Rhetorical Strategies In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'
Damon Dixon
A.P. Lit 11
Mrs. Pepe
12/15/13
Rhetorical Essay
Common throughout religious stories we read today mainly focuses on how the author feels about their faith. However, in Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter it composed a both beautiful and tragic story while still creating a deep impact on the conflicting views of the society and nature in the Puritan society. Hawthorne uses his main characters in this novel to focus on three main rhetorical strategies; symbolism, hypocrisy and maliciousness. While using these strategies Hawthorne is able to create a story of a woman who was condemned and exposed of her sin in the Puritan Society.
The author begins his story by using different forms of nature to clarify …show more content…
He is a good man, but he is fearful of ruining his image by letting out his guilty secret. “Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him except it tempt him-yea, compel him, as it were- to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 47) This quote was a demand from Dimmesdale to Hester while she is on the scaffold being integrated to speak the guilty name of the one who accompanied her with the sin. Although, he is pleading to Hester to give the name of her fellow sinner, in reality he doesn’t really want her to reveal his identity. Remaining silent about the sin committed with Prynne and then giving the consequences for the silencer shows another form of hypocrisy from Dimmensdale. The people of the puritan society also play a hypocritical …show more content…
Hester can atone for her sin of adultery, but every day that she keeps the secret of her lover, and the true identity of Rodger Chillingworth a secret she is committing a sin. If Hester would have “Take heeds how thou deniest to him---who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself---the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!”(Dimmesdale 47) things would have been infinitely better for everyone. Everyone Hester Prynne loves, she does in a hypocritical way. She loves Pearl enough to sacrifice to feed and clothe her, but she does not love Pearl enough to give her a father. Hester loves Dimmesdale, but she does not love him enough to expose his sin publicly, and she conceals her knowledge of Chillingworth. Either you love something whole-heartedly, or you don’t. Hawthorne might have portrayed Hester in a more favorable light then the other characters, but still she should have to wear a scarlet H in addition to her
A.P. Lit 11
Mrs. Pepe
12/15/13
Rhetorical Essay
Common throughout religious stories we read today mainly focuses on how the author feels about their faith. However, in Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter it composed a both beautiful and tragic story while still creating a deep impact on the conflicting views of the society and nature in the Puritan society. Hawthorne uses his main characters in this novel to focus on three main rhetorical strategies; symbolism, hypocrisy and maliciousness. While using these strategies Hawthorne is able to create a story of a woman who was condemned and exposed of her sin in the Puritan Society.
The author begins his story by using different forms of nature to clarify …show more content…
He is a good man, but he is fearful of ruining his image by letting out his guilty secret. “Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him except it tempt him-yea, compel him, as it were- to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 47) This quote was a demand from Dimmesdale to Hester while she is on the scaffold being integrated to speak the guilty name of the one who accompanied her with the sin. Although, he is pleading to Hester to give the name of her fellow sinner, in reality he doesn’t really want her to reveal his identity. Remaining silent about the sin committed with Prynne and then giving the consequences for the silencer shows another form of hypocrisy from Dimmensdale. The people of the puritan society also play a hypocritical …show more content…
Hester can atone for her sin of adultery, but every day that she keeps the secret of her lover, and the true identity of Rodger Chillingworth a secret she is committing a sin. If Hester would have “Take heeds how thou deniest to him---who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself---the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!”(Dimmesdale 47) things would have been infinitely better for everyone. Everyone Hester Prynne loves, she does in a hypocritical way. She loves Pearl enough to sacrifice to feed and clothe her, but she does not love Pearl enough to give her a father. Hester loves Dimmesdale, but she does not love him enough to expose his sin publicly, and she conceals her knowledge of Chillingworth. Either you love something whole-heartedly, or you don’t. Hawthorne might have portrayed Hester in a more favorable light then the other characters, but still she should have to wear a scarlet H in addition to her