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Heidi Travis

Dr. Calcaterra

Critical Methods

29 April 2014

The Scarlet Letter: Beyond Chiaroscuro

One does not have to look far when searching for light, shadow and color imagery in The

Scarlet Letter. The title alone evokes color before the reader even engages the text. It is easy to

see that color plays a vital role in Hawthorne's storytelling, but what does it mean?

Hawthorne's application of light and shadow throughout the novel is no mere coincidence.

Despite the scarlet emblem at the center of the novel, Hawthorne paints a stark world of black

and white with his words. The narrator describes the Puritans as wearing sad colored garments

and grey, steeple-crowned hats and the forests as black (53). Against this backdrop of shadow

puppetry, a crime of passion stands out in startling red: adultery, represented by the scarlet A

that Hester Prynne is sentenced to wear for life. The alarming contrast of the iconic symbol

against the somber surroundings of the New England colony brings it to the foreground. The

narrator states that, the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer....was

that SCARLET LETTER (58). The question is, what did Hawthorne intend by all this color

play?

Janson's History of Art defines chiaroscuro, the Italian word for light and dark, as a

method of modeling form primarily by the use of light and shade (966). Using this technique,

three-dimensional bodies [are] made visible in varying degrees by the incidence of light. In the

shadows, these shapes remain incomplete (454).1 Hawthorne employs shadow and light

1 See Fig 1 in Endnotes for an example of the chiaroscuro technique in a Da Vinci painting.
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imagery in a similar fashion to provide dimension to complex themes within the novel which are

symbolically represented in color. Using the technique of, what I call written chiaroscuro,

Hawthorne brings themes of morality, individuality and spiritualism into sharp focus. In the

same way that chiaroscuro adds depth to a work of art, Hawthorne employs his imagery to

highlight transcendental themes against the black and white of Puritan theocratic extremism.

Hawthorne employs color to show the truth that would otherwise lie hidden within the hearts

of men; whether it be guilt, revenge or passion. The line, Be true! Be true! Be true! Show

freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred is a

statement on the necessity of shadow as well as light to illuminate what colors and thereby

exposes the individual struggle between societal moral expectations and human nature which I

believe is a central moral in The Scarlet Letter (199). Furthermore, I assert that Hawthorne

purposely employs the technique of chiaroscuro in the crafting of his novel--his art--to expose

his artistic passion in full color as an act of rebellion against his Puritanical ancestors who did

not see the merits of such an enterprise.

Hawthorne's technique of written chiaroscuro permeates his iconic novel. He employs his

shadow-play and color imagery from the very beginning. He begins by painting a rather

unforgiving picture of life in the early New England colony. The narrator criticizes the Puritan

idea of a utopian society by noting that it's very founder's invariably recognized it among their

earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion

as the site of a prison, an implication that severely undermines any utopian ideal (53). To be

sure, Hawthorne's perception of Puritan society is a joyless one. When recalling his own

Puritanical ancestry in The Custom House, he quips:

The figure of that first ancestor, invested by my family tradition with a dim and

dusky grandeur still haunts me, and induces a sort of home-feeling with the past,

which I scarcely claim in reference to the present phase of this town. I seem to

have a stronger claim to a residence here on account of this grave, bearded, sable-

cloaked, and steeple- crowned progenitor... (26-27).

Dim, and dusky, are just two of the words he applies to describe his Puritan ancestor;

furthermore, in the narrative he repeats the imagery describing his forefathers as black

browed or as a grey shadow (27). The Puritan's severe lives, much like their views, are

depicted in dark imagery of black and white. In his article Christ in Color: Why Do We Make

Jesus So Grey When He was Anything But, Timothy Hall quotes H.L. Mencken saying that

Puritan's were plagued with the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy(qtd.

54). It was a culture of ultimate suppression and it washed the color out of life. The idea that

religious extremism leeches the color out of faith and creates a monochromatic view of the

world certainly applies to the Puritanical world which the main players of The Scarlet Letter

inhabit.

It is very fitting that Hawthorne's first use of chiaroscuro should take place at the

threshold of [the] narrative with the juxtaposition of color against the black and white edifice

of the jail (54). The narrator describes the jail, which represents Puritanical law and order, as

being marked with weather stains and other indications of age, which gave a yet darker aspect

to its beetle-browed and gloomy front (54). It hardly seems a fitting place to begin a story and

is certainly not very inviting. However a counter symbol appears against this uninviting

structure: A wild rosebush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might
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be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the

condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could

pity and be kind to him (54). Here is Hawthorne's first use of his written chiaroscuro within The

Scarlet Letter. The jail, solid, imposing, and dark symbolizes the Puritan way. Law and order

reign with little room for compromise within their tightly structured world. The aged quality of

the jail implies, perhaps, an outdated ethic that the Puritans cling to, a certain resistance to

progress or change. In contrast, the wild rosebush grows, thriving and free even in this

inhospitable environment and it implies a certain defiance in nature. The boldness of the symbol

heightens when considering that the natural color of roses is traditionally red. In his essay

Scarlet Letters: Metonymic Uses of the Color Red, Abra Verosub observes that The color red

is the most salient color perceptible to the human eye. It is an 'aggressive' color which possesses

several unique physical properties that force it into perceptual prominence. Because the focal

point for red light waves is behind the retina, red objects create an optical illusion of being larger

and nearer than they actually are. Therefore, [r]ed holds a privileged position as the first, and

often the only, color named in any linguistic system, and is therefore used to designate things

that are special and different from the norm (27). Pitted against the gloomy edifice of the jail,

the red rosebush stands out in much the same way, the reader soon finds, that Hester does against

the townspeople. Taking it a step further, the rose bush that blooms in adversity is representative

of dissension or defiance of convention. Hester may be seen as a symbolic representation of the

first step towards a break from traditional values, laying the necessary groundwork for future

generations, represented in Pearl. It is in this descriptive scene that Hawthorne lays the

groundwork to employ his intricate chiaroscuro to expose multiple symbols,

and thereby meanings, pointing towards the next generation to be true.

In an 1850 review of The Scarlet Letter, critic Q.D. Leavis opines that, Hester Prynne,

Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, and the wild, beautiful and unfathomable little Pearl are as true

as they are originalthey are poetical embodiments of the highest, strongest and most tenacious

and most inconsistent principles of our nature (qtd. in Lease). Each character plays a critical

role in the novel on the surface level, but is also emblematic of a greater cause or theme. The

shadow, light and color imagery utilized for each character highlights the hidden meanings

within and exposes each character's truth.

When the reader first encounters Hester, in chapter two, Hawthorne paints her as,tall,

with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark 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 richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and

deep black eyes (57). This description stands out in vivid color against that of the town-beadle

who is said to be like a black shadow emerging into the sunshine (57). The elements of light

and shadow play around Hester's visage in this early encounter. Hawthorne visualizes her in full

color, a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile playing charmingly across her features. At this

point in the story, Hester's trials have not yet taken their toll upon her. The scarlet A upon her

chest is the focus of everyone's attentions, however. The gold and scarlet brand seem to cast a

spell around her: Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed

and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled to perceive how her

beauty shown out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was

enveloped (58). Hester's sin thrusts her into the spotlight, and rather than being perceived as a
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criminal, Hawthorne paints her in a sympathetic light that transforms her into a martyr. The

sunlight plays off of her dark hair and eyes and brings out the blush of her cheek and clear

complexion. Light plays on dark and it highlights the freshness of youth, motherhood and the

belligerence or pride that still beat within Hester's heart. She stays true to herself and does not

balk at the jeering mob. On the contrary, she stands, warrior like and wears her scarlet A like

a coat of arms as she faces the mass of grey hecklers before her. Hawthorne presents a Hester

that appears strong now, but her time of punishment has only just begun and her fading color

illustrates the toll that years of repression take on her.

When Dimmesdale sees Hester in the forest scene of chapter seventeen, he is struck by

the apparition he meets. Hester is clad in garments so sombre, and so little relieved from the

grey twilight [] that he knew not whether it were a woman or a shadow (151). Hester's color

fades so much that she is virtually unsexed by it. In this illustration of Hester, Hawthorne offers

little of the woman first encountered in the opening scaffold scene. The punishment she endures,

after years of suppression, robs her of her vitality and effectively relegates Hester completely to

the background. The dramatic shift in color palates implies that Hester has been leeched of all

color by subjugation to Puritanical law. Yet, all is not lost. Pearl becomes the sole beneficiary of

Hester's color and light.

It is no coincidence that Hawthorne illustrates Pearl in so many colorful terms: ruby,

red rose, a wild tropical bird of rich plumage, and of course, the scarlet letter. Pearl is

clearly stated to be the physical manifestation of Hester's symbolic scarlet A. Hester goes to

great pains to make the connection herself, dressing her child in the brilliant shades of scarlet

and gold, mirroring the emblem upon her chest. Pearl serves as a concrete reminder of Hester's
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indiscretions and serves dual purpose as Hester's pearl of great price (81). This sentiment is

best summed up in Hester's statement, She is my happiness!-- She is my torture, none the less

(98).

In appearance, Pearl exudes, rich and luxuriant beauty; a beauty that shone deep with

vivid tints, a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair

already a deep, glossy brown (90). In truth, Pearl's description is strikingly similar to Hester's

in the first chapter. Hawthorne's mirroring color schemes are deliberate. The similarities,

however, go far beyond the surface. Pearl's namesake evokes white and purity which aligns with

the Puritan values, but she is something of a contradiction. When Hester tries to puzzle out her

child's character, she comes to the conclusion that she:

could only account for the child's characterand even then, most vaguely and

imperfectlyby recalling what she herself had been, during that momentous

period while Pearl was imbibing her soul from the spiritual world, and her bodily

frame from its material of earth. The mother's impassioned state had been the

medium through which were transmitted to the unborn infant the rays of its moral

life; and however white and clear originally, they had taken the deep stains of

crimson and gold, the fiery lustre, the black shadow, and the untempered light, of

intervening substance. (83).

Hester observes the hallmarks of her own character in the child's nature. She could recognize

her wild, desperate, defiant mood, the flightiness of her temper and even some of the cloud-

shapes of gloom and despondency; these traits are more plainly seen illuminated by the

radiance of a young child's disposition(83). Hester's guilt leads to self-denial and the
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suppression of her true colors. Hester has done what she can to rid herself of those qualities that

the Puritans perceive as sinful. Therefore, the white pearl becomes a canvass for Hester to

emblazon her passionate spirit in taints of crimson and gold. Her restlessness, passion, and ill

temper have been poured into the spirit of her child while in the womb and were, at once,

expelled from her at the time of Pearl's birth. According to Shari Benstock in her essay The

Scarlet Letter (a)doree, of the Female Body Embroidered Hester's 'lost' sexual nature is

transferred to her daughter, whose passionate temperament apparently knows no repression

(406). Hester compartmentalizes these facets of her character and transfers them to the child as a

means to rid herself of them and yet preserve them. The black shadow and untempered light

are important imagery Hawthorne employs to represent elements of Hester's own contrasting

shades of morality; both are vital to show the full color spectrum she transfers to the child's

character. Pearl now embodies Hester's true colors and the result is two-fold: a shadowy Hester

Prynne and a vibrant, richly hued Pearl. Pearl, as an extension of Hester, is made clearer when

the child claims that she has not been made at all but rather plucked by her mother off the

bush of wild roses, that grew by the prison-door: the rosebush, which represents Hester (97).

This opens yet one more layer of Hawthorne's symbolic coloring in Pearl. Pearl

represents a new era. As an extension of the rosebush imagery, Pearl blooms in red. As noted,

red connotes things that are different from the norm, which certainly applies to Pearl. In his

essay Color, Light and Shadows in Hawthorne's Fiction Walter Blair notes that, Pearl

represents the unmorality of a child, which differs greatly from the wickedness of Chillingworth

or the consciousness of sin of the gray Puritans, and that hers is a radiating light (83-84).

Realized in her full color, Hawthorne sets Pearl boldly against the Puritans whose black and
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white represents the rigidity of their views that religion and law were almost identical, and in

whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and severest acts of public

discipline were alike, venerable and awful (55). The Puritans do not know what exactly to make

of a child who, could not be made amendable to rules (83). Pearl's birth right seems to be that

of colorful chaos in a rigid and ordered black and white world. The key lies in the circumstances

into which Pearl was born. The narrator offers that, In giving her existence, a great law had

been broken; [] the result was, a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant,

but all in disorder; or with an order peculiar to themselves, amidst which the point of variety and

arrangement was difficult or impossible to be discovered (83). Pearl has been born outside of

the Puritanical code of ethics. Their monochromatic color schemes are mere backdrops for Pearl

to play against. Hawthorne fills each of her scenes with overflowing color and light while she

dances along the crisp lines and borders of the somber Puritan world. Pearl is a first of a new

breed of woman and this opens up possibilities to her that were never open to her mother who

remains mired in that black and white world. The possibility is hinted at in the following passage

from chapter fifteen:

In the little chaos of Pearl's character, there might be seen emergingand could

have been, from the very firstthe steadfast principles of an unflinching

courage,--an uncontrollable will,--a sturdy pride, which might be disciplined into

self-respect,--and a bitter scorn of many things, which, when examined might be

found to have the taint of falsehood in them. She possessed affections too, though

hitherto acrid and disagreeable, as are richest flavors of unripe fruit. With all these

sterling attributes, thought Hester, the evil which she inherited from her mother
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must be great indeed, if a noble woman do not grow out of this elfish child (144).

Abra Verosub says that, power is red, honor is red as well. Cardinals may wear red as a symbol

of honor, as well as a symbol of their godliness (36). It is possible that Hawthorne intended

Pearl's striking red tones, her passions, her vibrant moods and her unwillingness to be untrue to

her nature as signifiers of the promise of power and honor in the child's future. She is the hope

for a new era. In this way, Hawthorne's colorful treatment of Pearl reveals her role as the

beneficiary of the fruits of Hester's rebellion.

Another interesting study in contrasts is the curious case of the Reverend Arthur

Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth. In each character, Hawthorne employs his careful

chiaroscuro to reflect the inner workings of his heart and the two play against each other.

Dimmesdale is a scholar and a man of God. As a minister, he holds a position of responsibility to

guide his parishioners and uphold the theocratic truths and law. The young man is greatly

admired by the townspeople and they revere his every word. They fancied him the mouth-piece

of Heaven's messages of wisdom, and rebuke, and love. In their eyes, the very ground on which

he trod was sanctified (119). Dimmesdale, however, is a man at war. His mind cannot reconcile

the sin buried deeply within his heart. In fact, the minister's heart is so tormented by feelings of

guilt and shame, that he habitually places a hand over his chest as if to conceal the offending

organ; quite a contrast with Hester's brazen displays in the marketplace. His scarlet letter is

unseen, truth hidden. The sin he has committed and the desires he keeps hidden do not align with

the values he preaches. Dimmesdale's is primarily described as a pale or angelic youth and

yet his heart conceals his red passion. In his essay Color, Light, and Shadow in Hawthorne's

Fiction Walter Blair states that Dimmesdale's pallor and the dark depths of his eyes typify the
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contrast he makes between the 'pale face' he lifts heavenward and the 'black secret of his soul'

(87). Here, Dimmesdale is torn between two truths: The truth of his ministerial duties and the

truth of the sin he has committed. The minister is portrayed in white, though his hypocrisy masks

his black soul and red passion. This internal tug-of-war leaves him a man divided, as evidenced

in the following passage: It was his genuine impulse to adore the truth, and to reckon all things

shadow-like, and utterly devoid of weight or value, that had not its divine essence as the life

within their life. Then what was he?--a substance?--or the dimmest of shadows (119).

Dimmesdale himself feels that he is incomplete, a man made shadow by his warring conscience.

Despite his struggle beneath the surface, the townspeople often liken Dimmesdale to an angel.

They perceive his sufferings to be brought on by the demands of his office, rather than suspect

any darker motive. The narrator claims that ...he trode in the shadowy by-paths, and thus kept

himself simple and child-like; coming forth, when occasion was, with a freshness and fragrance

and dewy purity of thought, which, as many people said, affected them like the speech of an

angel (67). Again, the angel imagery is employed here. Dimmesdale's paleness often lends

him the ethereal quality of an angel, but with the weight of his sin burdening him, he cannot

ascend to his full ecclesiastical height. Dimmesdale is a fallen angel.

In contrast, Roger Chillingworth brings a very dark presence to the novel. In fact, he

presents the second most dramatic change in appearance in The Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth,

upon learning of Hester's infidelity, forsakes his former life. The man he wasthe husband and

scholaris as good as at the bottom of the sea, as most townspeople already believe him to be

and he is, consequently, reborn with a new and sinister purpose (64). Henceforth, Roger

Chillingworth, the misshapen, hunched and otherwise unassuming scholar undergoes a radical
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change and it is quite palpable. Initially Chillingworth's expression had been calm, meditative

and scholar-like yet after a time, townspeople see a transformation in him and they note that,

there was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed, and

which grew still more obvious to sight, the oftener they looked upon him.(108). Strange rumors

arise. Some villagers even go as far as believing that the fire in his laboratory had been brought

from the lower regions, and was fed by infernal fuel; and so, as might be expected, his visage

was getting sooty with smoke (108). Chillingworth's darkening character is attributed to

something infernal. His darkness is representative of his evil purpose and the havoc it wreaks

on his body and soul. Hawthorne's predominantly black tones and absence of light make

Chillingworth a living shadow: not fading as with Hester, whose suppression relegates her to the

background, but rather strengthening with his fierce determination. Chillingworth's evil intent

dehumanizes him and reduces him to a haunting, spectral, parasitic figure. He is called a fiend

and more than once, the Black Man, which is a Puritan moniker for the Devil. The narrator

puts it best, saying to sum up the matter, it grew to be a widely diffused opinion that the

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale [] was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan's emissary, in

the guise of old Roger Chillingworth (109). Chillingworth's true self is the devil to

Dimmesdale's fallen angel and he preys on the weakened minister, poisoning his mind with his

dark suggestions.

The characters in The Scarlet Letter alone are walking art pieces Hawthorne creates to fill

the canvass of his novel with evocative, persuasive images that drive at larger themes. Yet the

world these personages inhabit, their actions and even their environments serve a similar

function. There are moments in the novel where the color play is active in all these key elements.
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There are two pivotal scenes in The Scarlet Letter which Hawthorne tells in gradients of shadow

and light. His chiaroscuro is intricately interwoven into the fabric of the narrative to illustrate the

internal struggles of his protagonists and highlight the deeper meaning within the text.

Hawthorne's skillful wordplay shines most in these key scenes. The first of these scenes is in

chapter twelve, The Minister's Vigil in which Arthur Dimmesdale revisits the infamous

scaffold from the opening of the novel where Hester was forced to stand to take her punishment.

Dimmesdale climbs upon the black and weather-stained scaffold. The narrator states that

anyone witness to Dimmesdale's presence there, would discern[ed] no face above the platform,

nor hardly the outline of a human shape, in the dark grey of the midnight (122). In the cloak of

night, Dimmesdale pantomimes a confession, crying out his guilt from his perch. The

hypocrisy of this mock confession is striking when compared to Hester's very public trial by fire.

Hawthorne sets the scene of Hester's public sentencing at noon, when the sun is at its zenith. The

truth of her crime was plain to see by all in that relentless light of day. Dimmesdale's

confession, however, comes in the shadows of midnight. Hawthorne uses this contrasting

imagery to reflect the darkness in which the wayward minister hides his truth. In the safety of

this darkness, the minister puts on a passion play for no one, or so he thinks. There are

witnesses. From Governor Bellingham's mansion, two figures appear in two separate windows.

In one window, Bellingham himself appears, a lamp in his hand, a white night-cap on his head,

and a long white gown enveloping his figure. (123). In the other window Mistress Hibbins,

Bellingham's sister who is rumored to be a witch, appears also with a lamp. Through darkness,

these twin figures are illuminated in lamplight. They play the roles of judges to Dimmesdale's

crime, each vying for his soul. On one hand, the ghostly white Governor Bellingham represents
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the good Puritanical law and on the other, Mistress Hibbins represents the dark, evil occult.

Their lamps shine out in the darkness, illuminating each figure separately. Hawthorne's inclusion

of the two figures brings to light the struggle between good and evil within the minister's own

warring conscience.

As the scene plays out, the two judges exit and Hester and Pearl enter as players. They

come across the minister upon the scaffold and he beckons them to climb it and take their place

beside him. They stand hand in hand and face the darkness that conceals them. Pearl, then,

persuades the minister, Wilt though stand here with mother and me, tomorrow noontide (126).

Again, the significance of the light of noon in Hawthorne's imagery is that of exposing the truth.

Pearl demands the truth. Dimmesdale will not relent and he replies that they will stand together

at the great judgement day! Then, and there, before the judgement seat, thy mother, and thou,

and I, must stand together! But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting [!] (126-

127). Dimmesdale rejects the light, thereby rejecting Pearl's entreaty for a public confession. As

if in challenge to Dimmesdale's quailing, at that very moment a great light beams out of the sky,

illuminating the trio on the scaffold. The entire scene is visible but with a singularity of aspect

that seem[s] to give another moral interpretation to the things of this world than they ever bourne

before [] They stood in the noon of that strange and solemn splendor as if it were the light that

is to reveal all secrets, and the day break that shall unite all who belong to one another (127).

The noon light illuminates Dimmesdale, Hester and Pearl and exposes the truth of their

connection to each other. Furthermore, as the scene continues to unfold, another strange and

even more revealing sign appears before them. The narrator states that the minister , looking

upward toward the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter the letter A-
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marked out in lines of red light (128). This comet blazes red across the sky and manifests

Dimmesdale's guilt openly. The sheer magnitude of the celestial event seems to quantify the

scope of the crime the minister attempts to hide, the hopelessness in such an endeavor and the

power of the divine to expose and bring such misdeeds to justice. With the sky as a canvass,

Hawthorne paints Dimmesdale guilt in bold red across it and brings his truth to light.

The second scene that would be impossible to overlook when speaking of Hawthorne's

shadow and light imagery is the forest scene of chapters sixteen through nineteen. In this

climatic scene, Hester and Dimmesdale meet secretly in the forest and make plans to flee the

settlement together. Hawthorne employs his expert hand once more to paint a different picture

behind the scenes. When Hester and Pearl first enter the forest, the narrator describes it as

black and dense, the footpath they take is hemmed [] in so narrowly by it that she and

Pearl catch only imperfect glimpses of sky above (147). Already, the black and dense forest

brings to mind confinement. Hester's freedom is limited to a very narrow pathway dictated by

Puritanical law. There is no room to stray. The sunlight that does manage to break through the

thick foliage and gray expanse of cloud is described as being sportive, fleeting, flickering

sunshine. It withdrew itself as they came nigh, and left the spots where it had danced the

drearier because they had hoped to find it bright (147). Hope seems as fleeting as the sunlight

for Hester, and all of nature seems to paint this rather taunting picture around her.

Pearl, whom I have established as a representative of a new era of hope, is aware of Hester's

misfortune: Mother, [] the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because

it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is playing, a good way off. Stand you

here, and let me run and catch it. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom
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yet

Hester's reply exposes itself as a critical point: Nor ever will, my child, I hope (147). Hester

will never catch the sunlight for she wears her shame for life. When she transferred her

passions and will into Pearl, her hope for a better life consequently was inherited by the child as

well. Only Pearl, who already stands outside of the Puritanical moral code, can hope to find a

different kind of life. When Hester dares to hope at all, the consequences are unsettling.

As previously stated, Pearl is the sole beneficiary of Hester's true color. When

Dimmesdale encounters Hester in the forest, he is struck by her grey, spectral appearance to the

point that she could hardly be called a woman at all. There is a moment, however, in the forest

scene when Hester reclaims her color. Dimmesdale agrees to Hester's plan to run away together

and for the briefest moment, the two share in this glimmer of hope. In this moment of

exhilaration, the reader sees shades of Hester's former self. Impulsively, she unfastens her scarlet

letter and tosses it away. She then removes her cap and her hair spills out, dark and rich, with

at once a shadow and a light in its abundance. A crimson blush rises to her cheeks that had

been long so pale. The narrator states that, her sex, youth and the whole richness of her beauty

came back (160). The image of Hester here is the truest to her color that Hawthorne offers the

reader since her initial introduction. Hawthorne illustrates the effects of hope and renewed

purpose in Hester by applying both shadow and light to her description and it restores her to full

color once more. Simultaneous with the change wrought in Hester, a burst of light shines

through the forest illuminating all and [t]he objects that had made a shadow hitherto, embodied

the brightness now (161). Hawthorne's employment of light is a manipulation meant to give the

reader hope for the protagonists as well, but it is untrue.

Pearl will have none of it. When Hester reclaims her color, Pearl's function as beneficiary is

void, therefore, she is robbed of purpose. The child immediately grows inconsolably riotous. She

refuses to even come near Hester and Dimmesdale. A strange illusion manifests before their

eyes. A kind of duality plays out in the image of little Pearl: The very real flesh and blood Pearl

and her vivid reflection on the surface of the brook where she had been playing before Hester

called to her. The following passage describes the phenomenon:

Just where she had paused the brook chanced to form a pool, so smooth and quiet

that it reflected a perfect little image of her figure, with all the brilliant

picturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment of flowers and wreathed foliage,

but more spiritualized than the reality. This image, so nearly identical with the

living Pearl, seemed to communicate somewhat of its own shadowy and

intangible quality to the child herself (164).

As if mirroring the fracture in Pearl's symbology, Hawthorne presents this double-vision to

convey the consequence of her revoked identity. Both images convey an ethereal intangibility

and seem somehow less real or true. Despite Pearl's vivid tones, she is also described as being

shadowy. The balance of color, light and shadow is askew. Hester's claim to her true colors

cannot stand if Pearl is to continue to exist in her true form, therefore Hester must be relegated

to her former shades of grey. In the end, she relents and restores the A to its place upon her

breast and almost immediately her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood,

depart[ed], like fading sunshine; and a grey shadow seemed to fall across her (166). The gesture

appeases Pearl and she breaks away from the brookside and returns to her mother. Hawthorne's

color play is a dramatic reminder to the reader that freedom and hope are Pearl's exclusive
 Travis 18

birthright and that Hester's sacrifice that makes it thus.

As I have asserted, Hawthorne's keen attention to shadow-play and color gradients is

deliberate in his creation of The Scarlet Letter. His written chiaroscuro skilfully directs the

reader's attentions towards the struggle of each individual character's warring light and dark

elements in the quest to find his own truth. Be true! Be true! Be true[!] (199). The final

scenes of the novel issue this entreaty as Hawthorne reveals each main player's true color.

Arthur Dimmesdale's dying confession upon the scaffold, reveals him a sinner to the

townspeople. Some among them claim to behold a scarlet letterthe very semblance of that

worn by Hester Prynneimprinted in the flesh of his chest (198). At last, Dimmesdale's red

passion and his connection to Hester as her partner in crime comes to light. It is the light of this

truth that deals Roger Chillingworth his critical deathblow. Immediately following Dimmesdale's

death, the parasitic Roger Chillingworth is said to be stripped of all his vital and intellectual

force and he positively wither[s] up and shrivel[s] away [] like an uprooted weed that lies

wilting in the sun (199). Chillingworth's all-consuming vengeance dehumanizes him to the

point of making him a shadow whose only purpose has been to feed on Dimmesdale's

misfortune. Hawthorne cleverly uses the sun to chase the shadows away. Effectively, Roger

Chillingworth lies wilting in the light cast by Dimmesdale's confession which shines on his

truth like the sun. He dies a year later leaving Pearl a considerable amount of property (200).

Pearl becomes the richest heiress of her day, in the New World, but she does not stay in

the New World. Both she and Hester disappear shortly after Chillingworth's death. Hester returns

to the settlement many years later but Pearl is notably missing. However, Hester

Travis 19
periodically receives letters with armorial seals upon them [] unknown to English

heraldry(200). Her little cottage also shows signs of richness in articles of comfort and luxury

that only wealth could have purchased and affection have imagined for her (200). Pearl's

fulfills the foreshadowed red honor and power symbology by establishing a successful life

outside of the Puritanical theocracy.

In contrast to Pearl's hope-filled brilliance, Hawthorne reapplies his monochromatic

coloring to Hester once again. On her return, she wears a gray robe and glide[s] shadow-

like into her old cottage where she takes up the scarlet letter once more (200). According to

Hester, here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence for there

was a more real life for [her] here in New England (201). At the close of the novel, Hester has

made peace with the truth of her muted existence. Diligently and willingly she lives as a shadow

of the past blending into the backdrop of Puritan society. Hawthorne applies a final touch.

Hester's grave, relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow,

reads: ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES (202). Hawthorne's final brushstroke

leaves the reader with Hester's somber legacy; such is her truth.

From cover to cover, The Scarlet Letter travels the full spectrum of color and shadow

through Hawthorne's application of his written chiaroscuro. The resulting novel is a literary art

piece told in varying shades, depth and hues of moral tincture. Hawthorne himself sees the world

in chromatic scales. In The Custom House Hawthorne describes the effect of moonlight, in a

familiar room [] showing all its figures so distinctlymaking ever object so minutely visible,

yet so unlike the morning or noontide visibility so that it's every day objects, ...sofa, book-

case; the picture on the wall [] are so spiritualized by the unusual light, that they seem to lose

Travis 20
their actual substance, and become things of intellect (46).

The Scarlet Letter receives this color treatment because Hawthorne sees the world this

way. Furthermore, the very nature of Hawthorne's authorship, and the language he employs

expose his true artistic colors. When he imagines what his Puritanical ancestors might say about

his authorship, he muses:

No aim, that I have ever cherished, would they recognize as laudable; no success

of mineif my life, beyond its domestic scope, had ever been brightened by

successwould they deem otherwise worthless, if not positively disgraceful.

What is he? murmurs one gray shadow of my forefathers to another. A writer

of storybooks! What kind of a business in life [] may that be[?] (27).

Hawthorne's sardonic sketch of the jeering grey shadows of his forefathers shows his

rebellious attitude towards their narrow-minded, black and white perceptions of his artistic

pursuits. In response, Hawthorne embraces his truth and pours his artistic passion into the

crafting of this provocative novel, lavishing it generously with dark overtones, fleeting light and

wild flourishes of scandalous red. The result is a stunning, complex and visual, literary

masterpiece.

Travis 21
 Endnotes

Fig. 1. Leornardo da Vinci. The Virgin of the Rocks. c. 1485. Oil on panel transferred to canvas,

6'6' X 4' (1.9 x 1.2m). Musee du Louvre, Paris (454).

Travis 22
 Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical

Background and Critical History plus Essays from Five Contemporary Critical

Perspectives with Introductions and Bibliographies. 2nd Ed. Ross C. Murfin. Boston:

Bedford, 2006. Print.

Benstock, Shari. The Scarlet Letter (a)doree, or The Female Body Embroidered. Nathaniel

Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical

Background and Critical History plus Essays from Five Contemporary Critical

Perspectives with Introductions and Bibliographies. 2nd Ed. Ross C. Murfin. Boston:

Bedford, 2006. 396-411. Print.

Blair, Walter. Color, Light and Shadow in Hawthorne's Fiction. The New England Quarterly.

15. (1942). 74-94 . Mon. 24. Mar. 2014.

Hall, Timothy L. "Christ in Color: why do we make Jesus so gray when he was anything but?"

Christianity Today Dec. 2013: 54+. U.S. History in Context. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

Janson, H.W. The History of Art. 5th Ed. Joanne Greenspun. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

1997. Print.

Lease, Benjamin. " 'The Whole is a Prose Poem ': An Early Review of The Scarlet Letter.

American Literature. 44. (1972): 128-130. Wed. 30. Mar. 2014.

Verosub, Abra L. "Scarlet Letters: Metonymic Uses of the Color Red." Semiotica: Journal Of

The International Association for Semiotic Studies/Revue De L'association

Internationale 102.1-2 (1994): 27-47. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 28 Mar.

2014.
Fig. 1. Leonardo da Vinci. The Virgin of the Rocks. c. 1485. Oil on panel transferred to canvas,

6'6 x 4' (1.9 x 1.2 m) Musee du Louvre, Paris (454).