Scarlet
Nathaniel Hawthorne felt that the Puritans were people who believed that the world was aplace where the battle between good and evil was a never-ending one. Throughout thenovel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict this battle among thecharacters Hester Prynne, Pearl, and Roger Chillingworth. After Hester commits her sin, her beauty almost immediately vanishes intodarkness. Her hair no longer hangs freely about her face, instead she ties it up in a bonnet.Hester is not perceived as an evil person, but her sin makes her "light" hide away. The sunis used as a descriptor of the goodness or pure nature of character. Because of her sin andthe scarlet letter, Hester is no longer pure, therefore she is not seen in the sun. Hawthornestates, "It was only the darkened house that could contain her. When sunshine came again,she was not there." While on a walk to the forest, Pearl, Hester's daughter states, "...thesunshine does not love you. it runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of somethingon your bosom." This is evidence that the scarlet letter itself may be the cause of Hester's Pearl is the character most recognized for her presence in the sun. While at the
Dimmesdale speaks out against adultery andcommits it, the Puritans demand religious tolerance but refuse to give it. As soon as Pearl,or the sin, is acknowledged she is no longer wild and passionate but controlled, calm, andhappy. NathanielHawthorne uses light and darkness to symbolize good and/or evil. The kind young woman is symbolic of hope in the story. Roger soon comes to resemble the devil. In the beginning of the book Hester Prynne is publicly humiliated as a punishment forbreaking a Puritan belief and one of the Ten Commandments; adultery. Also, Pearl's character is described as developing, ". The symbol working in Roger, living to destroy, shows that tearingdown another person causes as much damage to one's own life. This scaffold scene is especially important because it becomesapparent that Chillingworth is not Dimmesdale's worst enemy, that title goes toDimmesdale himself. When she is in the forest with her mother, she fits in with the wild things andthey seem to accept her. The silence in thecrowd is lost and everyone has their own account of exactly what happened with theirpraised minister that day. Other women were making remarks like, "This womanhas brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. At the beginning of the second scaffold scene, it is Dimmesdale who stands aloneon the scaffold. As Hester stands with her daughter, the product of her and her lover's sin, her pridefades as she comes to realize and accept her shame. He is grief-stricken and in agony over the hypocrisy he has lived for sevenyears.
Common topics in this essay:
Hester Prynne,
Pearl Pearl,
Hester Pearl,
Romantic PEARL,
Arthur Dimmesdale,
Dimmesdale Hawthorne,
Chillingworth Hester,
Pearl Hester's,
Chillingworth Ye,
Secondly Dimmesdale,
puritan society,
pearl wild,
hester prynne,
hester pearl,
scaffold scene,
scarlet letter,
nathaniel hawthorne,
roger chillingworth,
represents puritan society,
pearl chillingworth,
black flower,
dimmesdale represents puritan,
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Acceptance Essays
