Scarlet letter 1
What colony is the setting for the novel?
Boston
What is Hester's sin? Punishment?
Adultery; public condemnation via wearing scarlet letter, humiliation on the scaffold, and temporary jail time
What is the usual punishment for adultery? Why is Hester's punishment less severe?
Death; the magistrates do not know who the husband/adulterer yet.
Give at least two reasons why Hester does not leave the colony.
She needs the infamy and Hopes to remind her love
How has Roger Chillingworth changed in the past 7 years?
He has changed from an intellectual look to a guarded, ominous one
What two possible symbols does the rose have for the reader?
pain and beauty
What things does Hester think about while she is on the scaffold?
Past memories; e.g. her youth and school days, sports, childish quarrels, traits of her maiden years, and her husband
What is Dimmesdale's relationship to Hester? What does he ask her to reveal?
He is to make Hester confess the truth about her adultery and tell the name of the child's father.
What does the Scarlet Letter mean to Pearl?
It is her play thing
What questions does Pearl ask her mother? Why does this trouble Hester?
What the scarlet letter means, why she wears it, and why Dimmesdale holds his hand over his heart.
It troubles Hester b/c she does not know whether or not to tell Pearl; as if, whether she is at the right age
Name three crimes and the punishments that the Puritans might witness
Execution, whipped children, Indian intrusion
How old is her baby?
three months
What is the relationship between Chillingworth and Hester?
Husband and wife
How has Rev. Dimmesdale changed since Hester's public humiliation?
He has become more tired/unhappy and scrawny; his health deteriorated
How has Dimmesdale's secret sin affected his life?
He has become miserable and guilty and feels that his role as a minister has depleted.
What is the relationship between religion and law in Puritan New England?
Identical and interfused
What detail is given to suggest the baby was born in jail?
It had "been acquainted only to the grey twilight of the prison"
What secret does Chillingworth ask Hester to keep?
Don't talk about their marriage
Why would Dimmesdale live with guilt and not confess his sin openly?
He is afraid of how it will affect his congregation
What is Dimmesdale's reaction to the truth of who Chillingworth really is?
At first he is shocked, but he calms down and forgives Hester, seeing Chillingworth is the core sinner.
What punishments would the Puritan women have given Hester Prynne if it were left to them?
Iron branding on forehead
What prior reference was made in Chapter 2 that reminds the reader of the unnamed man standing on the outskirts of the crowd in the opening scenes?
The flashback of Hester looking in the mirror and seeing a man with a scholar like face.
What does the Black man symbolize in this book?
devil
How has the townspeople's view changed toward Hester?
They no longer bear such a strong scorn for her; regard the scarlet "A" as able (strong-willed, indp)
When Hester throws down her scarlet letter, the transfiguration foreshadowed Chapter 13 occurs, and Hester's beauty returns. What is the "magic touch" that effects the transformation?
The undoing of her hair cap that contained it