Ruby Stettner
November 1
2AC
S: The Nature of Evil
T: Evil comes in innumerable forms. An evil soul thrives on the suffering of the inflicted. Often times, the worst of evils come from within.
A: Ironic, deceiving, selfish
A: Hawthorne is writing for anyone who is interested in puritan societies and the loose or strict associations of sin and evil.
R: Parallelism
S: "I, whom you behold in these black garments of the priesthood--I,
who ascend the sacred desk, and turn my pale face heavenward,
taking upon myself to hold communion in your behalf with the Most
High Omniscience--I, in whose daily life you discern the
sanctity of Enoch--I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a
gleam along my earthly track, whereby the Pilgrims that shall
come after me may be guided to the regions of the blest--I, who
have laid the hand of baptism upon your children--I, who have
breathed the parting prayer over your dying friends, to whom the
Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted--I,
your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a
pollution and a lie!" (Page 148)
“The angel and apostle of the coming
revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and
beautiful, and wise; moreover, not through dusky grief, but the
ethereal medium of joy; and showing how sacred love should make
us happy, by the truest test of a life successful to such an end” (Page 274).
In the historical fiction book The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne a theme is that often times, the worst of evils come from within. Dimmesdale portrays this theme using parallelism in the following quote, "I, whom you behold in these black garments of the priesthood--I,
who ascend the sacred desk, and turn my pale face heavenward,
taking upon myself to hold communion in your behalf with the Most
High Omniscience--I, in whose daily life you discern the
sanctity of Enoch--I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a
gleam along my earthly track, whereby the Pilgrims that shall
come after me may be guided to the regions of the blest--I, who
have laid the hand of baptism upon your children--I, who have
breathed the parting prayer over your dying friends, to whom the
Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted--I,
your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a
pollution and a lie!" (Page 148)
The parallelism in this quote helps build suspense by creating an even pace for reading with frequent pauses. This repetitive parallel structure explodes into a confession at the end of the quote. Another book that shows the evil and torture that can come from within is The Crucible. Evil comes from within to torture Proctor after his affair with Abby leads to the demise of his wife.
How do you think the plot would have changed if Dimmesdale had confessed to having an affair with Hester from the start?
