What do darkness and light symbolize in the scarlet letter

She thinks it may have something to do with the letter "A on her mother's chest, but she is not certain. Pearl loves to play in the sun, as said before, she is drawn to it. She would rather play in the sun with nature, alone, than playing with children of her own age. She enjoys frolicking in the forest, just prancing around without a care having the scattered light dance over her through the trees. When Pearl and her mother are in the governor's house, Pearl adores the sunlight shining through the stained glass windows.

Subsequent to this, Pearl asks her mother for some of her sunlight. Hester simply responds, "I have none to give thee. Hawthorne, chapter 4. Hester has no sunlight to give thee because she has committed the sin of adultery. Through out the novel Hester is not seen much in the sun. She avoids going into the sun because it illuminates and exposes the scarlet "A on her chest. Hester used to be one of the finest most beautiful puritan women in the town.

The sunlight would shine down on her almost brighter than it did on the other puritans, almost like a halo. When Hester committed the sin of adultery, her light and beauty quickly vanished. She no longer had the halo shinning over her head, but now it was almost as though a curtain of darkness fell over her soul and presence.

At one point, near the conclusion of the novel, Hester redeemed her puritan soul and got her light back. She had made plans to travel to Europe, to live a peaceful and happy life, with her partner in sin, Dimmesdale, and Pearl. At that moment she took off her bonnet and ripped that lousy scarlet "A off of her chest. A beam of light then shown down upon her, upon her bosom, revealing her cleansed soul.

She had now looked almost as beautiful as she did in the beginning of the novel, no longer carrying that painful weight upon her shoulders, the scarlet letter. When this was all happening, Hester called for her daughter Pearl to come to her.

Pearl did not come and it was as if though Pearl did not recognize her own mother without the scarlet letter upon her chest. This symbolized that Pearl will always be a reminder of Hester's dark life, no matter where she will go. The man known as Reverend Dimmesdale is the person who Hester had her affair with. He was once represented by the light for he used to be a well-respected, good mannered person.

He was not punished for his actions for no one knew that it was their Reverend that had had committed adultery with Hester. Although he was not punished, he brought himself down with his own guilt, which for him was a very injurious punishment.

His guilt made him a darker person as the novel moved on, and this same guilt later brought about his death in the end. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the dark imagery many times in this novel. The darkness is used to depict many scenes in the novel mainly because there is a lot of sin occurring, and sin is represented by the literary theme darkness.

Hester is the main person presented in the novel that represents darkness the best. Hester is represented by the darkness of the novel because she is the main sinner of all the characters. As Marlow states "Hester is not perceived as an evil person, but her sin makes her light hide away.

While walking in the forest with Hester, Pearl briefly notices the sun does not shine on Hester and says, "the sun does not like you, it hides from something on you bosom. Society was focused on refining a faith that was already determined, according to Calvinists as well as anti-transcendentalist beliefs, Hester was able to accept her faith rather than ponder on her sin. Intuitive reasoning occurred to the characters rather than being practiced by them. In contrast to Hawthorne and Melville, Emerson, a transcendentalist, believed that an individual was guided by reason rather than in control of it.

Work Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Dover Publications, Remember: This is just a sample from a fellow student. Starting from 3 hours delivery. Sorry, copying is not allowed on our website. We will occasionally send you account related emails. This essay is not unique. Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper. Want us to write one just for you?

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by professional essay writers. Get help with writing. Pssst… we can write an original essay just for you. Your time is important. Hawthorne uses the sunlight as a symbol to portray her innocents.

Hawthorne uses the sunlight to show it symbolism as innocence and Hester has lost her innocence through sin. Essays Essays FlashCards. Browse Essays. Sign in. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Show More. Read More. Words: - Pages: 5. Words: - Pages: 6. Words: - Pages: 3. Scarlet Letter Symbolism Essay The Black Man is a commonly used symbol in the novel, he represents sin and evil on the world.

Sin In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter The tone exhibits a type of serious feel throughout the story, which has an impact on the ways that Hawthorne describes the different symbolisms. Words: - Pages: 8. Rhetorical Devices Used In Scarlet Letter The syntax displayed, shows how the guilt of sin can be very severe on each character.