Literary Elements -1

Literary Terms in The Scarlet Letter

1. Action is what happens in a story: the events or conflicts. If the action is well
organized, it will develop into a pattern or plot.
whence, some good time agone, he was minded to cross over and cast in
his lot with us of the Massachusetts. To this purpose he sent his wife before
him, remaining his self, to look after some necessary affairs. (55)
This fits the quote because action is when a big event happens that sets the
mood of the whole book, and because Roger sent her to Boston alone, she is
lonely which is why everything else happened.
2. Allusion is a reference in literature to a familiar person, place thing or event.
the infant was worthy to have been bought forth in Eden; worthy to have
been there to be the plaything of the angels, after the worlds first parents
were driven out (80)
This is a Biblical allusion that says that Pearls beauty was heavenly.
3. Antagonist is the person or thing working against the protagonist, or hero of the
work.
Hast thou not tortured him enough? said Hester, noticing the old mans
look. Has he not paid thee? No!-No!- He has but increased the debt!
answered the physician; and as he proceeded, his manner lost its fiercer
characteristics and subsided into gloom (155)
Roger Chillingworth is causing harm to Dimmesdale, and hes going against
the protagonists, Hester, wishes.
4. Analogy is a comparison of two things that have certain similarities in order to
illustrate a point or advance an argument.
arraying her in a crimson velvet tunic of a peculiar cut abundantly
embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread. (90) Hester
contrived so perfectly to represent the scarlet letter in her appearance (91)
Hester created an analogy by making the dress for Pearl, because just like
the scarlet letter Pearl was looked at with guilt and affection
5. Argument the reasons and evidence used to support a speakers or writers
opinion or to disprove an opponents opinion. An argument seeks to lead the
listener or reader to a specific conclusion.
The point hath been weighty discussed, whether we, that are of
authority and influence, do well discharge our consciences by trusting an
immortal soul, such as there is in yonder child, to the guidance of one who
hath stumbled and fallen amid the pitfalls of this world.(98) I can teach
my little Pearl what I have learned from this! answered Hester, laying her
finger on the red token.(98)
Governor Bellingham doesnt believe Hester is capable of raising Pearl
correctly, while Hester believes she can through her life lessons. She wants
the governor to allow her to keep her child.

Literary Elements -2

6. Assonance the repetition of similar vowel sounds in nearby words.

7. Characterization is the method an author uses to reveal or describe the

characters physical and personality traits.
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 mould
the physical itself, and became manifest by unmistakable tokens (53).
This quote explains Roger physical appearance and describes his
personality.
8. Dynamic characters change in some fundamental way during the course of the
story.
I am not the man for whom you take me! I left him yonder in the forest,
withdrawn into a secret dell, by a mossy tree-trunk, and near a melancholy
brook! Go seek your minister, and see if his emaciated figure, his thin cheek,
his white, heavy, pain-wrinkled brow, be not flung down there, like a cast off
garment!. (198)
In the beginning of the story Arthur was weak and afraid once he went to
the forest he changed from his old ways.
9. Static characters remain the same. The main characters in a work of fiction
are almost always dynamic.
It might be to, that a witch like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter tempered
widow of the magistrates, was to die upon the gallows. (pg 45)
10.
Flat characters are one-sided and stereotypical.
The intellect of Roger Chillingworth had now a sufficiently plain path before
it . Calm, gentle, passionless as he appeared, there was yet we fear a quiet
depth of malice. Pg 125
11.

A round character is many-sided and more, true to life.

12.
Climax is the high point, or turning point, in a story-usually the most
intense point.
Now at the death-hour, he stands up before you! He bids you look again at
Hesters scarlet letter. He tells you that, with all its mysterious horror, it is
but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his

Literary Elements -3

own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his innermost
heart! Stand any here that question Gods judgment on a sinner? Behold!
Behold a dreadful witness of it!(232-233)
Conflict is the problem or struggle in a story that triggers the action. There are five
basic types of conflict:
13.
Person vs. Person- One character in a story has a problem with one or
more of the other characters.
Yes I hate him! repeated hester, more bitterly than before. He betrayed
me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him! (159)
14.
Person vs. Society- A character has a problem with some element of
society: the school, law, accepted way of doing things.
At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hesters
forehead ( 45)
15.
Person vs. Self- A character has a problem deciding what to do in a
particular situation.
There can be, if I forebode arightshall be revealed(117)
16.
Person vs. Nature- A character has a problem with some natural
happening: A snowstorm, an avalanche, the bitter cold or any element of nature.
Mother, said little Pearl the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and
hides itself Seenow I can stretch out my hand and grasp some of it. As
she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished (166)
17.
Person vs. Fate (God)- A character has to battle what seems to be an
uncontrollable problem. Whenever the problem seems to be a strange or
unbelievable coincidence fate can be considered the cause or conflict.
God knows; and he is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my
afflictions. By giving me this burning torture to bear upon my breast! By
sending yonder dark and terrible old man to keep the torture always redheat! By bringing me hither, to die this death triumphant ignominy before
the people!
18.
Connotation the emotional implications of a word or phrase.
that this boon was meant, above all things else, to keep the mothers soul
alive, and to preserve her from blacker depths of sin into which Satan might
else have sought to plunge her! (102)
All of the dark words, such as blacker dethps, sin and satan gives

Literary Elements -4

us a bad emotion, somewhat delivish.

19.
Context is the set of facts or circumstances surrounding an event or
situation in a piece of literature.
The scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as must aways invest
the spectacle of guilt and shame in a fellow-creature, before society shall
have grown corrupt enough to smile, instead of shuddering at it. The
witnesses of Hester Prynnes disgrace had not yet passed beyond their
simplicity. (49)
20.
Climax, Crisis or Turning point the point at which the opposing forces in
a conflict cause the plot to turn toward its ultimate resolution

21.
Dialogue is the conversation carried on by the characters in a literary
work.
Come, my child! said Hester, looking about her, from the spot where Pearl
had stood in the sunshine. We will sit down a little way within the wood,
and rest ourselves. I am not aweary, mother, replied the little girl. But
you may sit down, if you will tell me a story meanwhile. A story, child! said
Hester. And about what? , a story about the Black Man! answered Pearl,
taking hold of her mothers gown, and looking up, half-earnestly, halfmischievously, into her face. (167)
22.
Denouement is the final unraveling of the plot in drama or fiction.
Then, down he sank upon the scaffold! Hester partly raised him, and
supported his head against her bosom. Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down
beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to
have departed. (233)
23.
Dialect the vocabulary, grammatical habits, and pronunciations of a
particular regional, social, or cultural group.

24.
Diction is an authors choice of words based on their correctness,
clearness, or effectiveness.
So powerful was its radiance, that it thoroughly illuminated the dense
medium of cloud betwist the sky and earth.(138)

Literary Elements -5

25.
Archaic words are words that are old-fashioned and no longer sound
natural when used.
Or, if no, thou strange and elfish child, whence didst thou come? (88)
26.
Colloquial is an expression that is usually accepted in informal situations.
If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a
knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful
magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not! (45)
27.
Jargon (technical diction) is the specialized language used by a specific
group.
Were I an atheist- a man devoid of conscience- a wretch with coarse and
brutal instincts-I should have lost it! But, as matters stand with my soul,
whatever of good capacity there originally was in me, all of Gods gifts that
were the choicest have become the ministers of spiritual torment. Hester, I
am most miserable! (173-174)
28.
Slang is the language used by a particular group of people among
themselves: it is also language that is used in fiction and special writing
situations to add color and feeling.
Of a truth, friend, that matter remaineth a riddle; and the Daniel who shall
expound it is yet a-wanting, (55)
29.
Trite expressions are expressions that lack depth or originality, or are
overworked or not worth mentioning in the first place.
Foolish woman! (63)
30.
Empathy is putting yourself in someone elses place and imagining how
that person must feel. The phrase What would you do if you were in my
shoes? is a request for one person to empathize with another.
Ah , but, interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the
hand, let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will always be in her
heart. (45)
31.
Exposition is writing that is intended to make clear, or explain, something
that might otherwise be difficult to understand; in a play or novel, it would be
that portion that helps the reader to understand the background or situation in
which the work is set.

Literary Elements -6

Marry, good Sir, in some two years, or less, that the woman has been a
dweller here in Boston, no tidings have come of this learned gentleman,
Master Prynne; and his young wife, look you, being left to her own
guidance- (55)
32.
Inference is when the meaning of the text is implied and the reader is
required to use their own prior knowledge to arrive at a decision, conclusion or
opinion by reasoning from known facts.
Marry, good Sir, in some two years, or less, that the woman has been a
dweller here in Boston, no tidings have come of this learned gentleman,
Master Prynne; and his young wife, look you, being left to her own
guidance- (55)

33.
Flashback is returning to an earlier time (in a story) for the purpose of
making something in the present clearer.
Attempting to do so, she thought of those long-past days in a distant land,
when he used to emerge at eventide from the seclusion of his study and sit
down in the firelight of their home, and in the light of her nuptial smile.
(159)
34.
Foreshadowing is giving hints and clues of what is to come later in a
story.
Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul? Not
thy soul, he answered, with another smile. No, not thane! (68)
35.
Genre refers to a category of type of literature based on its style, form,
and content. The mystery novel is a literary genre.

36.
Imagery the use of words or phrases that create pictures (images) in a
readers mind. Although visual imagery is the most common form of image,
images may appeal to any of the five senses: taste, touch, hearing, and
sight.
A THRONG of bearded men, in sad0colored garments and gray, steeplecrowned hats intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others
bareheaded, were assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which
was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes. (41)
Irony a broad term referring to the recognition that reality is different from
appearances or from what was expected.

Literary Elements -7

37.
Verbal irony a writer or speaker say one thing but means something
different.
Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the
forest, and signed my name in the Black mans book too, and that with mine
own blood! (104)
38.
Dramatic irony the reader or audience realizes something that a
character in the play or story does not.
That old man! - The physician! - He whom they call Roger Chillingworth! he was my husband! (176)
39.
Situational irony events turn out opposite of what was expected by the
characters and the readers.

40.
Metaphor a comparison between two dissimilar things, in order to give
added meaning to one of them.

41.
Mood is the feeling a piece of literature arouses in the reader; happiness,
sadness, peacefulness, etc.
A THRONG of bearded men, in sad0colored garments and gray, steeplecrowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others
bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which
was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes. (41)
42.
Moral is the particular value or lesson the author is trying to get across to
the reader. The moral of the story is a common phrase in many older fables.
These men deceive themselves said Roger Chillingworth, with somewhat
more emphasis than usual, and making a slight gesture with his forefinger.
They fear to take up the shame that rightfully belongs to them. Their love
for man, their zeal for Gods service-these holy impulses may or may not
coexist in their hearts with the evil inmates to which their guilt has unbarred
the door, and which must needs propagate a hellish breed within them. But,
if they seek to glorify God, let them not lift heavenward their unclean hands!
If they would serve their fellowmen, let them do it by making manifest the
power and reality of conscience, in constraining them to penitential selfabasement! (119)

Literary Elements -8

43.
Motif is a term for an often-repeated idea or theme in literature. In To Kill
a Mockingbird, it is demonstrated to Scout how a book cant be judged by its
cover many different times. This concept becomes a motif throughout the
novel.
On the other hand, a penalty which in our days would infer a degree of
mocking infamy and ridicule might then be invested with almost as stern a
dignity as the punishment of death itself. (44)
This is Motif because Hawthorne is making a point that all crimes are
punished equally, but in his mind they should not be because they are not all
the same in severity.
44.
Personification a figure of speech in which human attributes are given to
something that is not human.
Mother, said little Pearl, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and
hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see!
There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch
it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom
yet! (166)
This is personification because Hawthorne is giving the sun a human quality
of running away and paying hide and seeks. The sun is a non-living thing it
has no ability to do so.
45.
Plot is the action or sequence of events in a story. It is usually a series of
related incidents that builds and grows as the story develops. There are five
basic elements in a plot line: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and
resolution.

46.
Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses overstatement or overstatement
to emphasize a point.
They averred that the symbol was not mere scarlet cloth tinged in an
earthly dyepot, but was red-hot with infernal fire, and could be seen glowing
all alight whenever Hester Prynne walked abroad in the nighttime. (78)
47.
Point of View is the way in which a reader is presented with the action of
a story.
Omniscient is the all knowing narrator
The stranger had entered the room with the characteristic quietude of the
profession to which he announced himself as belonging. (63)
Limited third person is when the author tells the story from the vantage
point of one character.

Literary Elements -9

First person is when the author has one of the characters tell the story in
his or her own voice. (from the I vantage point).
48.
Protagonist is the main character in the story.
Such helpfulness was found in her-so much power to do and power to
sympathize-that many people refused to interpret the Scarlet A by its
original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester
Prynne, with a womans strength. (145)
49.
Setting is the time and place of the story.
Boston had built the first prison house somewhere in the vicinity of
Cornhil Certain it is that, some fifteen or twenty years after the
settlement of the town, the ooden jail was already marked with weatherstains and other indications of age which gave a yet darker aspect to its
beetle-browed and gloomy front. (41)
50.
Simile is when the similarity between two things is directly expresses by
the use of comparison words such as like or as.
He now dug into the poor clergymans heart like a miner searching for gold;
or, rather, like a sexton delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that
had been buried in the dead mans bosom, but likely to find nothing save
mortality and corruption. Alas for his own soul, if these wee what he
sought! (115)
51.
Style is the characteristic diction, sentence structure, and use of imagery
and figurative language of a particular writer.
This rosebush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but
whether it had merely survived put of the stern old wilderness, so long after
the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it- or
whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the
footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison door- we
shall not take upon us o determine. (42)
52.
Symbol is something that is itself and at the same time represents
something else.
It may serve let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may
be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human
frailty and sorrow. (42)
53.
Theme is the central or dominating idea in the work of literature.
Under that impulse, she had made her choice, and had chosen, as it now
appeared, the more wretched alternative of the two. She determined to

Literary Elements -10

redeem her error, so far as it might yet be possible. Strengthened by years

of hard and solemn trial, she felt herself no longer so inadequate to cope
with Roger Chillingworth as on that night, abased by sun, and half
maddened by the ignomity that was still new, when they had talked together
in the prison chamber. (150)
54.
Tone is the reflection of the writers attitude, mood, and manner in his or
her writing.
A THRONG of bearded men, in sad0colored garments and gray, steeplecrowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others
bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which
was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes. (41)

55.
Paradox A statement that appears to be self contradictory or opposed to common sense, but upon
closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity.
He did not send me! cried she, positively. I have no Heavenly Father!
This quote means that Hester was telling Pearl about the Heavenly Father
and Pearl feels as though she does not have a Heavenly Father because her
birth father is a minister and the way hes acting isnt very heavenly.
56.
Ethos Gaining the respect and trust of the readers or establishing credibility with them.
The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. The young divine, whose scholarlike renown
still lived in Oxford, was considered by his more fervent admirers as little
less than a heavenly-ordained apostle, destined, should he live and labor for
the ordinary term of life. (107)
57.
Logos establishes the logic of an argument and the reasoning behind it.
God gave me the child! cried she. He gave her in requital of all things
else, which ye had taken from me. (100)
58.
Pathos is an emotional appeal that appeals to feelings.
She is my happiness-She is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here
in life! Pearl punishes me too! See ye nit, she is the scarlet letter, only
capable of being loved, and so endowed with a millionfold the Power of
retribution for my sin? Ye shall not take her! I will die first (100)
59.
Repetition repeating the same word in order to add emphasis to an idea.
Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in the eyes of men and

Literary Elements -11

women- in the eyes of him whom thou didst cal thy husband- in the eyes of
yonder child! And, that thou mayest live, take off this draught. (65)
60.
Parallelism- is a recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences
are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also
adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.
Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in the eyes of men and
women- in the eyes of him whom thou didst cal thy husband- in the eyes of
yonder child! And, that thou mayest live, take off this draught. (65)
61.
Juxtaposition is the placing of contrasting elementsclose together, positioning them side by
side in order to illuminate the subject.
He, if it stand with his good pleasure, can cure; or he can kill! (122)
62.
Antithesis establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together
or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure.
No matter whether of love or hate; no matter whether of right or wrong!
Thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me. My home is where thou art,
and where he is. But betray me not! (67)
63.
Synesthesia the manner of speaking about one sense in terms of another. Ex: He is wearing a bright
suit.
The unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might, under the
heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes.(50)
The author uses eyes or sight as weight in the sense of feeling.
64.
Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are
equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social,
religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or
envy.
Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Even in the graveyard here at hand, answered the physician, continuing
his employment. They are new to me. I found them growing on a grave
which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial of the dead man, save these
ugly weeds that have taken upon themselves to keep him in remembrance.
They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that
was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his
lifetime. (117)
A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may,
after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part. Our pardon
once again, good Sir, if my speech give the shadow of offence. (121)
The quote on (117) is an example of allegory because this quote is literal
and yet symbolic. The quote is literal because he is dead and black flowers

Literary Elements -12

grow out of the ground. The symbolic reason is that the weeds are growing
from his heart, plants grow from the ground and Hawthorne is trying to get
the readers to understand that this person thats in the graveyard is evil and
has a black heart which is feeding off nutrients that grows the black weeds.
65.
Reification is the treatment of abstractions as concrete things. Ex: Truth is a deep well.
She is my happiness!-she is my torture, none the less! (100)
This quote uses the contrasting of happiness and torture, and she is my
torture and she is my happiness is a example of being parallel which makes
it reification.
66.
Synecdoche is a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part or any
portion section or main quality for the whole thing. Ex: Farmer Jones has three hundred head of cattle and
three hired hands.

67.
Euphemism From the Greek for good speech, euphemisms are a more agreeable or less offensive
substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. The euphemism may be used to adhere to standards of
social or political correctness, or to add humor or ironic understatement.