All 3 Uses of
grotesque
in
The Scarlet Letter
- The vulgar, who, in those dreary old times, were always contributing a grotesque horror to what interested their imaginations, had a story about the scarlet letter which we might readily work up into a terrific legend.†
Chpt 5 *
- Carried away by the grotesque horror of this picture, the minister, unawares, and to his own infinite alarm, burst into a great peal of laughter.†
Chpt 12
- Nor would it have been impracticable, in the observance of majestic ceremonies, to combine mirthful recreation with solemnity, and give, as it were, a grotesque and brilliant embroidery to the great robe of state, which a nation, at such festivals, puts on.†
Chpt 21
Definition:
-
(grotesque) distorted and unnatural in shape or size -- especially in a disturbing way
or:
ugly, gross, or very wrong