Irony in the Scarlet Letter

Born into a strict, old Puritan family, Nathaniel Hawthorne grew up in seclusion. Sin and punishment were largely the themes of Hawthorne's writing and were most likely influenced from his early years. These themes were sparked from possible guilt he may have felt for the role his ancestors played in the persecution of Quakers and in the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, where his grandfather was a presiding judge. In 1850 Hawthorne created the most recognized work of his career. In the novel The Scarlet Letter there are many examples of verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. (96)
The first type of irony is verbal irony, in which the speaker says one thing but means another, or says something without realizing its significance. The first example of verbal irony takes place when Hester stands on the scaffold and Dimmesdale makes a plea for her to voice her fellow sinner. Dimmesdale informs her that her silence would only "add hypocrisy to sin." This is particularly ironic because...