Symbolism

Symbolism

A symbol is something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance. Authors use symbolic meaning to convey a deeper meaning rather than just saying it deliberately. Symbolism is the art or practice of using symbols by investing things with a symbolic meaning as artistic imitation or invention that is a method of revealing or suggesting immaterial, ideal, or otherwise intangible truth or states.

Etymology

The word “symbolism” derived from the word “symbol” which comes from the Greek word symbolon. Symbolon is an object animate or inanimate which call forth an idea.

Significance

Symbolism is not only important to literature; it has power in everyday life. In example, take a look at a wedding ring. The metal itself has no power or meaning. However, the wedding ring symbolizes the commitment two people made to each other and therein lies the power. Authors use descriptions and symbols to suggest ideas or to persuade the reader. Read the two statements below and tell me if the description or symbols presented change how you perceive the story.

Example 1

Sara is the only female working for her company. Before she walks into the building, she takes off her wedding ring and places it into her purse with a sly look on her face.

Example 2

Sara is the only female working for her company. Before she walks into the building, she takes off her wedding ring and places it into her purse because she is a construction worker.

In the first example, the symbolism associated with a wedding ring and the woman’s sly expression may suggest dishonesty or infidelity. However, in the second example, despite the symbolism tied to the wedding ring, the woman appears to have done no wrong by removing her wedding ring based on her job in the description.

Symbolism is very influential in literature and is commonly used in a metaphor, simile or an allegory. It is also used to help set the mood or atmosphere of a story. Knowing different symbols and what they represent will change how a reader perceives a story. A reader cannot see or understand symbolism upon the surface; they must dig deeper to understand or interpret the true meaning.

Example 3

I feel as blue as the morning sky.

On the surface a reader would be confused about how a person could actually feel like the sky. How does the sky feel? The meaning is hidden in the symbolism of the color blue. In order to fully understand how the person in the example feels, the reader must understand what the color blue symbolizes.

Symbolic Archetypes

Below are different symbolic archetypes found in literature:

Light vs. Darkness

Light usually suggests hope, renewal, OR intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair.

Water vs. Desert

Because water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. Water is used in baptism services, which solemnizes spiritual births. Similarly, the appearance of rain in a work of literature can suggest a character’s spiritual birth.

Heaven vs. Hell

Humanity has traditionally associated parts of the universe not accessible to it with the dwelling places of the primordial forces that govern its world. The skies and mountaintops house its gods; the bowels of the earth contain the diabolic forces that inhabit its universe.

Haven vs. Wilderness

Places of safety contrast sharply against the dangerous wilderness. Heroes are often sheltered for a time to regain health and resources.

Supernatural Intervention

The gods intervene on the side of the hero or sometimes against him.

Fire vs. Ice

Fire represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth while ice like desert represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death.

Colors

Black (darkness) – chaos, mystery, the unknown, before existence, death, the unconscious, evil

Red – blood, sacrifice; violent passion, disorder, sunrise, birth, fire, emotion, wounds, death, sentiment, mother, Mars, the note C, anger, excitement, heat, physical stimulation

Green – hope, growth, envy, Earth, fertility, sensation, vegetation, death, water, nature, sympathy, adaptability, growth, Jupiter and Venus, the note G, envy

White (light) – purity, peace, innocence, goodness, Spirit, morality, creative force, the direction East, spiritual thought

Numbers

Three – the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost); Mind, Body, Spirit, Birth, Life, Death

Four – Mankind (four limbs), four elements, four seasons

Six – devil, evil

Seven – Divinity (3) + Mankind (4) = relationship between man and God, seven deadly sins, seven days of week, seven days to create the world, seven stages of civilization, seven colors of the rainbow, seven gifts of Holy Spirit.

Shapes

Oval – woman, passivity

Triangle – communication, between heaven and earth, fire, the number 3, trinity, aspiration, movement upward, return to origins, sight, light

Cross – the Tree of life, axis of the world, struggle, martyrdom, orientation in space

Circle – Heaven, intellect, thought, sun, the number two, unity, perfection, eternity, oneness, celestial realm, hearing,

Nature

Air – activity, creativity, breath, light, freedom (liberty), movement

Earth – passive, feminine, receptive, solid

Fire – the ability to transform, love, life, health, control, sun, God, passion, spiritual energy, regeneration

Lake – mystery, depth, unconscious

Rivers/Streams – life force, life cycle

Forest – evil, lost, fear

Objects

Feathers – lightness, speed

Shadow – our dark side, evil, devil

Masks – concealment

Right hand – rectitude, correctness

Left hand – deviousness

Animals/Creatures

Butterfly - change, transformation

Lion - strength, assertiveness

Dove - hope, peace

Examples in Literature

Symbols are also used throughout literature and have many different meanings based on the context of the device. Some examples are:

In the short story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Faith wears pink ribbons which are meant to symbolize her purity and innocence. Later in the story, one of her ribbons is seen falling from the sky, representing her innocence lost.

In the poem The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, the raven itself symbolizes Poe’s grief for his lost love Lenore.

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the letter A is worn by Hester to signify “Adultery”. As time goes on, the symbol changes to mean “able”. This is a dynamic symbol.

Works Cited

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Literary Terms