Scarlet Letter Light+Dark Imagery

A detailed Summary of Scarlet Letter Light+Dark Imagery

Sunlight, darkness, brightness, shadow; these are the things that, according to the Bible, God created on the first day of creation. Sunlight represents liveliness and merriment, and darkness represents death and sorrow. The Scarlet Letter has continuous examples of these, and most of them take place in two very important, but very different scenes in the midst of the novel. The market place is one of these settings that has sun shining down on it, showing off its possessions. The forest is the other main environment, but this place is secret and full of darkness, except for an occasional ray of light.

The main characters in this book are either explained to the reader as one who attracts brightness, or one who repels it. It is said many times in The Scarlet Letter that Hester Prynne has a dark presence about her, but her daughter Pearl is in abundance with the sunshine. An example of this is when Hester says to Pearl, "No my little Pearl! Thou must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee." Even Hester's tombstone gives off a dark feeling, more so than any other

"The sportive sunlight - feebly sportive, at best, in the predominant pensiveness of the day and scene - withdrew itself as they came nigh, and left the spots where it had danced the drearier, because they had hoped to find them bright."

"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. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!"

Everyone has a certain luster about them, and Hawthorne, when writing The Scarlet Letter, obviously believed that the luminescence of a person is a very important trait in learning about their essential qualities. What Hawthorne wants us to know is that dark places can leak in light, and light places can be somber anytime.

Sunlight seems to fall on the market place very often throughout the book. It is a public place that serves as the center for Puritan life in the Boston settlement, therefore it does not seem odd that it wo

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hester Pearl, Roger Chillingworth, Scarlet Letter, Pearl Thou, Arthur Dimmesdale, Bible God, Hester Prynne, , scarlet letter, daughter pearl, little pearl, hester pearl, letter hester, Letter Hester, scarlet letter hester,

Approximate Word count = 735
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.

Scarlet Letter Light+Dark Imagery

Related Essays

Saved Paper

Newest Essays

Testimonials