The Highly Symbolic Scarlet LetterHyatt Wagoner, a noted Hawthorne scholar, states: "The Scarlet Letter is Hawthorne's most widely read and admired novel and is also the one that inspired the most inconclusive debate. (Wagoner 118). Much of the difficulty in interpreting The Scarlet Letter comes from the fact that the story is highly symbolic. The Scarlet Letter opens with the stark image of the crowd of people surrounding the prison gate. Hawthorne creates mood by using the “sad-colored” clothing and “steeple-crowned gray hats” to give the reader a feeling of sadness and sadness. Among these dark and sad images, Hawthorne brings in the wild red rose. As Hawthorne says, “to symbolize a sweet moral flowering, which may be found along the way, or to soften the dark end of a story of human frailty and sorrow” (McMichael, 1033). The prison symbolizes the moral evil which would be sin and the cemetery is the symbol of the natural evil which would be death. It is commonly accepted that colors are used extensively in The Scarlet Letter as symbols. This is illustrated by the scene near the prison gate, but the use and importance of the symbol grows as the book progresses. Pearl is often identified with the color red, which Wagoner identifies as evil. Pearl is not a naughty child in the true sense of the word, but she is a reflection of her parents' immorality and their love. The color red, along with images of bright glow, show that Pearl is the product of a moment of passion between Hester and Dimmesdale. Much like the red rose at the beginning of the story, Pearl is meant to relieve sorrow and misery. The most famous symbol is of course the scarlet letter itself. Called "the elaborate sign" by Wagoner, the letter A appears several times and in several ways throughout the story. The A can appear on Dimmesdale's chest, it appears in the form of Pearl, in the sky as a huge letter formed by a comet; in the mirror of the governor's mansion; and on Hester's tombstone (McMichael 1150). The letter itself is red, which at first glance would seem to support Mr. Wagoner's theory that red in the story is a representation of evil. However, we can say that even in the letter A, red symbolizes hope and spirit..