Human identity is a perplexing concept, difficult to define, and often challenging for people themselves to grapple with, be they philosophers or ordinary citizens. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses an elaborate series of ambiguous symbols to illustrate that individual lives cannot be defined by a single characteristic or solitary event. The symbols of the scarlet letter itself, the gallows and the forest setting all contain a certain duality of meaning which highlights the variety within human identity. Over the course of the novel, the scarlet letter symbol acquires two separate meanings, each reflecting how Hester's character is identified according to the Puritans and, more importantly, alluding to the complexity of each individual human's identity. At the exposition of the novel, the scarlet letter is a burdensome punishment imposed partly by the Puritan community as its legal rebuke, and partly imposed by Hester herself. Having “for the remainder of her natural life to bear a mark of shame upon her breast” (Hawthorne, 71), Hester is immediately identified as a despicable and ignominious woman to the larger Puritan society and to the reader in the early chapters of the novel. Hawthorne uses this identity distinction to suggest that people often define each other by a particular attribute. However, it is crucial to note that all identification does not come from an external source: Hester also struggles with a degrading view of her own personal identity. The scarlet letter, representative of his transgression, is literally shaped by the work of his own hands. Therefore it is, in a sense, a self-inflicted punishment, so... in the center of the card... it is a single term. The variety of meaning in many of the symbols in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter serve as a profound parallel to the variety within human identity. Unable to be defined on the basis of one attribute, the individual human person and the characters in this novel, such as the symbols of the scarlet letter, the gallows, and the forest, are complex and filled with many traits, both positive and negative. As Hawthorne reminds his audience, it is crucial that the individual does not blatantly define himself, or others, on the basis of a wrong or a right action, but rather in terms of the search for one's respective authenticity. Works CitedHawthorne, Nathanael. The Scarlet Letter. Hanover: Dartmouth College, 1864. iBook. https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=395541288