With the usage of rhetoric, one can write or say one statement while implying a completely separate opinion rather easily. This theory is prevalent among the great authors of our time, but none so much as Nathaniel Hawthorne. For example, throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne’s varying usage of enticing imagery and marvelous diction reflect how the Puritans feel about Hester, as a result implying how his opinions of the group. Within the novel, Hawthorne shows the Puritans as pertaining from one violent extreme to another, thus creating the aura of hypocrisy. Regardless, for the majority of the time, these men and women are perceived as stringently and almost violently religious and upright, making their punishment
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At one point, when Hester stands humiliated upon the scaffold, he claims that the group would have remained “stern enough to look upon her death, had that been the sentence, without a murmur of its severity” (39). By using wording such as “stern” and “without murmur of its severity,” Hawthorn conveys with the connotation and denotation that people can be defined as unfeeling and grim. In addition to this, he implies that Puritan society feels so little sympathy that they would have felt that Hester deserved death for her adultery. Likewise, when the jailor emerges from the prison with Hester at his side, Hawthorne describes it “like a black shadow emerging into sunshine,” further stating that “this personage prefigured and represented in his aspect the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of law” (36). Through this imagery in the form of a metaphor, Hawthorne paints the image in the audience’s mind and furthers the dreary tone which he has already established in regard to these people. By using a variety of appropriate connotations and images, Hawthorne accurately creates a reputation for the Puritans as austere group and furthers their character towards an unsympathetic …show more content…
Hawthorne alters the tone from that of solemn and unfeeling rather to sympathetic and almost hypocritical, as seen in his varying word choice and visionary imagery. While the group “is capable of denying common justice when too strenuously demanded as a right,” the Puritan society, or at least in the case of Hester, “was inclined to show its former victim a more benign countenance than she cared to be favoured with, or, perchance, than she deserved” (111). By initially punishing Hester severely, making her feel that she deserved such abuse, and then later showing more sympathy than she would have liked, the Puritans provide a confusing message. At times, their “benign countenance,” or nice outward appearance, made Hester feel worse for the sin she committed, thus further her punishment rather than easing it. Hawthorne exemplifies this in how the town elder’s “sour and rigid wrinkles were relaxing into something which, in the due course of years, might grow to be an expression of almost benevolence” (111). In providing the audience with an image of forgiveness, Hawthorne truly illustrates the changing perception of Hester, even among the most powerful people in her society. Overall, by altering his expository diction and graphic imagery, Hawthorne shows the gradual change in perception of Hester over time, thus reflecting the hypocrisy of the
At one point, when Hester stands humiliated upon the scaffold, he claims that the group would have remained “stern enough to look upon her death, had that been the sentence, without a murmur of its severity” (39). By using wording such as “stern” and “without murmur of its severity,” Hawthorn conveys with the connotation and denotation that people can be defined as unfeeling and grim. In addition to this, he implies that Puritan society feels so little sympathy that they would have felt that Hester deserved death for her adultery. Likewise, when the jailor emerges from the prison with Hester at his side, Hawthorne describes it “like a black shadow emerging into sunshine,” further stating that “this personage prefigured and represented in his aspect the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of law” (36). Through this imagery in the form of a metaphor, Hawthorne paints the image in the audience’s mind and furthers the dreary tone which he has already established in regard to these people. By using a variety of appropriate connotations and images, Hawthorne accurately creates a reputation for the Puritans as austere group and furthers their character towards an unsympathetic …show more content…
Hawthorne alters the tone from that of solemn and unfeeling rather to sympathetic and almost hypocritical, as seen in his varying word choice and visionary imagery. While the group “is capable of denying common justice when too strenuously demanded as a right,” the Puritan society, or at least in the case of Hester, “was inclined to show its former victim a more benign countenance than she cared to be favoured with, or, perchance, than she deserved” (111). By initially punishing Hester severely, making her feel that she deserved such abuse, and then later showing more sympathy than she would have liked, the Puritans provide a confusing message. At times, their “benign countenance,” or nice outward appearance, made Hester feel worse for the sin she committed, thus further her punishment rather than easing it. Hawthorne exemplifies this in how the town elder’s “sour and rigid wrinkles were relaxing into something which, in the due course of years, might grow to be an expression of almost benevolence” (111). In providing the audience with an image of forgiveness, Hawthorne truly illustrates the changing perception of Hester, even among the most powerful people in her society. Overall, by altering his expository diction and graphic imagery, Hawthorne shows the gradual change in perception of Hester over time, thus reflecting the hypocrisy of the