Monday, November 1, 2010

Scarlet Letter 5

(Chapter 3)

“A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them.”

I think the first part of this “A writhing horror twisted itself across his features,” is saying that he is furious about this and it shows us that he has a bad temper and that he might have a motive to go after the man who slept with Hester. In the other part of the quote the snake, a motif in the book, is representing evil and is connected with the mans reaction which again implies that he may not be a nice guy. It also refers back to Adam and Eve when there was a snake or serpent, evil, deceived them into eating an apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So the man is doing the same thing, he is trying deceive Hester into doing something.

1 comment:

  1. Yes - it shows his anger. If Chillingworth is the snake in the garden (and the garden is what in this society?) does that make Dimmesdale and Hester Adam and Eve?

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