Rhetorical Techniques In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter takes place during the 17th century in the harsh and unforgiving Puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts, and follows Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in the aftermath of an irreversible act. The already married Hester Prynne has given birth to Dimmesdale’s child and has taken the consequences of their actions solely upon herself, refusing to reveal Dimmesdale as the father of her child. Hester’s sacrifice leaves them both with internal and external dilemmas as they try to continue their lives under the scrutinizing and unrelenting watch of their community. Throughout the novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes the rhetorical strategies of juxtaposition, paradox, imagery, and diction to highlight

Dimmesdale’s guilt over failing to take responsibility alongside Hester embeds itself in his appearance, and how Hawthorne decides to describe him perfectly encapsulates this notion. On page 77, he writes of Dimmesdale, “His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, had a certain melancholy prophesy of decay in it; he was often observed, on any slight alarm or other sudden accident to put his hand over his heart with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain.” Hawthorne’s imagery successfully captures the decline of Dimmesdale's health, which further develops his theme of guilt in the novel. Further along in the novel, Hester finds Arthur in the forest. Here, themes of truth and secrecy regarding Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s relationship manifest themselves in the symbolism Hawthorne creates. The sun represents openness and Hester is graced by it solely when she takes off her letter “A” in the company of only the forest, Dimmesdale, and Pearl. Hawthorne describes how “all at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming down the gray trunks of the solemn trees.” This imagery symbolizes their relationship in the environment around them and is key to effectively showing how

Hawthorne does a magnificent job at establishing the dark and judgemental environment around them through strategic diction, which also shows his ill-feeling towards the overly oppressive Puritans. The Puritans oblige to the strict rules of the church and punish all who have sinned against God. They are described as “people among whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful” (Hawthorne 31). Hawthorne’s description effectively shows how Hester and Arthur’s love cannot prevail if they confess the truth of their connection, due to the cemented unforgiving nature of the Puritan society. Justice in the eyes of the Puritans is punishment and Hawthorne captures that through his conscious