Light In The Scarlet Letter

In chapters 18 and 19 of the Scarlett Letter by Nathanael Hawthorne, the author uses light as a descriptive tool of the situation. Hester and Dimmesdale’s encounter in the woods is one of very few, but it is the only one with complete seclusion and the inclusion of Pearl. Both Dimmesdale and Hester feel an overwhelming sense of seclusion and crushing guilt for their sinful acts. Hester on the one hand is shunned by the whole community and unable to interact with her love. Similarly Dimmesdale internally wrestles with his the contestant dilemma whether fathering a child with Hester is sinful or natural. But, with the removal of the Scarlett Letter, and the promise that Dimmesdale will leave with Hester and Pearl to start a family, hope

replaces these emotions. Light is used to express the hope and joy felt by the characters in this particular scene.
In chapter 18, Dimmesdale’s and Hester’s redefined love and joy is empathized through natural light and the glowing of their aura.

When Hester first realizes that Dimmesdale will run away her she is ecstatic. It seems as if in that moment she is surprised but enlightened. From the quote “The decision once made, a glow of strange enjoyment threw its flickering brightness over the trouble of his breast.” It is evident that some light be it natural or figurative begins to creep its way across Hester. Her happiness and excitement seem to overcome her as she realizes her new life is about to being. Another example of the couple’s newfound freedom is clearly visible in the next paragraph as Hester unpins her letter and undoes her headwear. The couple’s love is re emerging and they finally have the burden of sin and guilt lifted off of them. Dimmesdale exclaims “This is already the better life! Why did we not find it sooner?” And to no surprise “as if the gloom of the earth and sky had been but the effluence of these two mortal hearts, it vanished with their sorrow. All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest”. This displays how the gloom in their lives has been lifted and a new brighter age in on their horizons. Also, the influx of light emphasis the way that all these happy and joyful emotions, which they are feeling for the first time, have flooded into their lives like light into the

forest.
Another portion of the chapter where light plays a role in the emphasis of happiness and joy is the appearance an introduction of Pearl. Pearl, although the product of a sin, is a source of joy in the lives of Dimmesdale and Hester, and in very source of happiness comes light. When Dimmesdale first lays eyes on Pearl (under this new situation), he exclaims, “I see the child, yonder she is, standing in a streak of sunshine, a good way off”. The facet that she is standing in a ray of sunshine almost gives off a sense of divinity or salvation. To Dimmesdale, this child is someone he wants to love and be loved back by. She is his future and half of the reason why he is willing to leave his life to be with Hester and her. Throughout the chapter Pearl is describes as being “all glorified with a ray of sunshine”. I believe Hawthorne uses this theme so repetitively in order to describe how uplifting their lives have become and through all of this they are beginning to live their new joyful lives.