on a single term. The variety of meanings within many symbols in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter serve as a profound parallel to the variety within human identity. Incapable of being defined on the basis of a single attribute, the human person and the characters of this novel, like the symbols of the scarlet letter, the scaffold and the forest, are complex and filled with many traits, to both positive and negative. As Hawthorne reminds his audience, it is essential that the individual does not blatantly define himself or herself, or even others, on the basis of wrongdoing or righteousness, but rather in terms of seeking his or her respective authenticity. Nathaniel. The scarlet letter. Hanover: Dartmouth College, 1864. iBook. https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=395541288