The Scarlet Letter



The Scarlet Letter

I. Reading Journal Assignment

As you read, you must complete a journal entry for 20 of the 24 chapters in The Scarlet Letter. Each journal entry must provide an analytic overview of one chapter. Each overview should combine the following:

Reading Observations

Setting

Significant Events, especially plot shifts

Characterization and character development (inc. moral/spiritual development)

Conflict introduction and development

Key motifs and images (address both literal and figurative purposes)

Narratorial tone

Mysteries and unanswered questions

Discussion Question Responses

You are required to answer any questions in boldface print. You may answer as many of the other questions as you wish.

Reading Journals will be due on Monday, December 14

II. Group Presentation Assignment

Working in groups as assigned, plan and present a critical overview of one section of The Scarlet Letter. In order to help the class follow your presentation, you should use some kind of visual aid—this can take the form of a handout, a powerpoint presentation, or notes written on the chalkboard before class. Presentations will occur after the class has finished reading and discussing each section of the novel; therefore, presentations should focus on reinforcement rather than introduction of new material. Presentations should include the following elements:

1) Summary: Quickly review the setting of the section and its significance, as well as the basic order of events, making special note of conflict development and plot shifts.

2) Character Analysis: Review the ways in which this chapter develops our knowledge of individual characters and expands their role within the story. Remember to pay close attention not only to inter/intrapersonal development, but to moral and spiritual development, as well.

3) Key motifs and images: Review any items that are given special significance, either through repetition or narrative emphasis of some kind. If your section further develops a motif from another section, be sure to avoid mere repetition of someone else’s presentation.

4) Narratorial tone: Offer an interpretation of the narrator’s tone toward the people, events, and objects you have already addressed. Use specific textual material to illustrate your interpretation.

5) Close Reading Exercise: Select a sentence from the text that is particularly illustrative of a key motif, tone, or situation in your section of the novel. Discuss both the content and the structure of this sentence as they relate to the larger issues in this section of the novel.

The Scarlet Letter

Study Guide

Chapter 1

1. What types of imagery are used to introduce the Puritan townsfolk in “The Prison Door”? What is the effect of this imagery and how does the narrator further this portrayal in “The Market Place”?

2. What is the significance (symbolic, thematic, or otherwise) of the rosebush outside the prison door?

Chapter 2

3. What traits characterize the women of Salem? How might their collective demeanor be a product of Puritan society? What is the artistic function of the “young wife” within the group?

4. What is Hester’s first action in the novel and what does it reveal about her character? Describe her demeanor as she emerges from the prison.

5. According to the narrator, what is the greatest “outrage…against our common nature”? Do you agree? How might this opinion on the part of the narrator shape the telling of this story?

6. While she is on the scaffold, Hester’s memory runs through a brief summary of her past. What significant events are referred to, however vaguely?

Chapter 3

7. Describe the stranger standing next to the Indian during Hester’s punishment. What signal passes between him and Hester? What emotional affect does his presence have on Hester?

8. Why does the stranger call Hester’s punishment “a wise sentence”?

9. Describe Reverend Dimmesdale. What are his most significant physical features and what do they suggest about his personality and even his soul?

10. What argument does Dimmesdale use to try convince Hester to name her “fellow-sinner”? How does Hester respond? How does her child respond?

11. Why does Hester say the scarlet letter can never be removed from her breast?

12. How does the sermon delivered by John Wilson begin to expand the symbolic significance of the scarlet letter? How does town gossip and superstition do the same?

Chapter 4

13. What does Chillingworth mean when he says to Hester, “We have wronged each other”?

14. Why does Chillingworth ask Hester to keep his identity a secret? Why is this ironic in light of his profession?

Chapter 5

15. How does Hester’s life change once her public humiliation is over?

16. The narrator gives two reasons for Hester’s refusal to leave New England, one that is authentic and one that Hester fabricates as a “self-delusion.” Explain each one and what it reveals about Hester’s character.

17. Where does Hester live after her leaving the prison? What is significant about this location?

18. How does Hester support herself and Pearl? What does her profession reveal about Puritan society? What is the one job she is never asked to do and why?

19. Apart from wearing the scarlet letter, in what specific ways is Hester isolated from the townspeople? How is she made to suffer by this?

20. What new and special power does the scarlet letter seem to give Hester? What is Hester’s reaction to this newfound ability?

Chapter 6

21. Why does Hester name her child Pearl? Why does she worry about Pearl’s character?

22. How does the narrator account for Pearl’s wild and untamed character?

23. What success does Hester have in controlling Pearl? How does Pearl interact with the other children in the village? What rumor circulates about Pearl’s paternity?

24. What purpose might the mother-daughter conflict play in the novel?

Chapter 7

25. For what two purposes does Hester go to Governor Bellingham’s mansion?

26. Describe Pearl’s dress and comment on its significance.

27. Describe the construction and furnishing of Governor Bellingham’s mansion. What does it reveal about Puritan culture?

28. What possible symbolic meanings are associated with sunshine and the suit of armor in Chapter 7?

Chapter 8

29. What reason does the Governor give for taking Pearl from her mother? How does he “examine” Pearl and for what purpose? How do Pearl’s responses strengthen the elders’ biases against her and Hester?

30. What reason does Hester give for her need to keep Pearl? Who supports her plea and why?

31. How does Pearl behave towards Dimmesdale in the garden?

32. What is the purpose of the interaction between Hester and Mistress Hibbins at the end of Chapter 8?

Chapter 9

33. How does Chillingworth make a place for himself in Boston society? Why are we as readers suspicious of his professional and social motivations? Why does this suspicion seem to be absent from the narrator’s tone?

34. How do Dimmesdale and the people of the town take differing views towards his failing health?

35. How does Chillingworth come to be Dimmesdale’s personal physician? What do the two men have in common as a basis for friendship? Whose idea is it that they should live together?

36. What biblical stories are portrayed in the decorations of Dimmesdale’s room? What themes or issues are suggested by these stories?

37. What two conflicting ideas did the townspeople hold about Chillingworth?

Chapter 10

38. How has Chillingworth changed since Hester first knew him? How does the narrator use imagery or description to reveal the nature of Chillingworth’s metamorphosis? What is the cause of this change?

39. What does Chillingworth suggest is the cause of Dimmesdale’s “illness”?

40. Summarize the disagreement between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale over the confession of sin. What are the points of view offered by each man? Why does Dimmesdale leave the room? What is the larger significance of this conversation?

41. What misbehavior does Pearl indulge in below Dimmesdale’s window? How does this scene suggest a link between the child and the minister?

42. What important discovery does Chillingworth make while Dimmesdale is sleeping? How does the narrator describe Chillingworth’s joy and why is this description meaningful?

Chapter 11

43. How and why does Chillingworth change his purpose in light of his discovery?

44. How does Dimmesdale’s suffering affect his work as a clergyman? What is the public reaction when Dimmesdale “confesses” his sinfulness from the pulpit? Describe and analyze the narrator’s tone toward Dimmesdale as he describes this confession.

45. Through what practices does Dimmesdale seek penance for his sins? What is the narrator’s tone toward Dimmesdale as he relates these practices?

Chapter 12

46. Why does Dimmesdale go to stand on the scaffold?

47. Which two people come to their window when Dimmesdale shrieks? What symbolism might be involved in the author’s choice of these two character?

48. Why are Rev. Wilson and, later, Hester and Pearl out at night? Why does Rev. Wilson miss seeing Dimmesdale?

49. What question does Pearl ask Dimmesdale? What is his answer? Why is this interaction significant?

50. What “sign” appears in the sky? How is it described? What two interpretations are offered by which characters?

51. What is Chillingworth’s reaction to finding Dimmesdale on the scaffold?

52. How does his experience on the scaffold affect Dimmesdale’s sermon the next day? How does the Sexton interpret his discovery of Dimmesdale’s black glove on the scaffold?

Chapter 13

53. How has Hester’s position in the community changed? How is this linked to any change in the townspeople’s perception of the scarlet letter’s symbolism? Explain the narrator’s comment that “the scarlet letter had not done its office.”

54. Describe the changes in Hester’s appearance and temperament that have come as a result of wearing the scarlet letter. Include an explanation of how her view on womanhood has changed.

55. What stimulus gives Hester the courage to confront Chillingworth, to act on Dimmesdale’s behalf?

Chapter 14

56. During his conversation with Hester, what opinion of Dimmesdale’s character does Chillingworth offer? Why does he refuse to leave him alone? Why does he insist that Dimmesdale has “increased the debt”?

Chapter 15

57. Why does Hester feel Chillingworth “has done me worse wrong than I did him”?

58. What object does Pearl make for herself out of grasses and seaweeds? How is this object given symbolic significance by its differences from the original?

59. Explain Hester’s statement, “If this be the price of the child’s sympathy, I cannot pay it.” Later, in chapter 16, what does the narrator say Pearl needs in order to “make her capable of sympathy”?

Chapter 16

60. Why hasn’t Hester ever visited Dimmesdale in his study? What does Hester’s desired meeting place suggest about the nature of their relationship?

61. According to Pearl, why does the sunshine “love” her and not Hester? Why is Pearl’s observation significant?

62. How is the brook described? What possible symbolic meanings could be associated with it?

63. What questions does Pearl repeat throughout chapters 15 and 16? What do these questions suggest about Pearl and about her relationship with her mother?

Chapter 17

64. How is Dimmesdale described as he comes walking through the forest? How does his manner change once he realizes he is not alone?

65. Describe Hester and Dimmesdale’s meeting. How would you describe their interaction? What important question does Dimmesdale ask Hester?

66. How do Dimmesdale and Hester disagree over the quality of Dimmesdale’s pastoral work and its effect on Dimmesdale’s life? How do they view repentance and redemption differently?

67. Why does Hester reveal the truth of Chillingworth’s identity? How does Dimmesdale react? What is your reaction to his reaction?

68. As Hester and Dimmesdale discuss “what to do” to escape Chillingworth, what does their conversation reveal about the nature of their relationship? How is each character strong or weak? In what way does each need the other?

Chapter 18

69. In the second paragraph of chapter 18, the narrator uses the phrase “a moral wilderness.” What is this intended to describe? What differing views would the Puritan society and the narrator take regarding this “wilderness”? In what sense are Hester and Dimmesdale caught in between these two views?

70. How does “Nature” react when Hester removes the Scarlet Letter? What is the significance of this in light of Pearl’s statement in chapter 16 that “the sunshine does not love” Hester? What thematic message is solidified in this moment? (You might consider the statement in this same paragraph that “Love…must always create a sunshine.”)

Chapter 19

71. Why is Pearl unable to share her mother’s joy over the Scarlet Letter’s removal? Why does she insist that Hester put the Scarlet Letter on again? Why does she reject Dimmesdale’s kiss?

Chapter 20

72. What is meant by the phrase “duplicity of impression”? How does this phrase apply to Dimmesdale’s own self-perception, and how does the narrator suggest that this duplicity might be a tragic flaw?

73. What four temptations does Dimmesdale face on his way home? What does Dimmesdale assume is the source of these temptations? What alternate explanation does the narrator offer? What further explanations for Dimmesdale’s “temptation” might be apparent to a modern reader?

74. What does Mistress Hibbins perceive when she meets Dimmesdale? When contrasted against Hester’s meeting with Mistress Hibbins at the end of chapter 8, how does Dimmesdale’s response to her further our understanding of the contrast between the two lovers?

75. Why does Dimmesdale rewrite his Election Sermon?

Chapter 21

76. To what degree and for what reason is Hester isolated from Puritan community during the Holiday? How does Pearl act as a foil to Hester’s condition in this scene? According to the narrator, how is this apparent contrast the result of an underlying connection between mother and daughter?

77. How do the sailors present at this celebration illustrate the “incomplete morality of the age”?

78. What bad news does Hester receive from the ship’s captain? How might this news suggest an impending tragedy to the reader?

Chapter 22

79. What Puritan values are revealed by the procession that parades toward the church? What makes someone admirable in this culture?

80. How has Dimmesdale’s appearance changed? In what way does he appear separate from the crowd and how does this affect Hester? How does this also foreshadow a possible tragedy?

81. What forbidden question does Pearl ask when she sees Dimmesdale? What important symbolic contrast is highlighted by Hester’s response?

82. Why does Mistress Hibbins reproach Hester with “fie, woman, fie!”?

Chapter 23

83. How does Hawthorne further develop the symbolic importance of the scaffold during Dimmesdale’s sermon?

84. What did Dimmesdale’s sermon foretell for the Puritan people? How do the people react to this message? How does the narrator draw further attention to the growing separation between Hester and Dimmesdale?

85. Describe and analyze the significance of each of the main characters’ reactions to Dimmesdale’s confession. How is each one changed by his confession?

86. What are Dimmesdale’s last words? Is there anything significant about these words or the situation in which they are spoken?

Chapter 24

87. Summarize the concluding chapter in terms of character development and final thoughts offered by the narrator.

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