Hyperbole in the Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne weaves a complex world; a mixture of seventeenth century America and a fanciful world of Hawthorne's invention. To offset his traditional setting and accentuate themes and motifs, Hawthorne employs hyperbole of diction. These embellishments range from unbelievable coincidence to devilry and witchcraft to nature mirroring plot events.

At times Hawthorne relies on coincidence and luck to perpetuate his story. This proves evident in the random appearance of Dimmesdale when Hester makes a case with the governor to keep custody of Pearl, because Dimmesdale alone could save Pearl from the governor. This fortunate appearance paints Dimmesdale as a protector of the meek. Hawthorne also plays with some verbal irony when Dimmesdale expresses that "Every good Christian man hath a title to show a father's kindness to this poor, deserted babe [Pearl]" (115-116). The dichotomy of Dimmesdale's relationship to Pearl covers both the paternal and pastoral sense of the word father, and helps Chillingworth discover Dimmesdale's relationship to Hester.

In many cases Pearl's words display how Hawthorne manipulates circumstance to obtain the desired feelings from his characters. Pearl's questions are abnormally intuitive and pinpoint Hester's shame through excessive luck. Pearl's uninformed are sufficiently accurate to be labeled hyperbole in their blind precision. Pearl's innocent harassment of her mother defies Hester the ability to find refuge in Pearl, the thing she prizes most. At times this is demonstrated by relentless pestering through innocent questions like, "what does this scarlet letter mean" (172). Also, Pearl manages, in her nonchalant manner, to torture Hester by isolating her misfortunes. Pearl pulls at her mother's heart strings by demanding that Hester don the scarlet letter before rejoining her in the woods, by observing that the sunshine avoids Hester, and by telling Hester that they don't have any friends. The plethora of examples of Pearl's hurtful intuition despite a lack of knowledge constitutes the assumption that Pearl's gift is more of a plot device than it is a character trait.

Hawthorne invokes the powers of devilry and evil spirits to magnify malevolence of a character (Chillingworth and the witch-lady) and to play upon the Puritan fears of witchcraft embodied by the inaccurate accusations that Hester and Pearl are involved in sordid affairs pertaining to such black magic. Chillingworth is consistently connected to demonology to emphasize his role as the antagonist. He is associated with malignant, evil herbs (129) and called the "Black Man" (81) to associate him with the Devil. Hawthorne also blatantly identifies him as Satan (116) and compares him unfavorably to Satan by saying that "what [distinguishes] the physician's ecstasy from Satan's [is] the trait of wonder in it" (136). Such harsh terms used in correlation with Chillingworth dehumanize him and complicate Hester and Dimmesdale's dilemma of how to handle Chillingworth.

Hawthorne also hints at the non-human nature of another character, Pearl, for a different effect. By calling her "elfish" (106), a "fairy" (109), and an "airy sprite" (94) Hawthorne creates an air around the child of whimsy forbidden for its contradiction with the quiet and traditional Puritan way of life. By using terms that evoke pleasant feelings, he reveals the absurdity of Puritans taking the words literally and harboring fear of Pearl as if she is a witch.

The most extreme form of hyperbole found in The Scarlet Letter is that of nature's mysterious echoing of the emotions and consciences of the characters. Nature serves to both display the plot events on a broader scale and to punish the characters for their sins. One such example is the purported illumination of the scarlet letter after Hester refuses to tell the name of Pearl's father (75). This demonstrates how visible the letter is to all of the spectators and how it glows from a righteous act. Another occurrence is when Hester is in the forest, waiting for Dimmesdale and sunshine eludes her grasp. This is meant to contrast with what happens when Hester removes the scarlet letter: "All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees." (192-193)

This metaphor demonstrates Hester's short-lived freedom from the crushing confines of the scarlet letter and reveals the letter's side effects to be unrealistically physical and even metaphysical. Hawthorne also shows physical effects of a mental anguish when he hints that Dimmesdale's guilt burnt an "A" onto his breast (240). This extreme psychosomatic act serves as a way of expressing the degree to which Dimmesdale suffers for having to hide his ignominy. This final hyperbole is the grand finale of the book as well as the final and most evidently outrageous demonstration of exaggeration.

Hawthorne employs a variety of types of hyperbole to craft a tale rich with poetic language and metaphors. His manipulation of characters is not limited by the traditional confines of rationality and his story's implicit meaning benefits greatly. The statements emphasized by hyperbole are stronger, more vivid, and exude greater understanding, all of which lead to more empathy for the characters and connections to the subject.

Source: The Scarlet Letter