Question

On the wooden jail hung an oak door with rusty hinges and a water-stained exterior. What does the oak door, the rusty hinges, and the exterior EACH symbolize?

Answer 1

The iron door seems to represent all that is strict and unrelenting in Puritan society,

Puritanical fixation on death and punishment.

The use of the term "leech" to describe Chillingworth is at once appropriate and ironic. After all, he is a physician, and leeches at the time were used in order to facilitate bloodletting. At the same time, however, Hawthorne is obviously suggesting the parasitic relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale.

Answer 2

thats if you are talking about the scarlet letter