What Is The Theme Of Light And Dark In The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter submerses the reader in the Puritan’s culture. The story involves the Puritans portrayal of the sins of a young woman. Although a difficult read, the book stirs the reader to obtain a high moral compass. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict good and evil among the characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne there are many symbols and motifs. A motif is a recurring image that helps develop the theme. The first motif is civilization versus wilderness. In the book the puritan town is civilization, and it is a place where everything anyone does is on display. There is no hiding from your sins and everyone knows about them, you can and will be quickly punished. In the wilderness there is only natural authority and society's rules do not apply. The next motif in the book is night versus day. Night conceals and enables your actions so no one will catch you. During the day you are more vulnerable to punishment and you have to abide by the rules or you will get caught. Hawthorne uses day and night to show good

After Hester Prynne leaves prison, she is still treated like a criminal in the streets. She is surrounded by people, but at the same time she is alone, “she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart has been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon” (2.17). She has to serve many months in prison, stand on the scaffold for three hours under public scrutiny, and attach a scarlet letter, "A" on her chest every day as long as she remained in the town of Boston. The letter "A" was to identify Hester Prynne as an adulteress and as an immoral human being.

Have you ever done something to make yourself unwanted somewhere? The book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. Now and then are very different times, the townspeople wanted Hester dead, but in this time, there would be very little punishment. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict good and evil among the characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.

The rose bush is directly stated by Hawthorne that it might represent a sweet moral blossom. It can also be shown as “To

Dark under the sun Are you afraid of the dark? I assume that everyone is, right? Darkness always represents evil. In many cases today, darkness relates to death, ghosts, slaughter, and sin. Light, in contrast, is often a symbol of hope, justice, life, and saints.

Hawthorne characterizes Hester and Pearl’s relationship by using light and dark imagery and with the mentor-pupil archetype. Light and dark imagery is used to show knowledge, hope, and purity for light. Darkness symbolizes the unknown or ignorance. In the passage Pearl states, “… “the sunshine does not love you. … because it is afraid of something on your bosom. … It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”

The child is born and Hester is forced to sew an “A” for adultery into her dress. This is too shame her and make her feel guilty about her crime. Hester is

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.

A night in South Sudan. Shootings and looting are common, when darkness fell, not one person would be found outside. Everyone stays at home hoping, and often praying, that the night would pass without unwanted visitors.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter expresses various themes of dark romanticism using symbolism. One of the more obvious symbols is that of the scaffold, which is present throughout the story. Upon in-depth exploration, I discovered this use of symbolism relates both literally and metaphorically to the dark romantic themes present in Hawthorne’s tale. First, let me discuss the scaffold and its constant presence in the story. The townspeople, Hester, and Dimmesdale use the scaffold on numerous occasions; most often, its use is to shame, harass, and isolate Hester Prynne so that she will confess the name of her child’s father. However, at times, the scaffold is used as a sanctuary and a confessional for others.

“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

Throughout history, colors have been used to symbolize different meanings based on associations with culture, history, politics, and religion. In The Scarlet Letter, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism through colors such as red, black and white in the form of sunlight, to represent emotions and ideologies of Hester and the people around her.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, symbolsim is constantly present in the actual scarlet letter “A” as it is viewed as a symbol of sin and the gradally changes its meanign, guilt is also a mejore symbol, and Pearl’s role in this novel is symbolic as well. The Scarlet Letter includes many profound and crucial symbols. these devices of symbolism are best portayed in the novel, most noticably through the letter “A” best exemplifies the changes in the symbolic meaning throughout the novel.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author presents three symbols that all reinforce the main idea of the novel. The main idea that reoccurred throughout the novel is that people don’t have to let their mistakes or circumstances determine who they are or what they become; it’s all in how one interprets life. Many symbols may seem as just an ordinary character or coincidental object to some readers, but the symbols have a deeper, underlying meaning. Although there are many symbols in this book, there are three that really help support the main idea: Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter, the meteor, and Hester’s daughter Pearl.