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.†
p. 61.3 *
- 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.†
p. 102.4
- 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.†
p. 154.9
Definition:
distorted and unnatural in shape or size -- especially in a disturbing way
or:
ugly, gross, or very wrong
or:
ugly, gross, or very wrong