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Example:
"Hush, Hester, hush!" said he, with tremulous solemnity.
"The law we broke!–the sin here so awfully revealed!–let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may
be, that, when we forgot our God,–when we violated our reverence each for the other's soul,–it was thenceforth
vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion. God knows; and He is merciful! He hath burning
torture to bear upon my breast! By sending yonder dark and terrible old man, to keep the torture always at red-heat! By bringing
me hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of those agonies been wanting, I had been
lost for ever! Praised be his name! His will be done! Farewell!"
- "The Scarlett Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Explanation:
Nathaniel Hawthorne displays Arthur Dimmsdale's immense sadness through an extremely prevalent melancholic tone. Arthur
Dimmsdale is very worried and stressed about his past and his present. He worries about what he has done in the past, committing
the adulterous crime with Hester and basically ignoring his god, and also is sad about his future because "it was thenceforth
vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion." meaning that he believes they will never
meet again because once they find out Dimmsdale will be hung for his treachery and be put to shame. He will never be able
to forget what he did when he basically shoved his god aside and committed this heinous crime with Hester because it is "burning
torture to bear upon my breast" because of this particular sensation that he experiences in his beast he can never let
go of his sin, and is forever saddened and demoralized by it.
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