Literary Analysis in the Scarlet Letter

Raven 1 In Nathaniel Hawthornes book, The Scarlet Letter, the evince Opposites Attract does not always ring true. Such is the case amongst a young apricot and an aging scholar. Through Hawthornes subprogram of figurative diction and imagery, he creates a winter-spring affinity between the 2 characters Roger Chillingworth and Hester Prynne, which ultimately leads to Hesters downf every. The character Hester Prynnes unparalleled y appearhful beauty and passionate character makes her the perfect embodiment of spring.Early on in the text, Hawthorne says She had Acheronian and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and fecundity of complexion, . . . (50) This picturesque description of Hester is used to not only to show her beauty, precisely alike how her beauty is so fresh and vibrant. Her hair being describe as glossy and abundant alludes to her spring-like qualities because in spring, all plants and creatures are advanced and plentiful in number. Hesters position as being a new mother also makes her symbolic of spring, because both represent affluence and new life.Hawthorne even goes as far as saying with the baby at her bosom, an object to remind him of the image if Divine Maternity (53) Hawthorne use this comparison portrays Hester as being a perfect representation of fertility, closely to a god-like degree. It is Raven 2 unquestionable that spring is the most kind and gentle gentle. Hawthorne almost directly states that Hester is spring when he says, Hesters nature showed itself warm and rich a well-spring of hu mankind tenderness, un-failing to all(prenominal) real demand, and infinite by the largest. (146) This is why Hesters demeanor and character also contributes to her embodying spring. purge by saying that her nature was warm, Hawthorne adds to Hesters symbolism, because spring is the first season where warmth is introduced the warm qua lity it possesses is also why spring is considered amicable, because it is the savior after a frigorific, hard winter. Roger Chillingworth represents winter in every possible aspect. His demeanor and appearance both are strong yard of how he symbolizes the season of c senile.When he is examining Hesters health in the jail, he had a gaze that made her heart shrink and shudder, and yet so strange and so cold,.. (67) His cold demeanor directly relates to how winter is the coldest of all the seasons. Even something as simple as his gaze made Hesters heart, which is the warmth of spring, shudder and get smaller. This parallels how a winter frost bay window kill off the warmth and vibrancy of spring. Chillingworths appearance also contributes to him symbolizing winter.He is described as a man well-stricken in years, a pale, thin, scholar-like visage (55) Winter is the season where things get old, barren, and start decaying. So Hawthorne by design describes Chillingworth as old, pale, and thin to make the most obvious statement of how the man and season are so closely related. Chillingworth is anything but a prospering individual being thin and pale, he possesses the attributes that a sickly, perhaps dying, would hand. Chillingworths insatiable appetite for revenge against Dimmesdale also lends to him being seen as a representation of winter.Winter, by itself, is a symbol for wrath and revenge. So when Hawthorne says that This suffering man had made the very principle of his life torevenge. (232), he is present the un freighterny similarities between Chillingworth and winter. Raven 3 Finally, Chillingworths own depict alludes to how he embodies winter. The first eight letters of his name spell out chilling, which can only be associated with the cold temperatures in winter. The vast difference between the deuce characters Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth leads to the rapid decline and incompatibility of their relationship and to Hesters free fall.Chill ingworth is quick to admit how unrealistic his expectations of their relationship are when he says I, - a man already in decay, what had I to do with youth and beauty like thine own (69) Chillingworth, describing himself as a man already in decay re-instills how he represents winter, which is the season where all things decay and die. He also says that Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy bud youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay. (70) Hawthornes use of figurative language is ingenious when he describes Hesters age as a budding youth. Flowers begin to bud at the beginning of spring, so by describing Hesters youth as budding, Hawthorne gives Hester spring-like qualities. The combination of the two previous quotes explains why a relationship between winter and spring could never cost in harmony. Chillingworth and Hester are two totally different individuals Chillingworths cold frost halted any hope of the seedling of pick out to grow within Hesters heart .Chillingworth acknowledges this fact when he says My heart was a habitation large sufficiency for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire. (69) In the end, a relationship between this pair could never work. Hesters lack of cacoethes for Chillingworth led her to commit the sin of adultery, her ultimate downfall. When Chillingworth says from the moment when we came down the old church steps together, a married pair, I might have beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at the end of our path (69) its as if he knew that Hester would cheat on him all along. Hesters downfall was inevitable because Chillingworth could not make her love him due to them coming from two entirely different places winter and spring. Raven 4 The character Hester Prynne experiences a downfall due to the winter-spring relationship established between her and Roger Chillingworth, which Hawthorne illustrates by victimisation the literary devices of figurative language and imag ery.By using the characters as symbols for seasons, the meaning of why a relationship between the two characters cannot work is intensified and condition depth. Through this particular analysis of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, readers can perhaps see that when two people are so completely different from one another, a happy relationship cannot exist love is never going to grow in spring when it is halted by a winter frost. Raven 5 Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. 1850. New York tiny Dell, 2003. Print.