The literary theme light versus dark is used by many authors to depict strong feelings in a story. The use of the light and dark settings will establish the mood for the reader depending on the description. The author could use a bright and sunny day to create the mood, in this case, peaceful, loving and happy. In contrast to this, the author could also use a gloomy and dark setting to make the mood scary and evil. Darkness is used to portray hatred and punishment, or in the puritan society sin. The novel The Scarlet Letter is mainly a gloomy, dark story because it is centered on sin in the puritan society.

Through out The Scarlet Letter, light is used

The man known as Reverend Dimmesdale is the person who Hester had her affair with. He was once represented by the light for he used to be a well-respected, good mannered person. He was not punished for his actions for no one knew that it was their Reverend that had had committed adultery with Hester. Although he was not punished, he brought himself down with his own guilt, which for him was a very injurious punishment. His guilt made him a darker person as the novel moved on, and this same guilt later brought about his death in the end.

The main location represented with darkness is the gloomy forest. When someone in the puritan village sins, they are exiled and sent to the forest to live on their own. This was where Hester was sent when she committed adultery. In the puritan society and in the novel the devil is called the black man. The black man is only seen in the dark forest and this is why the sinners are sent there. While in the darkness of the forest, all things said or done are kept secret from the eyes of the outside world. The forest is a very secure place to go to talk about things for there is no one there to listen to what you have to say. It is for this reason that Mistress Hibbins prefers to meet in the forest at night so people can sign away their souls to the devil without others knowing. Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest to talk as well, since it is the only safe place for the two to meet. It is only in the forest where they can talk about their future plans to leave Boston for Europe.

Dimmesdale is very similar to Hester through out the story. They both share the same crime, and like Hester, he was once light but darkness slowly took over him. “Dimmesdale created his own darkness with guilt” (Light vs. Dark. p.2). His life was miserable and he could not live happily seeing Hester being punished like she was. Dimmesdale knew that he should also be going through the same punishment, which made him feel extremely guilty. The guilt that was created was so strong and sincere that Dimmesdale became very sick and depressed. As the novel continued, he got sicker and sadder, while becoming darker and darker. The people of the town thought it was Chillingworth making Dimmesdale sick and depressed and that Chillingworth himself was a messenger from the black man. Dimmesdale knew this was not true and knew he was feeling sick from the guilt. At the conclusion of the novel, Dimmesdal

Some topics in this essay:
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