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

Nathaniel Hawthorne has a very unique usage of language to describe and paint a picture of Hester. One important thing he does is use many different types of tones throughout the story that correlate with the way the Puritans look at Hester. Hawthorne also does a good job of using symbolism to depict an image of Hester through many different type of symbols, the most significant being the scarlet A on her chest. Lastly, Hawthorne does a good job of putting direct quotes from the Puritan people describing Hester, which allows the reader to see exactly what they think about her and shows the way society creates a picture of her. Hester also fits the description of many of things mentioned in Proverbs 31:10-31 which describes a wife of noble character. Those include her willingness to help the poor, her ability to provide for her family, her strength physically, and her labor of making clothing to provide for people. Hawthorne uses his language to create a picture of Hester through the use of various tones throughout the story. The tones range from gloomy to enthusiastic as the Puritans perspective of Hester changes throughout the story.

For example from the text, “She was self–ordained a Sister of Mercy, or, we may rather say, the world’s heavy hand had so ordained her, when neither the world nor she looked forward to this result.”(Chapter 13 paragraph 3) Hawthorne uses personification by describing the world having a heavy hand that ordained Hester. Another way that Hester can be related to the description in Proverbs 31:10-31 of the wife of noble character is by her works of making clothing and garments. In The Scarlet Letter for example it state “...or the garments wrought for him by the fingers that could have embroidered a monarch’s robe.”(Chapter 13 paragraph 3) In (Proverbs 31:24) it states “She makes linen garments and sells