Light In The Scarlet Letter Essay

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne often demonstrates the frailty of humans. Nature is often described as beautiful, while the Puritan society and human nature are viewed in a harsh light. Hawthorne illustrates that human nature is flawed and judgmental through use of figurative language, critical diction, and symbolism.

Hester is a character portrayed in both the light and the dark as she walks out of prison. She is free of sin, but is reminded everyday by the letter she wears. Hester struggled with the Puritan’s intolerance to Pearl and her. Hester “like a black shadow emerging out into the sunshine like she was free of sin” depicts the contrast between light and dark. (Hawthorne 49). When she walked into the sunshine she felt like something was lifted off of her chest. As a seamstress she had “sewn on her chest in bright red…an A” (Hawthorne 50). This mark symbolized the acceptance of her sin.

Hester shows some good examples of light and dark. She is known for her beauty and her wonderful needlework. The towns people may despise her for the sin she has committed, but that doesn’t stop them from seeing all the beauty and skill she has, plus the devotion she has for using those skills to help other people. “Except for the small expenditure in the decorations of her infant, Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them” (Hawthorne 77). The quote explains the true person Hester really is. Also how unselfish she has become through her situation. To become the women, she was, Hester went through some very dark times to become the person she became. At the beginning, the people of the town

Also, Hawthorne juxtaposes motifs to reveal Hester’s point-of-view and understanding. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester forcefully wears the embroidered letter “A” with golden thread representing sin and adultery. Then, her daughter asks, “What does the letter mean, mother?” Her mother responds, “for the scarlet letter, I wear it for the sake of its gold-thread” (163). In this quote, Hester is hiding the real logic of why she is wearing the scarlet letter, because she understands Pearl is still a child, she would not be able to understand the hypocrisy of the society. Furthermore, the community forced her to wear it as a source of a punishment. However, this juxtaposition of wearing the item for the sake of its beauty, is a different idea contrasting the genuine reason of why she is wearing the scarlet letter. Additionally, another symbolism that Hawthorne juxtaposes is the meaning of the allegorical object in the novel. This object is the scarlet letter, which its meaning changed from the beginning to the end of the book. At first, the author represents the idea of the wickedness of the letter it has on Hester, “[that] transfigured [Hester] . . . [and it] illuminated upon her bosom” (51). Not only, the scarlet letter has a peculiar “effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (51). Thus, the author interprets the meaning of the scarlet letter

Hester is the black shadow when she has the letter A on, but when she removes the A, the sunshine appears. “All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine” (Hawthorne 186). The quote is saying that the sunshine appeared when Hester removed the letter. Without the letter on, Hester is a beautiful women with a happy life. “Like a black shadow emerging in sunshine” (Hawthorne 49).

Albert Einstein, a famous theoretical physicist, once said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Nature reveals much more to the human eye than many people realize. By looking deep into nature, one can find the inner workings of the universe and the simplicity of life. The Puritans and other main characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter did exactly this. Within the novel, readers witness many natural occurrences such as a meteor in the sky, a rosebush outside of a prison, or the sun setting on the horizon. The Puritans in the book analyze these events as “godly” and connect the events with the ongoings of the Massachusetts

Sunlight is used to communicate the idea that it is best to acknowledge one’s sins when it touches Hester upon removing the scarlet letter. Pearl states that “‘The sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

Part of her conflicts come from the punishment of having the scarlet letter, a constant reminder of her sins. Permanently blazoned on her bosom, it forces Hester into a mental state of sustained repentance that causes her to associate with evil. Even naive Pearl notices this connection as she comments that the sunlight does not love Hester, as it “runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on [her] bosom” (180). This absence of light reinforces the notion that her society does not approve of the truth behind Hester’s act of adultery. Her physical appearances depict this judgement as “her beauty... departed, like fading sunshine; and a gray shadow seemed to fall across her” (160).

The Scarlet Letter displays a theme of sin throughout the novel through multiple major events. To start off, in chapter seven, “The Governor’s Hall”, Hester observes herself in a convex shaped mirror, and realizes that the scarlet letter was exaggerated in size. The second major event is the entrance of Roger Chillingworth. He was quickly accepted into the Puritan society as an excellent physician, but as time passed, a few puritans started to suspect Chillingworth of using the skill of black art from the Indians. Hester also starts to realize a change, which goes into another major event to display the theme of sin. As Hester and Chillingworth were talking, she started to recognize a change in him, similar to a demon that had possessed him. But Hester wasn’t the only one to notice, Chillingworth noticed himself. In chapter nine and ten, Chillingworth is given the opportunity to cure Mr. Dimmesdale and to discover all of Dimmesdale’s hidden secrets. The final major event to represent sin is in chapter fifteen, “Hester and Pearl”, when Hester rids herself of the scarlet letter and realizes the freedom from the weight of her sin and shame. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses appearance versus reality to illustrate sin.

Hawthorne uses diction and similes of darkness to depict Hester's reputation in a Puritan society. Hester and Pearl converse with Dimmesdale in the forest when suddenly, Hester removes the scarlet letter from her chest. Pearl, who has never witnessed her mother without the scarlet letter, forces her to put the scarlet letter back on. The narrator describes, "her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood, departed, like fading sunshine; and a grey shadow seemed to fall across her" (Hawthorne 166). Hawthorne uses a simile to compare Hester's beauty to fading sunshine.

Hawthorne uses Roger Chillingworth’s love for Hester to present this idea to us in a very complex way. Hester, the protagonist in the story, is a young girl who recently arrived to the new world. Her husband is thought to be dead, so when she arrives she is all alone. Not long after arriving, she becomes the main topic of conversation in the town. The reason for this is that she has had a child out of marriage, but she refuses to discuss who the father of Pearl. Hester faces years of public shaming. As a part of her punishment, she has to wear a scarlet letter on her dress. The narrator reveals that the father is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and that he is in love with Hester. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, comes to see Hester and tells her not to tell anyone that they’re married. Even though he does his best not to show his emotions, he is still in love with her. Chillingworth becomes angry with Hester for committing adultery, and thinks that she should suffer. He says, “Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in the eyes of men and women—in the eyes of him thou didst call thy husband—in the eyes of yonder child! And, that thou mayst live, take off this draught.” Due to his unrequited feelings for Hester, Chillingworth becomes a very mean and hateful man for the remainder of his

“We've all got both light and dark inside of us, what matters is the part we choose to act on, that's who we really are.” –Sirius Black. Black’s quote can be applied to most of the situations presented to the characters in Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlett Letter. Many secrets remain held within that truly reveal who the characters are. Nevertheless, there are scenarios in the story that show more than one side to the character. In the book, and just like in many other scenarios, there are two sides to each character, a light side and a darker side. Light and dark imagery, alluding to the larger conflict between good and evil, is present throughout

"Those who before had known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped" (39).  Hester, who is being openly condemned for her sins, Hawthorne describes ironically.  To the Puritans, Hester should be dim and obscure, surrounded by darkness and evil.  However, Hawthorne instead describes her shining beauty and the godliness she makes out of her sin and shame by exposing it to the public.  The Puritans condemn Hester for her sin and look towards her as evil, yet she is exposing her sin to the sunshine, to the public, something that Hawthorne praises in the novel.  "A blessing on the righteous Colony of the Massachusetts, where iniquity is dragged out into the sunshine!  Come along, Madame Hester, and show your scarlet letter in the market-place!" (40).  The Puritans feel that they are hurting Hester Prynne by exposing her sin, yet it is only making her stronger and making her grow.

Hawthorne adds to The Scarlet Letter is when he explains the prison as “the black flower of civilized society” (2). By this Hawthorne means that the prison is a place of evil and a place that conceals the truth, in the event that Hester is being held there with the truth about her adulterous act. Hawthorne also describes Pearl’s eyes as having “another face, in the small black mirror”, instead of holding her mother’s “own miniature portrait” (48). This explains that Pearl’s eyes were empty and filled with sin as she came into life as a result of Hester’s scarlet letter. Another example of how Hawthorne uses the color black, as symbolism, is when Chillingworth states: “Even in the graveyard here at hand, they are new to me. I found them growing on a grave, which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial of the dead man, save these ugly remembrance. They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and with he had done better to confess during his lifetime” (83). This takes place when Roger Chillingworth brings Arthur Dimmesdale herbs with dark, flabby leaves. By this quote, Hawthorne implies that the herbs that Chillingworth had collected had no meaning but to signify evil that had been growing out of the grave, the remains that were left from the dead man who had been buried there. Another major part of The Scarlet Letter also comes from the symbolism of the color black