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The Scarlet Letter Rhetorical Analysis

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The novel, The Scarlet Letter is a novel that contains a lot of rhetorical devices. It contains metaphors, allusions, rhetorical questions, parallel structure, alliteration, etc. In chapter 11, Dimmesdale is having so much conflict with him hiding the sin that he had committed and the guilt is eating him inside. In this chapter the writer uses Parallel structure, Hyperboles, metaphors, and similes.

The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne used some rhetorical questions,hyperbole, personification, and parallel structure, “ Then, what was he?—a substance?—or the dimmest of all shadows? ...from his own pulpit, at the full height of his voice, and tell the people what he was. “I, whom you …, I, who ascend the sacred desk...I, in whose daily.. I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a gleam along my earthly track...—I, who have laid the hand of baptism upon your children,—I, who have, to whom the Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted,—I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!” (Page 132) The author is showing how Dimmesdale feels internally over this situation, he ( dimmesdale) has repeated themselves over and …show more content…
Dimmesdale had gone into the pulpit, with a purpose.... More than once, he had cleared his throat, and drawn in the long, deep, and tremulous breath.... More than once—nay, more than a hundred times—he had actually spoken! Spoken! But how? He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity.” (page 131) This not only explains why Dimmesdale’s guilt is eating him alive, but how the author is trying to demonstrate how frustrated Dimmesdale is feeling. People wouldn’t believe him, for they thought he was “The saint on

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