Difficulty Paper #2

The concept of evil in The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is very prevalent throughout the entire story. The symbols are everywhere and consistently changing. The symbol of "The Black Man" is placed on a few characters who are present. Chillingworth represents evil in that he is a perfect example of how man can fall to their weakness in green envy and anger. Anger is nature's temptation for man to give into. Dimmesdale represents "The Black Man" in that he cannot even acknowledge Pearl to be his daughter in public because he is so ashamed of her. Mistress Hibbins also represents "The Black Man" in that she is a witch who whispers secrets into her brother, Governor Bellingham's ear. Pearl is even looked at in the "black" perspective with the label of "Satan's child" due to the way she was conceived. Accordingly, she is the red that the letter "A" so prominently represents on Hester's clothes. Red starts off being this shameful, evil color which later turns into a symbol of the life and passion with which Hester and Dimmesdale created Pearl with. This is a realization that Hester has and Dimmesdale does not. She looks at Pearl and sees all of that truth and love in her that so few children really had due to how the parents were when conceiving them. There are myths about children who are conceived out of true love and passion in comparison to forced, unnatural creation. The "love" babies have full potential to feel and live in truth in many myths, where as a forced baby created without love might have issues with connecting to their inside emotions. Dark and light symbolism seems to be very prominent in this story even just in the lighting of the day. The darkness of the night represents the insides of the human soul and this is when events happen that humans actually want to happen deep down, but can't necessarily let other members of society be spectators of. It is night time when Hester and Dimmesdale get together secretly to frolic in love, it is night time that Mistress Higgins goes on her secret rides, and it is night time when Dimmesdale runs into Hester and Pearl on the scaffold and Pearl asks him to be there the next day in the sunlight with them and he refuses. She then continues to tell him he will never know the secret about Chillingworth if he does not come out with his own inner secrets that the darkness hides.