Nathaniel Hawthorne named his novel The Scarlet Letter after the central symbol of the book. The scarlet letter is a very real thing—a red letter “A” that stands for adulteress, which main character Hester Prynne is forced to wear around her small town. In this excerpt, the meaning of the symbol is explicitly stated. The scarlet letter is a symbol of sin. But, in fact, Hester Prynne’s entire body becomes a symbol for sin by wearing the letter, as her body represents the destruction of innocence.