The Scarlet Letter — Vocabulary
Nathanial Hawthorne
(Edited)

There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted vigour in Pearl's nature, as this never failing vivacity of spirits:p.171.2alternate pages13 more

Much of the marble coldness of Hester's impression was to be attributed to the circumstance that her life had turned, in a great measure, from passion and feeling to thought.p.151.8alternate pages13 more

The thought occurred to Hester, that the child might really be seeking to approach her with childlike confidence, and doing what she could, and as intelligently as she knew how, to establish a meeting-point of sympathy.p.166.2alternate pages11 more

Without disputing a truth so momentous, we must be allowed to consider this version of Mr. Dimmesdale's story as only an instance of that stubborn fidelity with which a man's friends—and especially a clergyman's—will sometimes uphold his character, when proofs, clear as the mid-day sunshine on the scarlet letter, establish him a false and sin-stained creature of the dust.p.241.9alternate pages11 more

...the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale turned to the dignified and venerable rulers;p.236.9alternate pages19 more

While occupied with these reflections, a knock came at the door of the study, and the minister said, "Come in!"p.208.5alternate pages6 more

All this was accomplished with a subtlety so perfect, that the minister, though he had constantly a dim perception of some evil influence watching over him, could never gain a knowledge of its actual nature.p.130.4alternate pages6 more

...after living for three years within the subtle influence of an intellect like Emerson's;p.25.5alternate pages6 more

The edifice had so very strange, and yet so familiar an aspect, that Mr. Dimmesdale's mind vibrated between two ideas; either that he had seen it only in a dream hitherto, or that he was merely dreaming about it now.p.202.8alternate pages12 more

With her knowledge of a train of circumstances hidden from all others, she could readily infer that, besides the legitimate action of his own conscience, a terrible machinery had been brought to bear, and was still operating, on Mr. Dimmesdale's well-being and repose.p.147.4alternate pages4 more

So forcibly did he dwell upon this symbol ... that it assumed new terrors in their imagination, and seemed to derive its scarlet hue from the flames of the infernal pit.p.65.3alternate pages21 more

"Thou must dwell no longer with this man," said Hester, slowly and firmly. "Thy heart must be no longer under his evil eye!"p.183.1alternate pages21 more

He had by this time reached his dwelling on the edge of the burial ground, and, hastening up the stairs, took refuge in his study.p.207.7alternate pages21 more

...on the very day when Hester Prynne first wore her ignominious badge,p.240.4alternate pages23 more

[the letter A] was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore, and which was of a splendour in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony.p.50.9alternate pages22 more

...and still better, it may be, to leave the mystery as we find it, unless Providence reveal it of its own accord.p.107.9alternate pages22 more

...won him warmer affection than was accorded to any of his professional contemporaries.p.101.1alternate pages22 more

This child of its father's guilt and its mother's shame has come from the hand of God, to work in many ways upon her heart, who pleads so earnestly and with such bitterness of spirit the right to keep her.p.105.9alternate pages23 more

Prior to the Revolution there is a dearth of records; the earlier documents and archives of the Custom-House having, probably, been carried off to Halifax, when all the king's officials accompanied the British army in its flight from Boston.p.28.8alternate pages3 more

She accompanied this wild outbreak with piercing shrieks, which the woods reverberated on all sides, so that, alone as she was in her childish and unreasonable wrath, it seemed as if a hidden multitude were lending her their sympathy and encouragement.p.195.9alternate pages3 more