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Jennifer Troy

Foundation/Planning

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS/THE SCARLET LETTER

Focus: Chapter 3 “The Recognition”

What is Hawthorne’s rhetorical purpose (what does he want us to understand about Hester?) in his portrayal of her standing on the pedestal holding little Pearl?

How do Hawthorne’s language choices help him achieve his purpose?

While this passed, Hester Prynne had been standing on her pedestal,

still with a fixed gaze towards the stranger; so fixed a gaze, that, at moments

of intense absorption, all other objects in the visible world seemed to vanish,

leaving only him and her. Such an interview, perhaps, would have been

more terrible than even to meet him as she now did, with the hot, midday

sun burning down upon her face, and lighting up its shame; with the scarlet

token of infamy on her breast; with the sin-born infant in her arms; with a

whole people, drawn forth, as to a festival, staring at the features that should

have been seen only in the quiet gleam of the fireside, in the happy shadow

of a home, or beneath a matronly veil, at church.

Terms we will use:

Parallelism: the repetition of similar grammatical constructions

Antithesis: the contrast of opposites, usually in a parallel structure

Connotation: the emotional charge of a word; the feelings suggested.

Imagery: words appealing to the senses

All the devices mentioned above may be part of a passage’s Emotional Appeal. They will also create a particular Tone. Most complex passages will have two or more Tones.

Questions over Ch. 3 Passage

  1. Who is the stranger?
  1. What does Hawthorne’s repetition of “so fixed a gaze” tell us about the intensity of Hester’s recognition?
  1. What kind of interview would have been more terrible than the one she now faces? Why?
  1. To analyze Hawthorne’s parallelism, we will break up the syntax (sentence structure) of his long sentence.

. . . as she now did (meet the stranger)

with ______

with______

with______

with______

staring at the features that should have been seen only

in______

in______or

beneath______.

  1. What connotative language in the first set of parallel phrases contributes to our understanding of Hester’s suffering and shame? List the words and explain their effects:
  1. How does the connotative language in the second set of parallel phrases represent a rhetorical shift? In other words, how does the language create a different picture of Hester? List particular words and their effects:
  1. Explain how the contrast between the “with” parallel phrases and the “in” parallel phrases creates antithesis. What is Hawthorne’s purpose here?

Your rhetorical analysis paragraph may begin in this way:

In his description of Hester on the pedestal, and his contrast of her present shame with images of the quiet life she deserves to live, Hawthorne creates for his readers a clear sense of Hester’s shame. His repetition of the phrase “so fixed a gaze” reveals the intensity of Hester’s feeling as her husband sees her with her illegitimate baby. She is so overcome by this recognition that “all other objects in the visible world seemed to vanish.” Hawthorne communicates the depth of Hester’s suffering with parallel phrases that emphasize her punishment. Connotative language suggests the pain of fire as “the hot, midday sun” burns down upon her face. This sun “lights up” her shame, cruelly exposing her to the townspeople.

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