Essay On Scarlet Letter Shading

Improved Essays
There are five things particularly depicted as red in the story: Ethan's scar, the "cherry-coloured scarf," Mattie's "cherry hued scarf," the famous pickle dish, the Mattie's "crimsons ribbon”. With these eight symbols the color red is likewise a player in symbols all basing on the shading red. The shading red is frequently identified with yearning love, enticement, sin, enthusiasm, warmth, and desire. Another color is white, with the color white you would think of purity and angelic figures. While the snow is essentially white and cool and miserable, similar to the souls of the characters. One wonders why there would be a handful in such a short story, but maybe this is why the author wrote the story like this.
Ethan’s scar is more tied into The Scarlet Letter where the woman is obligated to wear a scarlet red letter “A” on her bosom stating that she committed adultery. “The "smash-up" it was-I gathered from the same informant-which, besides
…show more content…
The scarf in its self is immaterial, however the shading is the primary image. Red is the shade of essentialness, enthusiasm, great well-being and blood, all of which Mattie has in wealth and of which Zeena is bereft of. In the wet scene of which the town of Starkfield is arranged red emerges, much as Mattie emerges inside Ethan's persecuted life. Red is likewise the shade of wrongdoing and transgression, the shade of which has an implication with the fiend. This is critical as it shows Mattie as Ethan's flirt that is managing him towards moral and societal transgression. Ethan knows to look for Mattie's brilliant red scarf to discover her in the horde of individuals moving. The scarf is chipper and dynamic, attributes that encapsulate Mattie. He is envious that she is hitting the dance floor with Denis Eady. Ethan is particularly pulled in to and in adoration with

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The real source of all of Ethan’s problems is where he lives, Starkfield. Starkfield has basically ruined Ethan’s chance of true happiness from the beginning by holding him away from his dreams and making him marry Zeena. If this is not enough, Ethan has to walk by the Frome grave yard which mocks him and reminds him that he will never leave. Starkfield has put Ethan into an unescapable situation that is a living nightmare which has ruined his life.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ethan Frome Analysis

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mattie rose obediently, and seated herself in it” (Wharton 48). She shifts in her seat for many moments until she decides that she cannot see well. She awkwardly removes herself and reseats herself by the lamp. Mattie’s constant shifting in her seat symbolizes how she feels in their relationship: she feels uncomfortable and cannot see what to do. Furthermore, when Ethan comments that he “saw under the Varnum spruces, coming along home just now … a friend of yours getting kissed,” Mattie replies, “I suppose it was Ruth and Ned,” in a manner which showed that she was torn and did not know how to react or feel to the situation at hand.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Symbolism In this story, a color that can symbolize The Dust Witch is the color red. I picked red because it is associated with danger. Will and Jim had been in danger because of Mr. Dark and the Dust Witch because Mr. Dark had order her to go and catch the boys so that they can call the carnival “Dark & Nightshade” (167), this is because Mr. Dark thought that Jim was “the perfect individual” for the job that Mr. Dark wanted him to do.(162) The Dust Witch began to “search for their souls” so that Jim can work with them.(189)…

    • 170 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Scarlet Pimpernel: Sir Percy Blakeney and Lady Blakeney Character Analysis Sir Percy Blakeney and Lady Blakeney had many strengths and weaknesses throughout this story. A strength of Percy was his ability to deceive everyone. Lady Blakeney’s strengths included her wit and intelligence. Percy’s weakness was that he was uncharacteristically, cold attitude at times. This behavior of his was no good for his already struggling marriage.…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, symbolism plays a major role in the story. In order for the symbols in his story to “pop” out or show its “shine” Edith Wharton uses symbols that can be found in the story, and even uses the historical background that the symbol may have in society or in myths, for the symbols that appear in the story. In Edith Wharton story Ethan Frome, the symbols that are important in the story and in its plot are the color red, Zeena’s pet cat, Zeena’s best dish which got shattered into millions of pieces, and the white winter snow that falls over Starkfield. Although many would think that these four symbols that are mention are not really important at all, but in reality, these four symbols do in fact play a major role…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Keeping Appearances When analyzing the topic of adultery (or infidelity), Joy Davidson, a NYC psychiatrist, made a bold statement: “As a society, we are privately more forgiving and publicly often more judgmental. . . ” How many people hide their true identity or ideologies? Many times throughout The Scarlet Letter, emotions and actions completely contradicted one another. Not only does this happen extensively in the book with Arthur Dimmesdale, but the same can be said about modern day.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Her fingernails were red ... She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which there were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. ” Red is a colour to signify many things, things such as passion, warning, red light districts (prostitutes) etc. This scene conveys the sense that Curley’s wife is a woman of dubious morality.…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Red representing Royal, and blue Representing Richie. We see this mainly as the film progresses, with the color Red starting when Margot hears about Royals illness, and then switching to blue when she starts focusing on her interest with Richie.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mattie is symbolized with red many times, mainly through her red scarf and the red ribbon through her hair. Even right at the start of the story, Ethan is trying to catch a glimpse of Mattie’s face Another quite obvious color symbolization is Mattie’s last name, “Silver”. Silver is like white and shows her ebullient perky side, and connects her to the beautiful white fluffy snow of Starkfield. This and many others is how the colors red and white coincide with Mattie, and describe her character and…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imagine if everyone you knew wore a mask, it would be noticeable right? Not so much here. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the setting was set in a Puritan community where everyone has sinned at least once. However, a woman named Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery and it was discovered. Not only that, but all three of the main characters were associated with the outcome of this sin and many other ones.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Overlook On the news, we hear about someone being murdered daily in which detectives are on the case to find out who committed the crime. Murder cases are always a grueling process with many clues to try and find the one who committed the crime. “The Overlook” by Michael Connelly is an example of that, in which he gives detectives a murder case that leads him and the reader in many different directions, trying to figure out who killed Dr. Kent. Connelly starts off with a detective named Harry Bosch, who receives a call at midnight about a murder case.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Symbolism has been in human history since the very beginning, especially in books and poems. It is a way to teach and reach a better understanding of our world or an idea. Nathaniel Hawthorne provides many examples of symbolism in his novel, The Scarlet Letter. Every character provides a different idea, but they are all related and share the topic of sin. You might ask what the scarlet letter, the central symbol of the book, could mean.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Guilt is a deep seeded emotion that often drives behavior, even unknowingly. This is Ethan’s struggle. And, distinguishing between illusion and reality intensifies both the guilt and the isolation. Guilt, isolation and illusion/reality are the three most significant themes present in Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome because these are the themes that mold,…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The historical fiction genre of the novel aptly captures Ethan’s morose circumstances, encompassed by irony. Edith Wharton constantly used irony in her novel to delineate her characters and the blatant misery in the plot. One of the ironies was when Ethan repeatedly saw Zeena’s face in the rocking chair while coasting; this instance is ironic because of how Ethan is deliberately coasting with Mattie to avoid Zeena, yet her face appears in front of him, demonstrating how he could never leave his stark reality in Starkfield. Another ironic instance was when Mattie mirrored Zeena’s locking the door in that rigid manner; this is ironic because of how Mattie, the only lively entity left in Ethan’s life, was becoming stark, silent, and serious like Zeena. Ethan Frome’s life was encompassed in such subtle moments of irony, or quirks of fate.…

    • 1921 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the time this story was written, red was often a symbol for love, life, passion and maturity. Since she wore a cloak of red, it became a symbol of her innocence and entering adulthood.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays