Both Uses of
delicacy
in
The Scarlet Letter
- It was not an age of delicacy; and her position, although she understood it well, and was in little danger of forgetting it, was often brought before her vivid self-perception, like a new anguish, by the rudest touch upon the tenderest spot.
Chpt 5 *delicacy = gentleness
- And the shame!--the indelicacy!--the horrible ugliness of this exposure of a sick and guilty heart to the very eye that would gloat over it!
Chpt 17indelicacy = coarseness (not of gentle standards)standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indelicacy means not and reverses the meaning of delicacy. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
Definition:
-
(delicacy as in: discuss with delicacy) care and gentleness -- especially speaking or acting with sensitivity and tact