Group+6


 * __Prompt:__** Read the following passages from //The Scarlet Letter//. Passage 1 is from Chapter 2, “The Market-Place” (paragraph 11, “The young woman… by herself”). Passage 2 is from Chapter 3, “The Recognition” (paragraphs 1 and 2, “From this intense… his lips”). Then write a carefully reasoned and fully elaborated analysis of Hawthorne’s attitude toward these two characters. Consider allusion, irony, imagery, syntax, organization of details, and other rhetorical devices.


 * Chapter 2,** “**The Market-Place**”

The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance, on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of chiomplexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. She was lady-like, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace, which is now recognized as its indication. And never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady like, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison. Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped. It maybe true, that, to a sensitive observer, there was something exquisitely painful in it. Her attire, which, indeed, she had wrought for the occasion, in prison, and had modeled much after her own fancy, seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity. But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer, so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time, was that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.


 * Chapter 3, “The Recognition”**

"FROM this intense consciousness of being the object of severe and universal observation, the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved by discerning, on the outskirts of the crowd, a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts. An Indian, in his native garb, was standing there; but the red men were not so infrequent visitors of the English settlements, that one of them would have attracted any notice from Hester Prynne, at such a time; much less would he have excluded all other objects and ideas from her mind. By the Indian’s side, and evidently sustaining a companionship with him, stood a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume.

He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mold the physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable tokens. Although, by a seemingly careless arrangement of his heterogeneous garb, he had endeavored to conceal or abate the peculiarity, it was sufficiently evident to Hester Prynne, that one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other. Again, at the first instant of perceiving that thin visage, and the slight deformity of the figure, she pressed her infant to her bosom, with so convulsive a force that the poor babe uttered another cry of pain. But the mother did not seem to hear it. At his arrival in the market-place, and some time before she saw him, the stranger had bent his eyes on Hester Prynne. It was carelessly, at first, like a man chiefly accustomed to look inward, and to whom external matters are of little value and import, unless they bear relation to something within his mind. Very soon, however, his look became keen and penetrative. A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness. After a brief space, the convulsion grew almost imperceptible, and finally subsided into the depths of his nature. When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips

__**Thesis:**__

In the novel, //The Scarlet Lette//r, Hawthorne uses an approachable outlook towards the two main characters, Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth by the use of figurative language.


 * __Analysis:__**

Ch.2: Hawthorne depicts Hester to be embarrassed, yet strong; there is seems to be a tone of admiration in the passage. "...she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors." This illustrates how Hester feels about herself; feeling confident in the fact of this main issue.

Ch.3: In the passage from chapter three, Hawthorne describes Roger Chillingworth as a disfigured but intelligent man. He shows the reader that Hester knows the man and she is afraid of him and that he seems to hold a secret despise of her.

__**Rhetorical Devices Chapter 2:**__

"On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore..." Hawthorne gives a perfect description of how the scarlet letter completes Hester Prynne's image and how she must bear the weight of it as the entire colony separates her from their pure society.

Hawthorne's use of metaphor is presented and expressed through the emotions of the characters. “..with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors.” Hawthorne writes that the character is strong and proud, to some extent, believing that nothing would make her feel like a horrible indiviual.

The organization in this paragraph is somewhat funneled. The details start off with a broad idea, "The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance," and then it narrows down to a specific point: "that SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated." Hawthorne uses this method to show that his attitude towards Hester is positive. He describes her using sentences like, "She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam,"to give off a more positive attitude about her before stating that she beared a scarlet letter.


 * __Rhetorical Devices Chapter 3:__**

Hawthorne uses syntax when introducing Chillingworth. "He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mold the physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable tokens." Hawthorne presents an emphasize on Chillingworths deformity and his stature to make the reader recognize the impact Chilllingworth has througout the remainder of the novel.

Hawthorne uses imagery to present the fact that there is more to Chillingworth than meets the eye. “Very soon, however, his look became keen and penetrative. A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness.” In this passage, Hawthorne reveals himself to be suspicious of Chillingworth and is trying to convince the reader to feel the same. The snake represents the evil that reveals itself exactly when he looks at Hester.




 * Bibliography:**

"The Scarlet Latter by Nathaniel Hawthorne". The Literature Network. 4/28/08 .

Period 3

Tyler Andrews Ely Zaidler Troy McClanahan Khadija Khan