scarlet letter study guide
Reading Guide Questions
Chapters I and II
Identifying Facts
1. What two necessities, according to Hawthorne. must the founders of a new colony provide immediately? 2.
Under whose footsteps was the rose-bush outside the prison supposed to have sprung up?
3.
What is the significance of the scarlet letter A which is embroidered on Hester’s gown?
Interpreting Meanings
5. What conclusion can you draw from the fact that every new colony must provide a prison and a cemetery at once?
6.
How do most of the townspeople regard Hester’s punishment—as too severe, too lenient. or appropriate? 7.
6.
After hearing of Hester’s crime and punishment, the stranger vows that her lover’s identity will be known. How important do you think this vow of his will be in the rest of the novel?
7.
In what way, according to the Reverend
Dimmesdale. can Hester help her unknown lover atone for his sin?
8.
How does the Reverend Wilson interpret the baby’s response to Dimmesdale’s entreaty? What significance do you think the baby’s response may have? 9.
The Reverend Dimmesdale awaited the result of his appeal to Hester to reveal her lover’s name leaning over the balcony, with his hand over his heart On hearing her refusal, he draws back
“with a long respiration.” Why do you suppose he was holding his breath until he heard her answer?
How would you describe what the young minister is probably feeling at this moment?
Do you agree that the harshest aspect of pun. ishment by pillory was that it prevented the confined person from hiding his or her face?
8.
Hester thinks of her childhood home as she stands on the scaffold. What does this glimpse of her past suggest about her family background?
9.
Hawthorne says the Puritan townspeople were stern enough to Look upon her (Hester’s) death, had that been the sentence” but not heartless enough to mock and ridicule her. Do you agree that scornful mockery would be
Chapters I and II
Identifying Facts
1. What two necessities, according to Hawthorne. must the founders of a new colony provide immediately? 2.
Under whose footsteps was the rose-bush outside the prison supposed to have sprung up?
3.
What is the significance of the scarlet letter A which is embroidered on Hester’s gown?
Interpreting Meanings
5. What conclusion can you draw from the fact that every new colony must provide a prison and a cemetery at once?
6.
How do most of the townspeople regard Hester’s punishment—as too severe, too lenient. or appropriate? 7.
6.
After hearing of Hester’s crime and punishment, the stranger vows that her lover’s identity will be known. How important do you think this vow of his will be in the rest of the novel?
7.
In what way, according to the Reverend
Dimmesdale. can Hester help her unknown lover atone for his sin?
8.
How does the Reverend Wilson interpret the baby’s response to Dimmesdale’s entreaty? What significance do you think the baby’s response may have? 9.
The Reverend Dimmesdale awaited the result of his appeal to Hester to reveal her lover’s name leaning over the balcony, with his hand over his heart On hearing her refusal, he draws back
“with a long respiration.” Why do you suppose he was holding his breath until he heard her answer?
How would you describe what the young minister is probably feeling at this moment?
Do you agree that the harshest aspect of pun. ishment by pillory was that it prevented the confined person from hiding his or her face?
8.
Hester thinks of her childhood home as she stands on the scaffold. What does this glimpse of her past suggest about her family background?
9.
Hawthorne says the Puritan townspeople were stern enough to Look upon her (Hester’s) death, had that been the sentence” but not heartless enough to mock and ridicule her. Do you agree that scornful mockery would be