Literary Techniques In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne's use of diction, syntax, language, and point of view in The Scarlet Letter have both strengths and weaknesses. In order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing style, we must first understand the technique he is using in his literary works. Mr. Hawthorne's depiction of colonial Boston in the 1800s is one of judgment, punishment, ridicule, and contempt. Although Mr. Hawthorne's style may be a bit perplexing towards his readers, his writing is very detailed, descriptive, and portrays a message showing one reading the novel the main symbol of the story - Pearl - while adding poetic devices, imagery, literal meaning, figurative meaning, symbolism, and so much more along the way.

Archaic writing, in a form, is both a strength and weakness for Nathaniel Hawthorne. Archaic language is an old, ancient way of writing or speaking that one may not understand so clearly nowadays. The suspense and general buildup of the storyline are what make a literary work itself, because if there was no conflict, no climax, and no plot twists, what would this

Descriptiveness and detail are the water, and the story is a swiftly moving boat. Mr. Hawthorne moves the story in a consistent pattern, adding climax, foreshadowing, and suspenseful writing into the "melting pot." Syntax, or sentence structure, is the major building block for any passage. “His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness.” In this excerpt, one can see that nevertheless and calmness, which are rhyming and are at the middle and the end of the sentence, are simple A and B line syntax. Immaculate syntax like the portion above is what defines the essence of Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing