Describe Hawthorne's use of irony in The Scarlet Letter and explain how those examples are ironic.Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

With irony being a contrast or incongruity between what is
expected to be and what actually happens, perhaps the greatest irony in The
Scarlet Letter is in the fact that a religious group of people who left
England to come to the colonies of America seeking freedom constructed a prison as their
first building.  This group of Puritans become the most restrictive of all religious
sects, allowing no transgressions.  Yet, in England they fought against the restrictions
put upon them.

In an effort to "purify" their church of the
corruption and excessiveness of the Anglican Church from which they broke, Puritans
allowed no disgraceful celebrations, no ornateness or pagan-like colors no drinking of
liquor.  Yet, when Hester and Pearl arrive at Governor Bellingham's mansion in Chapter
VIII, there sits upon a table

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--in token that the sentiment of old English
hospitality has not been left behind--stood a large pewter tankard, at the bottom of
which , had Hester of Pearl peeped into it, they might have seen the frothy remnant of a
recent draught of ale.

In
addition, contrary to the Puritan demand for simplicity,  the broken glass of the
windows admit much light and the front of the edifice

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glittered and sparkled as if diamonds had been
flung against it by the double handful.  The brillancy might have befitted Aladdin's
palace, rather than the masion of a grave old Puritan ruler.  It was further decorated
with strange and seemingly cabalistic figures and
diagrams....

The furniture of
the governor is "elaborately carved" and a serving-man wears a blue coat, the "customary
garb...in the old hereditary halls of England."

Another
great irony exists in the punishment of Hester as contrasted to the condition of the
Reverend Dimmesdale. While Hester is publicly humiliated upon the scaffold and made to
wear the scarlet A of an adultress, she suffers less that Arthur
Dimmesdale whose secret sin is not visible to the townspeople, but tortures his soul to
the point that his health is ruined and his body makes manifest his inner
A.  By having her sin exposed, Hester is able to make reparations
for her sin through good deeds, helping the aged and ill.  Her redemption is contrary to
Puritan doctrine that states that faith, not good works, are what save people.  Yet, the
town recognizes the goodness in Hester, referring to the A as
meaning Angel and
Able.

Indeed, throughout Hawthorne's
novel, there are many, many examples of dramatic and situational irony.  For instance,
the townspeople call upon Roger Chillingworth to heal their dear minister when it is
this sinister man who has told Hester, "He will be mine," and intends to destroy
Dimmesdale.  When Hester casts aside her scarlet letter and it falls in the brook, Pearl
cries and will not cross the brook until Hester resumes her wearing of it in Chapter
XIX.  In another example, at the end of Hawthorne's novel, even after achieving freedom
and peace in England, Hester returns to the colony and her former home.  Once there,
Hester bends down, picks up the scarlet letter, and replaces it upon her
bosom.