Both Uses of
provoke
in
The Scarlet Letter
- At this wild and singular appeal, which indicated that Hester Prynne's situation had provoked her to little less than madness, the young minister at once came forward, pale, and holding his hand over his heart, as was his custom whenever his peculiarly nervous temperament was thrown into agitation.†
p. 105.3 *provoked = caused (a reaction)
- Scorn, bitterness, unprovoked malignity, gratuitous desire of ill, ridicule of whatever was good and holy, all awoke to tempt, even while they frightened him.†
p. 207.6unprovoked = not justified or explained as an understandable reaction to another actionstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unprovoked means not and reverses the meaning of provoked. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definition:
to cause a reaction — often an emotional reaction like anger, and sometimes done on purpose