In Nathaniel Hawthorne's shrewd passage from the Scarlet Letter, he reveals through his cynical narrator, a description of vile disdain for the Puritan community. Using diction and carefully employed position of language, his opinion of their character is greatly projected on the screen of the reader's mind. The narrator is able to acutely reveal the hypocrisy and savage disposition that encapsulated the `religious' Puritans.

We are shown the irony behind the hypocritical Puritans through vigilant word choice. For example "It might be that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodox religionist was to be scourged out of town..." Through carefully making sure to use just a few dissimilar religious factions, the reader is led to believe that the Puritans think themselves superior and enhanced in moral standing. Hawthorne is cautious, using no pluralism of each religious participant, making the Puritans seems like a bully harassing...