“The people looked, with an unshaken hope, to see the minister come forth out of the conflict transfigured with the glory which he would unquestionably win. Meanwhile, nevertheless, it was sad to think of the perchance-mortal agony through which he must struggle towards his triumph. Alas! to judge from the gloom and terror in the depth of the poor minister’s eyes, the battle was a sore one, and the victory anything but secure.” (Hawthorne 191)
Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, Scarlett Letter, there has been a theme of a guilty sinful nature. Whether it’s a back room kept sin or displayed on the heart of Hester, sin has revolved around the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne displays this through his carefully placed diction within the structure …show more content…
Hawthorne wants his articulation within his writing to reveal the sinful nature of man. Dimmesdale fought for his righteousness against satan in which “the battle was a sore one, and the victory anything but secure” (191). Within this sentence, Hawthorne uses a rhetorical device known as ellipses. He uses this devise to leave it to for the reader to comprehend that this battle was between Dimmesdale against for his strength, not for the devil against dimmsdale. Not that it was an actual form of battle, but that it was so mentally destroying and exacerbating. Dimmesdale was distraught and although the victory was one, it wasn’t “secure”. In this case, back to the beginning of the quote, there is antithesis where we begin with the idea of unshakeable faith, to an idea of a house built in the sand type faith. This reveals that the people he preaches too are strong in their faith and their minister is shaken with guilt from his sin. Hawthorne wants to reach the ideology of anthropology across. How man, minister or not, are corrupt and sinful. The truth behind man is guilt covered up in preachers wear, while underneath, the struggle to maintain their
Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, Scarlett Letter, there has been a theme of a guilty sinful nature. Whether it’s a back room kept sin or displayed on the heart of Hester, sin has revolved around the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne displays this through his carefully placed diction within the structure …show more content…
Hawthorne wants his articulation within his writing to reveal the sinful nature of man. Dimmesdale fought for his righteousness against satan in which “the battle was a sore one, and the victory anything but secure” (191). Within this sentence, Hawthorne uses a rhetorical device known as ellipses. He uses this devise to leave it to for the reader to comprehend that this battle was between Dimmesdale against for his strength, not for the devil against dimmsdale. Not that it was an actual form of battle, but that it was so mentally destroying and exacerbating. Dimmesdale was distraught and although the victory was one, it wasn’t “secure”. In this case, back to the beginning of the quote, there is antithesis where we begin with the idea of unshakeable faith, to an idea of a house built in the sand type faith. This reveals that the people he preaches too are strong in their faith and their minister is shaken with guilt from his sin. Hawthorne wants to reach the ideology of anthropology across. How man, minister or not, are corrupt and sinful. The truth behind man is guilt covered up in preachers wear, while underneath, the struggle to maintain their