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In "A Haunted House," light symbolizes the joy that can be found in love and human connection. Throughout the story, “light” is connected to the ghosts’s search for their “treasure.” When the ghosts are moving together through the house, reminiscing about their life together, "the beam of the lamp falls straight from the window. The candle burns stiff and still." At the same time, the narrator seeks to understand the ghosts, and envisions this understanding as being like light "behind [...] glass." Finally, at the end of the story, when the narrator is for the first time able to see the ghosts, the narrator sees the ghosts holding a lantern and also understands that the ghost’s “treasure” is “The light in the heart." In other words, the ghost couple's "treasure," the "light in the heart," is revealed to be the love of the living couple—the warmth and joy that "burns" within them. Throughout the story, light represents both connection and love.
In contrast, darkness symbolizes isolation and the painful loss of love and connection in the story. Recalling the death of the ghostly man’s wife many centuries ago, the narrator describes the woman as “leaving the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened.” With the loss of love due to the death of the wife, the “light” left the house, and darkness reigned.
Light and Darkness Quotes in A Haunted House
The A Haunted House quotes below all refer to the symbol of Light and Darkness. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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A Haunted House
Quotes
So fine, so rare, coolly sunk beneath the surface the beam I sought always burnt behind the glass. Death was the glass; death was between us; coming to the woman first, hundreds of years ago, leaving the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened. He left it, left her, went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the Southern sky; sought the house, found it dropped beneath the Downs.
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The wind roars up the avenue. Trees stoop and bend this way and that. Moonbeams splash and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp falls straight from the window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering through the house, opening the windows, whispering not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek their joy.
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"Safe, safe, safe," the heart of the house beats proudly. "Long years—" he sighs. "Again you found me." "Here," she murmurs, "sleeping; in the garden reading; laughing, rolling apples in the loft. Here we left our treasure—" Stooping, their light lifts the lids upon my eyes. "Safe! safe! safe!" the pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I cry "Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart."
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Get the entire A Haunted House LitChart as a printable PDF.
Light and Darkness Symbol Timeline in A Haunted House
The timeline below shows where the symbol Light and Darkness appears in A Haunted House. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
A Haunted House
...stops, and the narrator asks, "Was that the buried treasure?" However, "a moment later the light had faded"—the ghosts have still not found what they are looking for and continue the...
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In the garden, the narrator sees the trees "[spinning] darkness for a wandering beam of sun," and reflects that "the beam I sought always burnt...
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...“Moonbeams splash and spill wildly in the rain." In the house, though, a beam of light from a lamp "falls straight from the window," and the flame from “The candle burns...
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...no lady spread her ghostly cloak." The ghostly man tries to block some of the light from the lantern with his hands and whispers, "Look. Sound asleep. Love upon their lips."
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"Holding their silver lamp above us," the dead couple gazes down at the narrator and the narrator’s partner as...
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At that moment, the light of the ghostly man’s lamp "lifts the lids" of the narrator's eyes. Suddenly, the house’s...
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