Rhetorical Devices

1. Rhetorical Devices The Scarlet Letter

2. Objectives • To review the terminology of several rhetorical devices commonly used in writing about or discussing rhetoric. • To apply these terms to passages in The Scarlet Letter.

3. Diction Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment, to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle; imagining, I presume, that her bosom has all the softness and snugness of an eiderdown pillow. But she has no great tenderness, even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later,--oftener soon than late,--is apt to fling off her nestlings, with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.

4. hover outspread wings shield barbed arrows claw infirmity temper unhappy fowl fierceness beak and eye truculency threaten mischief warn Denotation and Connotation

5. intruding overshadows vixenly fling off scratch claw dab beak rankling wound barbed arrows Denotation and Connotation

6. Denotation and Connotation Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment, to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle; imagining, I presume, that her bosom has all the softness and snugness of an eiderdownpillow. But she has no great tenderness, even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later,--oftener soon than late,--is apt to fling off her nestlings, with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.

7. Concrete Diction Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment, to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle; imagining, I presume, that her bosom has all the softness and snugness of an eiderdownpillow. But she has no great tenderness, even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later,--oftener soon than late,--is apt to fling off her nestlings, with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.

8. Cacophonous and Euphonious Words Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment, to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle; imagining, I presume, that her bosom has all the softness and snugness of an eiderdownpillow. But she has no great tenderness, even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later,--oftener soon than late,--is apt to fling off her nestlings, with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.

9. Figurative Devices • imagery—words or phrases that evoke sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells. • motif—a recurrent idea, theme, or subject; an incident, situation, or ethical dilemma embodying a central idea that informs a work. A motif may include imagery. • metaphor—describes an abstract idea by comparing it to something concrete. • personification—human qualities given to something nonhuman. • symbol—a person, place, event, or thing that has a meaning of its own, but also represents something else. • metaphor—an extension of a word’s use beyond its primary meaning to refer to something else that bears some similarity to the word’s primary meaning such as the eye of the hurricane. It describes an abstract idea by comparing it to something concrete.

10. Imagery—words or phrases that evoke sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells. • eagle • predator • hostility • threat

11. Motif—a recurrent idea, theme, or subject; an incident, situation, or ethical dilemma embodying a central idea that informs a work. A motif may include imagery. • The foreboding threat of authority that would abuse the “inoffensive community” is a recurrent theme throughout the novel

12. Symbol—a person, place, event, or thing that has a meaning of its own, but also represents something else. • eagle • shield • thunderbolt • barbed arrows

13. Metaphor—describes an abstract idea by comparing it to something concrete. • The eagle is a metaphor for the hostile federal government that treated Hawthorne so harshly.

14. Personification—human qualities given to something nonhuman. • shield before her breast • thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw • truculency of her attitude • threaten mischief • warn all citizens • people are seeking…to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle • no great tenderness • her moods • rankling wound from her barbed arrows

15. Other Rhetorical Devices • Irony • Antithesis • Understatement • Tone • Syntax • Style

16. Irony—the statement or idea on its face appears true, but, in fact, the opposite is true. • people seeking shelter from the federal eagle when, in fact, the eagle is the threat

17. Antithesis—opposite or contrasting ideas placed side by side in sentences or clauses for emphasis. Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment, to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle; imagining, I presume, that her bosom has all the softness and snugness of an eiderdown pillow. But she has no great tenderness, even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later,--oftener soon than late,--is apt to fling off her nestlings, with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.

18. Understatement—minimizing the qualities of a subject • “The moment when a man’s head drops off is seldom or never, I am inclined to think, precisely the most agreeable of his life.” “The Custom House”

19. Tone—the writer’s attitude toward his or her subject, characters, or audience. • warning • hostile • sardonic (scornfully mocking) • bitter

20. Syntax—the structure of sentences • Periodic Sentence—makes sense only when reaching the end of the sentence; the most important word of phrase comes last for emphasis. • “But the point that drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer,--so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time,--was that SCARLET LETTER, so fantasically embroidered and illuminated on her bosom.” (Chapter 2, par. 10)

21. Syntax • Parallel Structure—two or more related ideas are given identical grammatical structure. • “It was my folly, and thy weakness. I,--a man of thought,--the bookworm of great libraries,--a man already in decay, having given my best years to feed the hungry dream of knowledge,--what had I to do with youth and beauty like thine own.” (Chapter 4, par. 16)

22. Syntax • Apostrophe--a figure of speech by which a speaker or writer suddenly stops in his or her discourse and turns to address pointedly some person or thing. • “I, the present writer, as their representative, hereby take upon myself for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by them—as I have heard, and as the dreary and unprosperous condition of the race, for many a long year back, would argue to exist—may be now and henceforth removed.” “The Custom House”

23. Elements of Style • Diction • Figurative Devices • Irony • Antithesis • Tone • Syntax