Byes 1

Jordan Byes

Ms.Wing

Pre-AP H/ Period 1

11/29/17
Rhetorical Devices in The Scarlet Letter

Within The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical

devices to depict Hester’s inner turmoil. The rhetorical devices that were demonstrated were the

use of a simile, broken up sentences (syntax), and situational irony.

To get in more detail, Hawthorne uses a simile to help express Hester’s inner turmoil.

Hester is the towns gossip and is looked down upon due to her act of adultery. Although, Hester

is constantly reminded of her sin due to her scarlet letter, Pearl, and the townspeople, the passage

states, “...and grew pale whenever it struggled out of her heart, like a serpent from its hole...”

(Hawthorne, line 4). This simile is comparing Hester’s secret to the serpent and also her heart to

a hole. It is also implying that even though Hester will always know deep down what she has

done, she tries to hide it from herself because she feel remorseful of her actions.

To continue, another rhetorical device Nathaniel Hawthorne used was syntax. The

sentences are broken up by many commas and hyphens that contribute to a more emphasized

explanation of Hester’s inner turmoil. Hawthorne uses these long sentences to his advantage by

stating, “What she compelled herself to believe, -what, finally, she reasoned upon, as her motive

for continuing a resident of New England…” (Hawthorne, lines 20-23). Hester reveals her inner

realizations of why she decides to stay in a town with people who treats her so poorly.

Hawthorne utilizes Hester’s feelings by separating the sentences of her inner thoughts with

commas, therefore making Hester’s inner turmoil more dramatic.

Finally, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses situational irony as another rhetorical device. The

scaffold was the first place Hester, Pearl, and the scarlet letter was presented to her fellow

townspeople after her acts of adultery. The platform was represented as a place of shame until
Hawthorne says, “... perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul..”

(Hawthorne, lines 27-28). The irony being displayed is that Hester wishes to use the scaffold as a

place that will purify her soul rather than fill her with such shame. A place where she once

dreaded to stand upon, is now where she wishes to do so.

In conclusion, Nathaniel Hawthorne used rhetorical devices to depict Hester’s inner

turmoil. The devices that Hawthorne used was the use of a simile, which expresses how Hester

feels remorseful and guilty of her actions, broken up sentences (syntax) which made Hester’s

inner turmoil more expressive, and situational irony which represented how the scaffold went to

a place of shame, to a place of purity.