Good Vs Evil In The Scarlet Letter Essay
The Scarlet Letter
Before the American Revolution, most of the northern colonies were Puritan societies. Puritanism was a more strict and harsh form of Judaism. Nathaniel Hawthorne was the nephew of John Hathorne, who was a judge during the Salem Witch Trials. Hawthorne’s famous book, The Scarlet Letter, was based on a Puritan society in the 1600’s. It is about a woman named Hester Prynne who committed adultery with the town’s priest, Arthur Dimmesdale, resulting in the birth of their child, Pearl. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the wild rose bush in front of the prison, Hester’s cabin, on the edge of town, and the sunlight shining through the forest to the overall theme of Good vs. Evil.
First, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the wild …show more content…
Evil. When Hester and her daughter, Pearl go on a walk through the forest, Pearl tells Hester that she wants to catch the sunlight before it disappears. Pearl tell her mother,”Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom…”(Hawthorne 165). This quote show that the sunlight is symbolized as God’s grace, and will only accept the good-hearted and pure people. Hester wants to catch the sunlight too, but as she reaches out for it, the sunlight disappears. As the book continues, Pearl runs off to play in the sunlight and Hester waits for Dimmesdale to walk through the forest. Hawthorne notes, “Here it was woefully visible, in the intense seclusion of the forest, which, of itself, would have been a heavy trial to the spirits”(Hawthorne 170). This quote shows that the forest is symbolized as being evil and where sinners and the impure come to sell their souls to the Black Man, who is also known as the Devil or Satan. The sunlight shining through the dark forest represents that the goodness can overcome the evilness in
Before the American Revolution, most of the northern colonies were Puritan societies. Puritanism was a more strict and harsh form of Judaism. Nathaniel Hawthorne was the nephew of John Hathorne, who was a judge during the Salem Witch Trials. Hawthorne’s famous book, The Scarlet Letter, was based on a Puritan society in the 1600’s. It is about a woman named Hester Prynne who committed adultery with the town’s priest, Arthur Dimmesdale, resulting in the birth of their child, Pearl. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the wild rose bush in front of the prison, Hester’s cabin, on the edge of town, and the sunlight shining through the forest to the overall theme of Good vs. Evil.
First, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the wild …show more content…
Evil. When Hester and her daughter, Pearl go on a walk through the forest, Pearl tells Hester that she wants to catch the sunlight before it disappears. Pearl tell her mother,”Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom…”(Hawthorne 165). This quote show that the sunlight is symbolized as God’s grace, and will only accept the good-hearted and pure people. Hester wants to catch the sunlight too, but as she reaches out for it, the sunlight disappears. As the book continues, Pearl runs off to play in the sunlight and Hester waits for Dimmesdale to walk through the forest. Hawthorne notes, “Here it was woefully visible, in the intense seclusion of the forest, which, of itself, would have been a heavy trial to the spirits”(Hawthorne 170). This quote shows that the forest is symbolized as being evil and where sinners and the impure come to sell their souls to the Black Man, who is also known as the Devil or Satan. The sunlight shining through the dark forest represents that the goodness can overcome the evilness in