Words of Pain in Hawthorne's Novel The Scarlet Letter: A Semantic Study

Abstract

      Pain is a natural state of human daily life and all people are subject to it. It ranges from the highest degree of agony to the lowest one. Being a multidimensional experience, pain differs from one person to another.

      Linguistically, pain is difficult to be expressed. Nevertheless, there are certain words that are used to describe the feeling of pain. The current study deals with the semantic properties of some words of pain in Hawthorne's Novel The Scarlet Letter.

      In the light of the data selected, it is found that both men and women have employed words of pain. The difference is that women, in this particular novel, such as: Hester and Pearl have made use of the words in a way which decrease their pains successfully.  Men, on the other hand, have endeavoured to minimize the consequences of pain by using some words, however; their attempts are in vain. Regardless of the physical stimulus, it is also concluded that pain has psychological, religious and social impulses.