Can anyone explain this quote?

Question

"What other dungeon is so dark as ones own heart?"

-the scarlet letter

Answer 1

hi sam!

i think it is referring to a broken heart or the secret dark desires of the heart. it is asking a rhetorical question, is there anything worse than when you have a broken heart, or when the pain and the dark desires of the heart take over. There is no place darker than ones own heart. no place can compare to one who is consumed with the affairs of the heart. it is symbolism and metaphor.  

Answer 2

every person, no matter how "good" has dark passions in his/her heart that enslaves him/her like a dungeon, except you can't escape your own heart the way a person can be set free from a dungeon; therefore, the heart seems like a more harsh prison for those who are weak

Answer 3

uhhh, well since it is from a book, i am interpreting that it means tat the character was betrayed or something along those lines and to them it would mean simply, anyone , including yourself, could b a deceitful, evil person who , i am guessing can break other's hearts, etc.

Answer 4

It just means that our hearts can be dark sometimes as in how we feel isn't always pleasant

Answer 5

This quote is showing how the character Dimmesdale is so consumed by his guilt over the crime he has committed that no punishment inflicted by an outside source could ever compete with the punishment he has given himself.  It basically says "you can't hate me any more than I hate myself"

I liked the Scarlet Letter. It was a good book.

Answer 6

it means that human heart is the darkest thing even more than any dungeon

Answer 7

i'm guess she is comparing being alone in her cell forever, to being alone without her lover. Both will bring her darkness, and pain.