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

503 Words3 Pages
Tanner Whitaker Ms. Huber AP Lang/Comp 4 7 October 2014 Pearl Analysis section 2 Nathaniel Hawthorne paints a picture of hope for the future and change in Pearl’s character. One use of rhetoric is in his use of irony. Hawthorne uses irony when Pearl describes why the sun will not flee from her. She says, "I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” This is ironic because in last chapter, Pearl made herself an A out of seaweed and placed it on her bosom, imitating Hester, yet Pearl seems as though she has forgotten that this has happened entirely. Hawthorne uses this case irony to emphasize the ignorance and innocence of Pearl and her thoughts and memories. Hawthorne also is able to exemplify Pearl’s…show more content…
However, Hawthorne has a shift in his writing of the forest in this passage; for example, “The sportive sunlight – feebly sportive, at best” shows how the sun in this area is weakened by the evil that presides in the forest; and “withdrew itself as they came nigh” indicates that the sun runs from the sinners, Hester; and finally “left the spots where it had danced the drearier, because they had hoped to find them bright,” tells us that anything that once was shown upon by the sun will one day become dreary, as the light moves away from them, the sinners. This hints that Hester once had the sun shine on her, and she was the most beautiful woman in the whole town, but her sin had caused the light to reject her which has left her in her current condition; all the while, the sun still shines on Pearl, not rejecting her because of who her mother is, but rather accepting that she has the potential to remain pure. The fact that the sun does not reject Pearl shows Hawthorne’s view that Pearl is the hope for the future that puritan
Open Document