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The Use Of Irony In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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Recommended: Analysis of the character of hester prynne

Socrates, A great philosopher of the ancient era, gave explanation to life through the use of questioning, some of which ironic, contradicting what he had previously learned so that he could further develop the truth. This function of irony to develop thought is not used solely in the philosophical world, but also in the world of literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of these authors to do so. In his novel The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne utilizes irony to build up to and to explain the truths of the intertwining mysteries of his tale. The act of explaining truth in literature can be a challenging one, and there is many variations as to how to meet this confrontation, whence we see the use of irony in Hawthorne’s text. Where he uses irony as the most important means to describe his novel’s truth. Scandalous acts bring together communities, in narratives and life, together against a …show more content…

Dimmesdale is one such minister. He is spoken about early in the book as to how me must be grieved by such scandalous conducted performed by Hester Prynne.(30) And the community continues to hold on to this feeling of the correct conduct of the minister up until his great climax. All the while we are learnt of his involvement in this aforementioned dastardly deed, and we are weaned into the knowledge of the truth through the hypocrisy that Dimmesdale keeps up and does not admit to until he is at the brink of death. The challenge to depict the truth in a meaningful but also creative way can be achieved with the use of one of many idea structures. In Hawthorne’s text he uses irony to define the plot’s truth with different characters. Through objects, people, and their actions the reader and in some cases a character learn of reasoning of why things happened the way they did, and it can be reflected that this is done with the use of

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