The most
obvious complexand issues that spring to mind regarding are the issues of
identity, sin, and the nature of evil.
Images regarding the nature of evil
from these chapters include the fact that the sun itself, indicative of light and goodness, does
not seem to shine on .notices this and says, "The sunshine does not love you. It runs away
and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom." With the optimism of
youth, Pearl offers to catch it, which she does, but when Hester draws near and reaches out her
hand to "grasp some of it," the sunshine vanishes. "Or," adds Hawthorne,
"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." Hester thinks of the
darkness of the forest as representative of her own "moral wilderness"--presumably
fitting considering her moral shortcomings.
The child, being the product of
sin, is shunned with her mother, but is shown through thisto be innocent. Moreover, the light
imagery suggests she herself is a source of goodness and joy, since she is presumably capable of
absorbing the light and using it again later should they enter "some gloomier
shade."
Sin is, of course, a major theme of this Puritan-themed novel,
as well. The "Black Man," who Pearl believes is ugly, "haunts this forest, and
carries with him a big, heavy book, with iron clasps." He forces people he meets to write
their names in blood in his book after which he "sets his mark upon their bosoms," a
superstitious embodiment of this evil. This is an interesting image as evil itself is an idea,
formed and maintained in the mind, but is not embodied in any concrete form. When Pearl asks her
mother if she'd ever seen the Black Man, Hester (surprisingly) says yes. She declares that the
scarlet letter she wears is his mark; she speaks not literally, but Pearl is too young to
understand this.
Another major theme is identity and the most obvious image
of this is Hester's scarlet embroidered "A," which plays a curious part in these
chapters. After deciding to leave for Europe withand leave the past behind, starting anew,
Hester unpins her scarlet letter and flings it away (in ). She immediately feels "the
burden of shame and anguish [depart] from her spirit," and releases her hair. Her
transformation from the imprisoned, shamed woman to vital beauty is remarkable, and immediately,
the sun "[pours] a very flood" of light into the forest, "gladdening each green
leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold" and "the objects that had made a
shadow hitherto, embodied"--like Pearl, earlier--"the brightness now." The
scarlet letter had determined Hester's identity as a shamed woman who had accepted her
punishment; discarding it demonstrates her emergence from her own shame, like a butterfly
emerging from a cocoon.
However, when Pearl returns in , she refuses to
cross the stream and come to her mother because her notion of her mother's identity--of a woman
with hair tied under a bonnet wearing a scarlet A--is too different from the woman she sees
before her. Even the presence of Dimmesdale, the minister, cannot entice her to come to her
mother until her mother has retrieved her brand and assumed her former appearance. Hester's
identity is marked by this letter, but over the years, she has, by force of will, transformed
herself into an admirable woman who is humble and helps the sick, thus transforming the meaning
of the symbol itself. This doesn't change her joy upon discarding the letter, but it speaks to
Pearl's reverence for it (Pearl even kisses it after she has kissed her mother, as though the
letter is a good part of her that Pearl does not wish to lose).
No comments:
Post a Comment