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Figurative Language In The Scarlet Letter

Decent Essays

Many figurative language devices are used throughout The Scarlet Letter. The

eloquent writing of Nathaniel Hawthorne is shown through his use of rhetoric devices and

figurative language which create imagery of the scene, setting, and idea of the time period for the

reader. For example, the use of a simile, a comparison using as or like, appears in chapter three

when the narrator states, “Hester Prynne had immediately become as still as death...”

(Hawthorne 86) Hester had just seen her long-lost husband, who is now being referred to as

Robert Chillingworth and she is in total shock. The comparison is being made between the literal

stillness of death and the state of distress and stillness Hester had just gone into, giving the

reader an …show more content…

For example, “the rank luxuriance of a guilty

passion.”(Hawthorne 79) The irony in this statement is that the “guilty passion” is not commonly

used with the word luxury. The idea of guilty passion is usually associated with words like

shame and regret. Also, another figure of speech commonly used in The Scarlett Letter is

metaphors. An example of this is, “was admirably adapted to Pearl’s beauty, and made her the

very brightest little jet of flame that ever danced on the earth.”(Hawthorne 90) A metaphor in

basic understanding is a comparison, not using as or like. In this example, Pearl’s beauty is being

compared to a bright jet of flame. The metaphor also contains symbolism when Hawthorne uses

the “bright jet of flame” to indicate that pearl is bright and radiant in her beauty. Another the use

of figurative language in The Scarlett Letter is personification. For example, :...but that of

addressing the whole human brotherhood of the heart’s native language.”(Hawthorne 124)

Another example of the use of figurative language found in the novel is metonymy, which is

substituting a part of a term for a whole or a whole for a part. An example of the use

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