Heralded as one of the greatest works of American
literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is replete
with figurative language. Here are some
examples:
Chapter
XIX
- "Had she gathered pearls, and
diamonds, and rubies in the wood, they could not have become her better! (figurative
language) (paragraph 1) Pearl's beauty is such that simple flowers adorn her
as well as gems."
(simile) - "In her was visible the tie that
united them. (metaphor--Pearl is the visible proof of the physical union of Hester and
Dimmesdale) (par.4) - "She had been offered to the
world,...as the living hieroglyphic (metaphor), in which was revealed the secret they so
darkly sought to hide...." "Pearl was the oneness of their being."
(metaphor) - "Our Pearl is a fitful and fantastic little
elf sometimes." (alliteration of
/f/;metaphor) - "Pearl....had strayed out of the sphere in
which she and her mother dwelt together...."
(metaphor) - "'....this brook is the boundary between two
worlds..." (metaphor) - "Or is she an elfish
spirit...foridden to cross a running stream?"
(metaphor) - "Thou canst leap like a young deer!"
(simile) - "in the mirror of the brook"
- "flower-girdled and sunny image of little
Pearl" (figurative language)
Chapter
XX
- "the Old
World" (metaphor for England and
Europe) - "...a ship...roamed over its
surface with a remarkable irresponsibility of character."
(personification) - "No man, for any considerable period,
can wear one face to himself and another to
the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be
true." (figurative language, metaphor in "face" as putting on the
appearance) - "a single day
had operated on his consciousness like the lapse of years."
(simile) - "I am not the man
for whom you take me! I left him yonder in
the forest,..." (figurative language) - "He absolutely
trembled and turned pale as ashes"
(simile) - "this terror in his
heart" (metaphor for
fear) - "You carry it
off like an old hand!"
(simile) - "Another man had
returned out of the forest; a wiser one..."
(metaphors) - "administered by a friendly
hand" (metonymy) - "I hardly think to tarry
with my flock..." (metaphor for
congregation) - "A good man's prayers are
golden recompense!" (metaphor) - ..."and
only wondered that Heaven should see fit to transmit
(personification) the grand and solemn music of its oracles
(metaphor) through so foul and
organ pipe as he. (
simile)
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