Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates how symbols can used to relate to our everyday life. One of the most detailed symbols shown in The Scarlet Letter is the usage of sunlight. Depending on the context, sunlight can possess multiple meanings. Not only it appears in the setting, but also visualizes Hester’s importance to this novel. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the symbol of the sunlight to exemplify a plethora of concepts and ideologies.
The sunshine is explicitly shown as a symbol of truth. A prime example is when Dimmesdale shows off the scarlet letter. His support with his fellow friends begins to diminish and they "establish him a false and sin-stained creature of the dust" (Hawthorne 311). Since he showed his scarlet letter on the …show more content…
At night Dimmesdale is allowed to reveal his inner thoughts to Hester, but during the day of the inauguration, he cannot face the public when he finally stand upon the scaffold. During this scene, Dimmesdale lacks so much confidence about talking about his inner thoughts that he forces Hester and Pearl to come to the scaffold so Hester can feel ashamed or feel some sort of guilt. While the sunlight means hope, the sunlight can also mean the sense of fear of society rejecting the person which in this case, this person is Dimmesdale. Everyone in his town knows that Dimmesdale is a minister who owns a pure heart, soul, and mind, but in Dimmesdale’s inner feelings were completely different from the feelings people associated. As a result, Dimmesdale lacks his confidence to confess his thoughts to the public, thus, as mentioned before, the sunlight acts like the people of …show more content…
One prime facet is when she attempted to reach and catch sunshine, “the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl’s features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade.” (Hawthorne 221). As the sunlight is a symbol of purity, when Hester reaches out for some sunlight, the sunlight immediately fades away because of her lack of purity against her sin. Her sin of adultery overwhelms the power of purity, thus, the sunlight could not go into her spiritual soul to purify and redeem what she has done. Also, since sunlight is a symbol of truth (as mentioned before), the sudden vanish of the sunlight might signify Hester not trusting herself, or she must accept some truth that she couldn’t take in previously. That truth could be her not telling the secret about the relationship between her and Dimmesdale. Most likely, the sunshine does not vanish when Pearl reaches for it because she does not have any
The sunshine is explicitly shown as a symbol of truth. A prime example is when Dimmesdale shows off the scarlet letter. His support with his fellow friends begins to diminish and they "establish him a false and sin-stained creature of the dust" (Hawthorne 311). Since he showed his scarlet letter on the …show more content…
At night Dimmesdale is allowed to reveal his inner thoughts to Hester, but during the day of the inauguration, he cannot face the public when he finally stand upon the scaffold. During this scene, Dimmesdale lacks so much confidence about talking about his inner thoughts that he forces Hester and Pearl to come to the scaffold so Hester can feel ashamed or feel some sort of guilt. While the sunlight means hope, the sunlight can also mean the sense of fear of society rejecting the person which in this case, this person is Dimmesdale. Everyone in his town knows that Dimmesdale is a minister who owns a pure heart, soul, and mind, but in Dimmesdale’s inner feelings were completely different from the feelings people associated. As a result, Dimmesdale lacks his confidence to confess his thoughts to the public, thus, as mentioned before, the sunlight acts like the people of …show more content…
One prime facet is when she attempted to reach and catch sunshine, “the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl’s features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade.” (Hawthorne 221). As the sunlight is a symbol of purity, when Hester reaches out for some sunlight, the sunlight immediately fades away because of her lack of purity against her sin. Her sin of adultery overwhelms the power of purity, thus, the sunlight could not go into her spiritual soul to purify and redeem what she has done. Also, since sunlight is a symbol of truth (as mentioned before), the sudden vanish of the sunlight might signify Hester not trusting herself, or she must accept some truth that she couldn’t take in previously. That truth could be her not telling the secret about the relationship between her and Dimmesdale. Most likely, the sunshine does not vanish when Pearl reaches for it because she does not have any