Symbolism was a huge part of the Scarlet Letter and Nathaniel Hawthorne did a fantastic job of emphasizing certain objects or actions to point out what was symbolic. One symbol that Hawthorne wanted the reader to recognize throughout the novel was the use of light and darkness that convey a certain meaning in different scenarios. In chapter 1, the author talks about the prison and had people wearing sad colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats in front of a door, which was studded with iron spikes. To represent sunlight, Hawthorne then mentions a wild rose bush covered with delicate gems, imagined to offer their fragrance to the prisoner. The end of the last paragraph in chapter one says, “Or relieve the darkening close of a tale of …show more content…
The feelings Dimmesdale and Hester had for each other made them feel guilty, and their guilt was reflected by the darkness of the day. The sunlight occasionally shone through like when Hester let down her hair. It symbolizes the freedom she longs for and how she truly feels about her situation with the hold the Scarlet Letter and the Puritan community has on her life and Dimmesdale’s. Another way Nathaniel Hawthorne uses light and darkness throughout the novel to symbolize events, objects, or actions is when Dimmesdale is confessing his sin and when he is on the scaffold. At nighttime (darkness), Dimmesdale is on the scaffold so no one can see him. Thus, concealing the truth about himself from the rest of the Puritan community. On the other hand, Dimmesdale is confessing his sin during the daytime (light), which symbolizes his exposure of all of his secrets instead of hiding them away from everyone else. In conclusion, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a lot of symbolism throughout the Scarlet Letter. Including the prison, the meeting in the forest, and Dimmesdale’s confession during the day and standing on the scaffold at night. The light represented the eagerness to be free while the darkness represented the guilt and the burden of their
Symbolism plays a very important part in Scarlet Letter because it helps to identify characters and the main ideas of the story. It can help a reader to visualize and understand the meaning of the story better when there are symbols to help explain the meaning of something. Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne, Pearl, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale as symbols all throughout the book. They are the main characters of the story and they all overcome some difficulties in the end. They all have important roles in the book.
Beginning with the very first words of The Scarlet Letter the reader is thrust into a bleak and unforgiving setting. “A thong of bearded men, in sad-colored garments,” that are said to be “intermixed with women,” come off as overpowering and all-encompassing; Hawthorne quickly and clearly establishes who will be holding the power in this story: the males (Hawthorne 45). And he goes even further with his use of imagery, painting an even more vivid picture in the reader’s mind. One imagines a sea of drab grays and browns, further reinforcing the unwelcoming feeling this atmosphere seems to inheren...
The sky is a canvas to the eyes of Arthur Dimmesdale, filled with the faint, twinkling light of the stars. The slight glow is enough spotlight for the guilty man to handle, and the extra light that appears from an approaching town member is too much for the stricken pastor to handle. Cowering over the confession that dwells on the edge of his tongue, he misses the chance to free himself from the inner shame that binds him and sets his degenerating heart apart from the healthily-beating one of his past lover that is free from the weight of a scandalous secret. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops the character of Arthur Dimmesdale by way of his ill-defined sermons and public interactions with the Puritan townspeople that contrast with his deep talks with Hester and
Throughout his literary endeavors, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to present a certain theme that pertains to human nature and life. In his works, The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil", Hawthorne uses symbolism to present a common theme pertaining to religion; that though manifested sin will ostracize a person from society, un-confessed sin will destroy the soul.
Hawthorne uses the scaffold scenes to show how the presence of light and dark gives insight into the characters nature. In the first scaffold scene, Hester releases not only her guilt about her crime, but, she also releases Pearl to the society and creates in Pearl the need for strength and determination that she will need to overcome the legacy of her creation. In this scene she also creates the need in Dimmesdale to absolve himself of his guilt. The second scaffold scene is the opportunity for Dimmesdale to attempt to release his guilt from the first scaffold. However, Pearl creates a need in Dimmesdale to repent in front of the town. During the third scaffold scene, Dimmesdale is able to release his guilt about his crime and his lack of strength. He is also able to complete his obligation to accept the hands of Pearl and Hester on the platform from the second scaffold scene. Through his confession, he creates a sense of reality for the entire town. It can be clearly seen that what is created in the first scaffold is released in the second scaffold; while, the things created in the second scaffold are finally released in the third and final scaffold. The darkness during the second scaffold scene is covered in darkness, which display the symbols of reality and truth. There is another complexity to the scaffold scenes in the presence, or lack there of, of lighting. The first scaffold
The deep symbolism conveyed by certain aspects of nature helps the reader gain a deeper understanding of the plight and inner emotions of the characters in the novel. Hawthorne's moods or prevailing feelings during certain scenes are revealed to the reader through nature. For example, one of the first scenes in the book demonstrates this unique writing talent that Hawthorne uses to enrich his writing. He describes Hester Prynne and her child being released from the local prison into the light of day. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winked and turned aside its little face from the vivid light of day; because its experience, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison (49).
Symbolism plays an important role in the Scarlet Letter. The scarlet "A" is used to represent sin and anguish along with happiness. The "A" has different meanings to people other than what was originally intended. The scaffold is used as a place of repentance and judgment by God. Pearl is another major symbol used as a reminder of the scarlet letter.
Light and dark is an everyday aspect of life, The Scarlet Letter really reveals how light and dark everyone can be. Though it was sometimes hard to read, the book made me think more about the good and evil in everyone. 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.
Hester feels like she has no light within her and she feels full of darkness because of her sins that she is constantly reminded of with the wearing of the A. She tells her daughter Pearl that, “Thou must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee," while Pearl is playing outside the governor’s home (Hawthorne 71). Ever since Hester put on the scarlet A, she had been literally and metaphorically walking in the darkness. The townspeople see her as a woman of sin (darkness), and they do not want to associate with her. Even little Pearl could tell that the scarlet A on her mother’s chest was full of darkness as she said, “Mother, [...] sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom” (Hawthorne 128). The only light that Hester saw within her life was that of her Pearl. Pearl was Hester’s joy and happiness, her
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne utilized two main symbols: the Black Man and the Forest. Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth were all influenced by the Black Man. The Black Man was a Puritan term for the devil. The forest is the main setting that was also a symbol in Hester and the Reverend’s life. Nathaniel Hawthorne used the symbolism of the Forest and the Black Man to influence his character’s lives.
The Scarlet letter is the most significant symbol of the entire story. The work of Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter is emotionally so complex that the symbolism in the story can be hard to figure out (Whipple). The setting of The Scarlett letter is in puritan time which Mr. Hawthorne has made the book more realistic by putting puritan rules and ways thorough out the story(Lanzen Harris). The scarlet letter is a scarlet and gold badge that is carefully embroidered by Hester Prynne to be worn upon her breast to show that she is adultery (Hawthorne 155). The letter is a symbol of the passionate love scandal Hester has had with Mr. Dimmesdale who is the young pastor of the church.
Hester is largely affected by the uncertainty of how society should perceive her and believes she “can change her human nature and make up for what she is and has done” (12). However, even after her public penance, society questions whether Hester has truly redeemed herself (Morey 77). The community is also unclear on how Hester feels about her scarlet letter. When she elaborately embroidered it, some were “outraged that she has made a mockery of her punishment by making this plain symbol of adultery into a gorgeous decoration” (Johnson 10). Others argued that it portrayed her creativity as a seamstress and viewed the letter as a symbol of her artistic nature (11). The physical scarlet letter is a vital part of the novel, and readers soon recognize that Dimmesdale also carries a scarlet letter on his chest, but questions whether it is physical or mental (12). Due to his overwhelming need to free his spirit from the internal guilt he has built up over the years, Dimmesdale does what he can to relieve his shameful feelings. He frequently holds his hand over his chest, implying that he too is carrying a scarlet letter (Johnson 16). When Dimmesdale finally acknowledges his sin and reveals himself to society as the father of Hester’s child, his sin is still unclear to some members of the community. At his
In the book, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses sunlight to symbolize religion, and darkness to symbolize everything else in life but specifically sins. He uses Reverend Dimmesdale to show the reader the difference. To give you an idea of how Reverend Dimmesdale came to be who he is in the book you must look at his past. Reverend Dimmesdale was a man in the dark he made sin after sin, until he had a revelation that lightened his soul and lead him to become the Reverend. Nathaniel Hawthorne was using this situation to try to criticize how at the time everyone believed that God was light, God was law, and anything that goes against God’s wishes as stated in the bible is a dark, a sin, and against the law. Reverend Dimmesdale is a man of the church, and at this time the church is everything to the people, he is light and he states, “By those best acquainted with his habits, the paleness of the young ministers cheek was accounted for by his too earnest to study, his scrupulous fulfillment of parochial duty, and, more than all, by the fasts and vigils of which he made a frequent practice, in order to keep the grossness of this earthly state from clogging and obscuring his spiritual lamp”(Hawthorne 107).
A symbol is an object used to stand for something else. Symbolism has a hidden meaning lying within it; these meanings unite to form a more detailed theme. Symbolism is widely used in The Scarlet Letter to help the reader better understand the deep meanings Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays throughout his novel. He shows that sin, known or unknown to the community, isolates a person from their community and from God. Hawthorne also shows this by symbols in nature around the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest.
Since the beginning of time, there has been a constant struggle between good and evil. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the power of imagery to signify that light is a sign of goodness and darkness portrays evil and the unknown. In the novel Hester Prynne is confined to the forest as a result of being deemed incompatible with Puritan society. To the townspeople, the forest is unknown and therefore seen as dark. The town is seen as light and ruled by law and religion; the forest is viewed as dark and ruled by human nature. The symbol of the light is based on how people are exposed to the truth of who they are during the daytime. The darkness is when people are able to keep secrets and hide their sinful ways from society. Hawthorne also used the contrast of light and dark to show different aspects of society and to separate truth from lies. The imagery of light and darkness pertains to how the characters come to terms with their exposed past and how they ultimately choose to no longer hide behind a shady, dark past.