All 3 Uses of
pestilence
in
The Scarlet Letter
- She resembled, in her fierce pursuit of them, an infant pestilence—the scarlet fever, or some such half-fledged angel of judgment—whose mission was to punish the sins of the rising generation.
p. 95.7pestilence = widespread disease
- Pestilence was known to have been foreboded by a shower of crimson light.
p. 143.4pestilence = highly infectious disease
- None so self-devoted as Hester when pestilence stalked through the town.†
p. 149.0 *
Definition:
widespread disease (usually severe); or any severely harmful or evil influence that is hard to get rid of