The First Chapter Of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

This title serves to describe and state what the first chapter is about. These pages give an insight into the narrator’s life, which is similar to that of Hawthorne, and the custom house in which he works in and made a crucial discovery in. The narrator is setting the scene through the discovery of the scarlet letter. In conjunction with the discovery of the scarlet letter the narrator also found a scroll from which parts of his story came, and in this discovery he states that this is a partly fictional account of Hester Prynne’s life. • Imagery/description- With his florid cheek, his compact figure…”
The title is a part of the scene that has been set. People are gathered in front of the “prison-door.” The same door that Anne Hutchinson
went through. Along with this scene are flowers which have had a speculation over as to their existence. • Foreshadowing- “But on one side of the portal. And rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose bush…”
• Symbolism- prison and cemetery could be punishment and death
This title serves as a setting for where Hester is to be at the moment. It is here where she has to stand on the town scaffold for all to see her, the baby, and he scarlet letter. The market place is very close to the prison and packed with many people, some of which, especially the women, are talking about Hester. • Imagery- Hester’s entrance-“with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile and a glance that would not be abashed…”
• Irony-“takes it very grievously to the heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation.”