The Scarlet Letter Plot Motif - Essay Example

The way in which sin is associated with darkness and repentance to light is well consumed by the writer. The entire romance thus becomes a kind of exposition of nature. The mood of the characters is effectively set using the motifs. All the major actions of the characters can be categorized to those which happen in the darkness and those which happen in light. It takes place at Boston where people consider religion and law almost similar .The door of the jail was flung open. Led by the down beadle, a young woman emerged, bearing in her arms a child.

On the breast of her gown appeared the letter A, done in fine red cloths, and elaborately embroidered. She was Hester Prynne who had been ordered to wear the scarlet letter “A”- “A” standing for adultery upon her bosom, for the reminder of her life as a mark of shame. Hester went up the steps of the scaffold. She was condemned to stand on the platform of the pillory for a space of three hours, as a mark of public disgrace. The real sinner, the guilty lover, Dimmesdale is their itself before all, in the cold rays of light.

Though he is exposed to deal with the sinner standing in front of him, he successfully hides himself in the darkness of his mind. Before the people like Governor Belligham , the reverend John Wilson ,the eldest clergyman. Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale was assigned the special charge of dealing with the poor sinners soul . It was at Dimmesdale that Hester had brought her scandalous sin. So Dimmesdale, her pastor came forward and exhorted Hester to name the man who was her partner in guilt. Hester says “ Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him ….

But Hester refused to say the name of the father of her child Pearl instead says “my child must seek a heavenly father .” The physician, before whom Hester was brought, is the real husband of her. Being afraid of the reality he also hides himself at the corner of his heart. After the captivity, on the day of her public punishment itself, he came to the town; saw her standing as a sinner. He suddenly raised his fingers near to the lips, thus making her silence about their past relations. They repented each other for misusing their youth.

Though Roger begged her to reveal the name of her child’s father, she did not and also promise not to reveal the relation between the two. The period of punishment was over and Hester decided to settle in a small house on the outskirts of the town with her child Pearl. She engaged in needlework .But Pearl was growing up as an undisciplined girl. To save her from the custody of her mother and to bring her up as a good child, the governor Bellingham, Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth decided to take the child away from her.

But Dimmesdale interfered and Hester was allowed to keep Pearl. The reverend believes that in the presence of pearl, Hester will not go into darkness. Thus once gain Pearl stand for the powerful light that can brighten the life of Hester After that Dimmesdale began growing emaciated or the darkness in his mind began to fade always to receive the light of repentance. Roger Chillingworth was there to look after him. “Chilling worth maniacally uses his skills as a physician to probe, control, and otherwise torture the ailing Dimmesdale” (Johnson 63).

The doctor understood that he was much perturbed by feeling of conscience and guilt. Chillingworth, so shrewd he was, could clearly infer the cause of Dimmesdale malady. Probably Dimmesdale was suffering from a troubled conscience because of his involvement with Hester in adultery. Dimmesdale longed to confess his sin from the pulpit of his participation in adulterous act. He wanted to tell the people how impure he was. The anguish in him was so strong to pull him to stand on the pulpit where Hester