The Scarlet Letter Light
How would you like to be an outcast for life? The Scarlet Letter is a very old book written during the 1700’s in America and the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is descriptive and uses a lot of symbolism. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict good and evil among the characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Hester has to live with the darkness of her sin every day, yet she finds ways to help people and it shows that she is often times charitable when others would not be. “Except for that small expenditure in the decoration of her infant, Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that
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“My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire. I longed to kindle one!” (Hawthorne 69). Roger wanted a life with children and a wife who would love him. He apologizes later in the book to Hester about not being able to be there for her, because of his age and deformed looks. Since he never got the family he wanted he became bitter and full of hate. “A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight” (Hawthorne 57). Chillingworth is very bitter ever since he found out about what Hester did to him. She was his last chance to have the family he always wanted. It was unlikely he would ever become warm hearted again after what he had been through. Roger at one point was a warm hearted person, but after he found out that Hester had betrayed him he became hostile. Nobody wants to be an outcast, especially for their whole life. Hester, Arthur, and Roger all prove to have dark sides as well as light sides, which Hawthorne shows time and time again throughout this novel. The Scarlet Letter has a lot of symbolism that is referred to today. It is a very historic book with many things that are very important to know of today, because if you do not you might not understand
“My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire. I longed to kindle one!” (Hawthorne 69). Roger wanted a life with children and a wife who would love him. He apologizes later in the book to Hester about not being able to be there for her, because of his age and deformed looks. Since he never got the family he wanted he became bitter and full of hate. “A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight” (Hawthorne 57). Chillingworth is very bitter ever since he found out about what Hester did to him. She was his last chance to have the family he always wanted. It was unlikely he would ever become warm hearted again after what he had been through. Roger at one point was a warm hearted person, but after he found out that Hester had betrayed him he became hostile. Nobody wants to be an outcast, especially for their whole life. Hester, Arthur, and Roger all prove to have dark sides as well as light sides, which Hawthorne shows time and time again throughout this novel. The Scarlet Letter has a lot of symbolism that is referred to today. It is a very historic book with many things that are very important to know of today, because if you do not you might not understand