Essay, Research Paper

Mitchell Hochberg

English

1/11/96

Light and Darkness

Nathaniel Hawthorne? s The Scarlet Letter is one of the most analyzed and most discussed literary plants in American literature and for good ground. Hawthorne? s ambiguity and his intense usage of symbols have made this work improbably complex and improbably bothersome. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many symbols to give penetration into characters and advance his positions on society. The scaffold scenes in The Scarlet Letter tell the reader precisely what is to come, and the presence of visible radiation in those scenes gives the reader penetration into the characters.

The scaffold scenes set up a form of what is to come in the novel through a common tie prevalent in the three different scaffold scenes. The tie is that of creative activity and release. In the first scaffold scene, Hester releases non merely her guilt about her offense, but, she besides releases Pearl to the society and creates in Pearl the demand for strength and finding that she will necessitate to get the better of the bequest of her creative activity. In this scene she besides creates the demand in Dimmesdale to shrive himself of his guilt. The 2nd scaffold scene is the chance for Dimmesdale to try to let go of his guilt from the first scaffold. However, Pearl creates a demand in Dimmesdale to atone in forepart of the town. During the 3rd scaffold scene, Dimmesdale is able to let go of his guilt about his offense and his deficiency of strength. He is besides able to finish his duty to accept the custodies of Pearl and Hester on the platform from the 2nd scaffold scene. Through his confession, he creates a sense of world for the full town. It can be clearly seen that what is created in the first scaffold is released in the 2nd scaffold ; while, the things created in the 2nd scaffold are eventually released in the 3rd and concluding scaffold.

There is another complexness to the scaffold scenes in the presence, or lack there of, of illuming. The first scaffold scene is in the sunshine. The sunshine in this novel is a symbol of camouflage. In the sunshine of the first scaffold, Hester is shown as strong and determined. She gives the visual aspect that the missive does non trouble oneself her

. However, subsequently in the novel we learn her true feelings as to the missive:

The consequence of the symbol & # 8211 ; or, instead, of the place in regard to society that was indicated by it & # 8211 ; on the head of Hester Prynne herself was powerful and curious. All the visible radiation and leaf of her character had been withered up by this juicy trade name, and had long ago fallen away?

The darkness in this book is a symbol of world and truth. The 2nd scaffold scene is a perfect illustration of this symbol. In the first and 3rd scaffold scenes, Dimmesdale gives the visual aspect of a devout sanctum adult male who, although non physically strong, is emotionally pure. In the 2nd scaffold scene, Dimmesdale? s inability to face the people that trust him, his absence of strength, and inability to acknowledge to his guilt are clearly shown. This is the existent Arthur Dimmesdale. This usage of lighting is prevailing in other Hawthorne narratives every bit good.

In Hawthorne? s short narrative & # 8220 ; Young Goodman Brown, & # 8221 ; Similar lighting and darkness symbols are used. In the darkness of the forest, the true nature of the people that Goodman Brown looked up to and respected was revealed to him. He is merely capable of seeing their hypocritical flawed nature when in the darkness. When he had encountered them in the visible radiation of twenty-four hours, he believed the others in the town to be unadulterated, and strong of character. In this manner, Hawthorne has used darkness to state to the reader that the manner the characters are perceived in darkness is who they truly are.

Hawthorne foreshadows precisely what is to come in The Scarlet Letter through the scaffold scenes. He creates jobs in one scene that he answers in the following scene until the decision in the concluding scaffold scene. Besides, Hawthorne smartly adds lighting and darkness to give penetration into each character. It is interesting how this seems to diverge from the modern-day stereotypes of visible radiation and darkness. Contemporary stereotypes would propose that truth is light and darkness is deceit. These modern-day stereotypes are illustrated with decease in horror films looking merely at dark and with angels and Gods in books looking in a explosion of visible radiation. The manner that Hawthorne flips this stereotype and creates a novel in which visible radiation is a camouflage is utterly amazing.