Nehemi Winn
Mr. Beach
American Literature
October 3, 2013
Passage Analysis
In the Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the theme of light in the midst of dark to signify the battle between good and evil forces within and without the lives of the characters. It is a reoccurring concept that plays a principal role in the tone of the novel. The opposing nature of light and darkness is also used to illustrate conflicts between certain characters. Many instances of this theme can be found in the opening marketplace scene in which Hawthorne first describes the protagonist of this story. Light is the symbol of the spiritual and divine, illumination and intelligence. It is the source of all goodness and knowledge, purity and morality. Darkness is the image of
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The first occurrence of this theme lies within the description of Hester Prynne’s hair. Hawthorne writes, “She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam” (Hawthorne 37). As Hester faces the Puritan townspeople, her hair compliments her elegant, beautiful figure. Even though her hair is dark, sunlight reflects off of it. Having hair that shines in today’s society seems of little significance, but 200 years ago, before the production of technologically advanced shampoo, gleaming hair was unheard of. The fact that Hester Prynne had been locked in with the dust and dirt of the prison for at least three months, likely without daily showers and extravagant soaps, furthermore implies the irregularity of this phenomenon. The manner in which her hair shines is unnatural and eerie. Hawthorne uses this aspect to show the amount of virtue that Hester Prynne possesses. Even through disgrace and humiliation, Hester’s stubbornness gleams when she refuses to name the partner of her sin. Her composure and inner strength outshines the disgrace of her
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...
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.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s well known novel, The Scarlet Letter, extensive diction and intense imagery are used to portray the overall tone of the characters. In particular, Hester Prynne, the wearer of the Scarlet Letter, receives plentiful positive characterization throughout the novel. Hester’s character most notably develops through the town’s peoples ever-changing views on the scarlet letter, the copious mentions of her bravery, and her ability to take care of herself, Pearl, and others, even when she reaches the point where most would give up and wallow in their suffering.
Early in the novel, Pearl notices that sunlight strays away from Hester: “Mother, said little Pearl, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom” (Hawthorne 166). This shows that the scarlet letter and the sin, wanted to stay in the darkness, and that the light did not want touch Hester’s sinful body. Even young Pearl is able to recognize the evilness associated with the scarlet letter and how the light shy’s away from it due to its absence of good. In a scene later in the novel, sunlight shines on Hester when she removes the scarlet letter A from her bosom: “she undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves. . . All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest” (Hawthorne 184-185). The light represents the purity that Hester desires. Once Hester frees herself from the evilness and sin associated with the scarlet letter, she is showered in sunlight, which reveals the good nature that lies within her. This signifies a rebirth, and also reiterates the symbol of
Hester Prynne, “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam; and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexation, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.” (11). In this quote Hawthorne depicts Hester as lady-like with great beauty, elegance, and intelligence; continually Hawthorne mentioned how Hester’s beauty stands out from the dark Puritan society. However,
Hawthorne shows what actually happens behind closed doors. To the people of the town Hester Prynne was just a harlot with a bastard child, but to the readers she was a strong woman who was going to be more than just a harlot. Hawthorne showed that Hester Prynne, and her were actual people with thoughts and feelings and not just a sinner and the product of the sin as the town saw them. The people of the town saw Hester as a disgrace, but with all the torture they gave her was she really the one who was in the
In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the reader meets the character Hester Prynne who as the novel progresses, one notices the changes in her character are very dramatic. The changes are both physical and in her mannerism’s. There are many significant events which took place before the start of the novel and during the novel. Some of these events that lead to this dramatic change include the affect of wearing the scarlet letter, the secrets which she keeps, and her daughter Pearl’s evil characteristics. By these events, Hester Prynne’s image is transformed throughout the time of the story.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's bold novel, The Scarlet Letter, effectively employs three major symbols: light, dark, and the scarlet letter. The novel relies heavily on light and dark symbolism to represent the eternal struggle of good versus evil.
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;
When she is first commanded to wear a scarlet letter A, she sees it as a curse. For the first few years she tries to ignore the ignominy under a mask of indifference. “Hester Prynne, meanwhile, kept her place upon the pedestal of shame, with glazed eyes, and an air or weary indifference,” Hawthorne writes. (page 48) Even so, she cannot hide from what her sin has produced.
Chapter 5 of the book, “Hester at Her Needle” gives Hester’s account on her days after she is released from prison. It is a very sunny day which is usually supposed to represent a happy setting with a bright future ahead. However Hester automatically thinks that the sunlight is specifically there to reveal the scarlet letter that is sewn onto the chest of her dress. The steps that she takes out of the prison represent the steps that she will take to her new life that is full of loneliness and scorn. Her future is very grim-being cut off from the townspeople as well as from a normal life. Hawthorne goes on to describe here that “To-morrow would bring its own trial with it; so would the next day, and so would the next; each its own trial, and yet the very same that was now so unutterably grievous to be born...
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many literal and figurative items to illustrate the significance of various characters or themes. Coupled with the tangible evidence given, the reader can make many miscellaneous assumptions of the importance of these items to directly and indirectly contribute to the issues of the novel. One cryptic item that symbolizes more than it seems to is the appearance of one of the main characters, Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne's appearance and hair signify the levels of will and determination she possesses at the moment.
In the beginning of the book, Hawthorne paints the picture of a female named Hester who has sinned. Not only is she publicly ostracized for having an affair while unmarried, but her major repercussion, her daughter, receives her punishment as well because she derives directly from sin. It is through these tribulations that Hawthorne exemplifies Hester and Pearl, no matter how young, as strong, independent females. These characteristics were not easily applied to females during this time. Hawthorne’s ability to show Hester collected and under control to the crowd, although she may have felt otherwise inside, while she exits the prison and while she is on the scaffold, exhibits her as a strong woman. The fact that Hester exits the prison “by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will”, and the fact that while on the scaffold, under pressure, Hester refuses to give the name of the father of her child, also proves her strength and compassion. She states, “Never!....It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well
Hester Prynne’s Transformation in the Scarlet Letter Thesis: In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne sheds the identity the public has given her through her caring acts and maternity to Pearl. BP 1: One of the prime approaches Hawthorne takes to foreshadow Hester’s evolution into a well-respected member of the public is through her caring acts. As a result of her sin of adultery and thenceforth solitude from the rest of the community, Hester utilizes her new, found time to make amends with other in the community by displaying acts of kindness. One way this becomes evident is through her sewing of clothes for people of less fortune, despite her dire situation.
Several years after the public declaration of her sin, Hester remains alienated from the Puritan community, while Dimmesdale suffers the consequences of his silence. In “Hester at Her Needle”, Hawthorne describes Hester’s life after her release from prison. Once she leaves the confinements of the prison cell, she feels “sick and morbid… as [her release from prison] meant for no other purpose than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast”. The dark, somber prison, a symbol of secrecy, allows Hester to lie hidden away from the people and their outward condemnation towards her; now that she has “come forth into the sunshine”, she can no longer deny her wrongdoings. As she returns to her homeland, the scarlet letter “A” haunts her further, becoming “the roots” of her reputation and “the chain that [binds] her” to her own identity.