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House Of The Seven Gables Rhetorical Analysis Essay

759 Words4 Pages

You’re a Big Fat Phony!: Corruption in The House of the Seven Gables Appearances can be everything. In today’s society, especially, appearances are a major factor in how society views and values individuals. However, while one can appear to be high-principled and faithful, he or she can easily be deceiving the public in order to maintain his or her reputation. In The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne, through a collection of oxymoron, syntax, tone, rhetorical question, connotation, details, metaphor, and direct characterization, reveals the corrupt nature of Judge Pyncheon. Hawthorne incorporates oxymoron, syntax, tone, rhetorical question, and connotation to present the purported image of Judge Pyncheon’s character while mocking …show more content…

In the second paragraph, he introduces a metaphor for corrupt justice to highlight an irony when he states, “the inevitable force of circumstances should occasionally make him do one questionable deed, among a thousand praiseworthy, or, at least, blameless ones - would you characterize the Judge by that one necessary deed, and that half-forgotten act, and let it overshadow the fair aspect of a lifetime”. This metaphor mocks the belief that one little action of evil does not outweigh the action of good in a lifetime. The irony of the situation is that Pyncheon is a man of the law himself. Thus, society expects him, of all people, to be following the law. Furthermore, the specific details of Pyncheon’s actions reveal the corrupt nature within his character in which he uses a “scale and balance system” where “a thumb’s bigness of it should outweigh the mass of things evil, which were heaped into the other scale” for his “brotherhood”. The details reveal the corruption behind Pyncheon’s actions of tipping the scales in favor for his “brotherhood”. Even the connotation of the word “brotherhood” establishes a criminal connection between Pyncheon and his cronies. In addition, Hawthorne directly characterizes Pyncheon as a “hard, cold man, thus unfortunately situated, seldom, or never looking inward, and resolutely telling his

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