The Scarlet Letter, Chapters XVIII and XXII - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850) - Detailed commentary plans

Extract

[...] The Scarlet Letter, Chapters XVIII and XXII - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850) - Detailed commentary plans A Flood of Sunshine A reject of the past A strong contrast between past pains and present joy: crimson flush was glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale" (opposition of colors, between the bleak past and the colourful present) "With this symbol I undo it all": the scarlet letter thrown into the water as the symbolical pivot of the text, separating doubts and sorrow from relief and happiness ("The stigma gone, Hester heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit.") A liberation: Hester "took off the formal cap that confined her hair" II) A strong description of passion and its power Hester's transfiguration: her beauty is enhanced by the happiness she is living, the text insists on a physical description of the character Dimmesdale's transfiguration: relief and excitement III) A strong communion between humans and nature: the environment reflects human's feelings and experiences, it expresses them) The omnipresence of nature:"forth burst the sunshine", "the obscure forest", "each green leaf", "the gray trunks of the solemn trees", etc. [...]