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Jacob Swidorsky

Mrs. Bouch

Honors English 11

January 3, 2018

The Scarlet Letter Essay

Have you ever been inside on a rainy day or outside on a beautiful day and it affects your

mood and emotions? This concept is similarly portrayed in The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel

Hawthorne portrays the mood and emotions of his characters through lightness and darkness.

When lightness surrounds a character in the story, that portrays them as a good character, but

when darkness surrounds a character, that portrays them as a bad character. It also represents

each character’s motives. The lightness or darkness around them affects their mood and their life

in general. Lightness and darkness is one symbol in The Scarlet Letter that reveals good and bad

characters, describes Hawthorne’s view of each character and Puritan society, and is necessary

for development in the story.

The symbols of lightness and darkness serve as the contrast between good and evil in

Hester. Throughout the story there are moments in which light or dark protrudes to reveal a

symbolic meaning. Hester is one of the main characters to experience this lightness and darkness.

When Hester wears the A on her chest, it is symbolic of her sin. When she removes the A from

her chest in the forest for the first time, “the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what

men call the irrevocable past” (Hawthorne 139). When she returns the A back to her chest due to

Pearl’s nagging, “her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood, departed, like fading

sunshine; and a gray shadow seemed to fall across her” (Hawthorne 145). This shows that if

Hester relieves herself of her shame, then lightness will surround her. However, if she accepts
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her sin and lives in the shame of her evil act, then darkness will fall upon her. This also shows

the reader that Hawthorne is sympathetic to Hester and that he is showing a negative of Puritan

practices. This reveals to the reader that Hester is a good and bad character, but she’s only bad

when she accepts her punishment from the Puritans. These symbols when connected to Hester

not only reveals the type of character Hester is, but it also reveals Hawthorne’s opinion of her.

The symbols of lightness and darkness also resonates in Pearl. Pearl is always playful and

joyful until her mother removes the A from her chest. Unlike Hester, she is never filled with

darkness and she always lives in the light even with all the darkness surrounding her. While in

the woods with Hester and Pearl, Dimmesdale describes Pearl as “a bright-apparelled vision, in a

sunbeam, which fell down upon her through an arch of boughs” (Hawthorne 140). This shows

how Pearl is always in the light, even though the darkness of the forest surrounds her. When

Pearl is playing in the forest while Hester and Dimmesdale speak to each other, the “great black

forest” (Hawthorne 140) is described as becoming “the playmate of the lonely infant”

(Hawthorne 140). Hawthorne also describes in the same chapter, that the forest, “sombre as it

was …put on the kindest of its moods to welcome her” (Hawthorne 140). This shows how Pearl

is able to change dark things such as the forest, and bring them into the light and make them do

things they would not normally do. This also develops Pearl as a good character in the book and

establishes that Hawthorne sees Pearl as a very good character. These symbols when connected

to Pearl reveals her as a good character and Hawthorne’s positive view of her as well as his

negative view of the Puritans.

These symbols are in the book because they are necessary for the development of the

story. They represent the difference between characters’ emotions and Hawthorne’s opinion of

the Puritans. They focus primarily on Hester and Pearl. Hester has committed a crime and
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because of the Puritan’s punishment, she feels shame about it. The whole town isolates her and

sees are as a completely different person. This shows how their punishments only cause pain and

darkness, and that there is only shame that comes with this type of punishment. This also shows

how their punishments do not cause a person to be forgiven, rather those people are punished for

the rest of their lives for their mistake. He also reveals his dislike for the Puritans through Pearl

as she acts completely opposite to the way the Puritans act. Hawthorne tries to portray through

Pearl that following the Puritan teachings would make one’s life dark, miserable, and unjoyful.

These symbols serve as a way to develop each character and show what kind of person

they are, which reveals the author’s opinion of them. Hawthorne uses this symbol to avoid

having to describe each character in depth, but rather having the reader develop the characters in

their own mind. Through this symbol, connections can be made to how the character acts and

speaks. For example, Hester lives in the darkness of her shame and because of her sin, she acts

differently compared to Pearl. Pearl lives in the light and is almost always in a joyful, playful, or

curious mood which is the complete opposite of what Hester is feeling. This shows the difference

between characters surrounded in lightness compared to darkness. Overall, lightness and

darkness play a huge role in defining the characters and revealing what Hawthorne thinks of

them and the society they live in.