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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
The Custom House
Explanation and Analysis—Graves and Prisons:
Graves and prisons, or other spaces of confinement, are a motif throughout the novel. The narrator makes clear that there is a strong link between graves and prisons in Chapter 1:
The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have 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.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Moral Stains:
Metaphorical stains appear as a motif throughout the novel, suggesting that immorality leaves traces that can't be erased. Although the scarlet letter itself is the primary example of such a mark, the narrator introduces the idea of moral stains in the "Custom House" chapter:
Unlock with LitCharts A+His son, too, inherited the persecuting spirit, and made himself so conspicuous in the martyrdom of the witches, that their blood may fairly be said to have left a stain upon him. So deep a stain, indeed, that his old dry bones, in the Charter Street burial-ground, must still retain it, if they have not crumbled utterly to dust!
Related Themes:
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Graves and Prisons:
Graves and prisons, or other spaces of confinement, are a motif throughout the novel. The narrator makes clear that there is a strong link between graves and prisons in Chapter 1:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have 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.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
Light and dark imagery appears throughout the novel as a motif, often representing secrets and disclosure. For instance, in Chapter 12, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl stand together on the scaffold at night but under the light of a meteor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two. 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 daybreak that shall unite all who belong to one another.
Related Themes:
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Pearl's Recognition:
Pearl's eerie recognition of her parents and their adultery is a motif in the novel, even when Pearl is an infant. In Chapter 3, when Hester first stands with Pearl on the scaffold, Pearl is strangely responsive to Dimmesdale's sermon:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Even the poor baby, at Hester's bosom, was affected by the same influence; for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale, and held up its little arms, with a half-pleased, half-plaintive murmur.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Moral Stains:
Metaphorical stains appear as a motif throughout the novel, suggesting that immorality leaves traces that can't be erased. Although the scarlet letter itself is the primary example of such a mark, the narrator introduces the idea of moral stains in the "Custom House" chapter:
Unlock with LitCharts A+His son, too, inherited the persecuting spirit, and made himself so conspicuous in the martyrdom of the witches, that their blood may fairly be said to have left a stain upon him. So deep a stain, indeed, that his old dry bones, in the Charter Street burial-ground, must still retain it, if they have not crumbled utterly to dust!
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Pearl's Recognition:
Pearl's eerie recognition of her parents and their adultery is a motif in the novel, even when Pearl is an infant. In Chapter 3, when Hester first stands with Pearl on the scaffold, Pearl is strangely responsive to Dimmesdale's sermon:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Even the poor baby, at Hester's bosom, was affected by the same influence; for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale, and held up its little arms, with a half-pleased, half-plaintive murmur.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Pearl's Recognition:
Pearl's eerie recognition of her parents and their adultery is a motif in the novel, even when Pearl is an infant. In Chapter 3, when Hester first stands with Pearl on the scaffold, Pearl is strangely responsive to Dimmesdale's sermon:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Even the poor baby, at Hester's bosom, was affected by the same influence; for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale, and held up its little arms, with a half-pleased, half-plaintive murmur.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
Light and dark imagery appears throughout the novel as a motif, often representing secrets and disclosure. For instance, in Chapter 12, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl stand together on the scaffold at night but under the light of a meteor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two. 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 daybreak that shall unite all who belong to one another.
Related Themes:
