The Scarlet Letter
Senior AP 2014
The Scarlet Letter
Novel distributed on 12/7/2014 and Assignments on 12/8/2014
Seniors AP: 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 8th
GENERAL READING EXPECTATIONS
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Read the novel
Know the main characters by name.
Summarize the novel's plot and key events.
Explain the meaning of the title.
Consider the implications of revenge, justice, forgiveness, and the human heart in light of The Scarlet Letter.
Know all main characters, the thematic symbols associated with them, their relationship to one another, and
what becomes of them:
Characters
Hester Prynne: Commits adultery with Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, gives birth to Pearl, is married to Roger
Chillingworth. She is forced to wear the “Scarlet (red) A”.
--‘A’ changes in meaning – adultery to angel to able. End up on Hester’s grave stone
-- Carries her punishment with dignity; earns the eventual respect of the village.
-- Her goodness frequently associated with symbols of nature: sunshine, rosebush
-- She moves away but returns near the end of her life.
Pearl: Hester and Dimmesdale’s child. She’s wild, aggressive, untamed.
-- She instinctively knows that Dimmesdale is her father; knows that Chillingworth is dangerous. Only
recognizes her mother with the ‘A’ on her chest.
--Wants Dimmesdale to stand with her and her mother in the daylight – accept her as his own.
--Eventually leaves village with Hester; Chillingworth leaves her land in his will, making her very wealthy. She
never returns, though it’s thought she lives in Europe.
Dimmesdale: A Puritan minister; had adulterous relationship with Hester. Is Pearl’s father. He is plagued by guilt for
keeping his role in the affair secret.
-- His “common gesture” is his hand over his heart, signifies secret guilt/sin. It is suggested that he has a
‘Scarlet A’ carved in his chest, self-inflicted.
-- Other self-punishments include whipping himself, starving, vigils where he stays awake — he wants
redemption like Hester got by public shame.
Chillingworth: Is Hester’s husband. Was missing for 2 years. Is angry someone had an affair with his wife. Wants
revenge on that man. Suspects Dimmesdale; moves in with him to “search his soul” and torment him. Poses as a “leech”
(doctor) as he has certain medical knowledge.
-- Wasn’t always an evil man. Is much older than Hester.
Symbols
The following is a list of commonly accepted symbols present in The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne’s rich use of
symbols in this novel ranges from the obvious, to those not as easily recognized or agreed upon.
1. The Prison: crime and punishment, the black flower of civilized society
2. The Rosebush: passion, some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the
darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.
3. The Beadle: Puritan law
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The Scarlet Letter
Senior AP 2014
4. The Scarlet Letter A: adultery, a mark of punishment, a mark of ignominy, a reminder of guilt
(Dimmesdale), a focus for revenge (Chillingworth), mystery (Pearl), a symbol for Angel at Winthrop’s death,
stands for Able when Hester gains respect from the community
5. The Scaffold: Puritan law, acknowledgment of sin, freedom through confession
6. Day and Night: things exposed and hidden
7. The Sun: happiness and Heaven’s approval
8. The Forest: an evil place, a place of freedom from societal laws
9. The Brook: a symbol of Pearl’s unknown origin, sadness, a boundary between two worlds
10. Mr. Wilson, Mistress Hibbins, Governor Bellingham: the Church, evil and witchcraft, laws of the state
11. Hester: pride, individuality, sin, punishment
12. Pearl: nature, innocence, evil, mystery, freedom
13. Chillingworth: sin and evil, revenge
14. Dimmesdale: sin, guilt, suffering, freedom, truth, bravery and cowardice
Quizzes
Quizzes will consist of questions on the specific chapters (MC) as well as at least one of the close reading
questions (short answer). Quizzes will be based upon plot and making thematic connections.
Reading and Questions
You may work on these questions with a partner. You will only need to turn in one response per group, but be
sure to include names of both students on the responses.
Chapter
1-5
6-11
12
13-24
What is Due?
Questions Due and Quiz on
Questions Due and Quiz on
Questions Due and Quiz on
Questions Due and Quiz on
Date Due
12/16/2014
01/13/2015
01/20/2015
01/27/2015
Turn in Books
Close Reading Question’s-The Scarlet Letter: Please review and respond to the entire set of questions
A. Due 12/16/2014
Ch. 1-3 (pages 33-48)
1) What is “the black flower of civilized society” and how does it relate to Hester’s story (include the rose
bush to help clarify your answer)?
2) How is Hester Prynne first described? How does she carry herself? How has she chosen to embroider
the scarlet letter and what does this tell you about her?
3) Why does Hester stay in Puritan Boston when she is released from prison and banished (alienated)?
4) What role does the scaffold play when it is first introduced?
Ch. 4-5 (pages 48-60)
5) Who is Hester’s husband? Explain who is Rev. Dimmesdale?
6) What details of Chilingworth’s visit to Hester in prison make the reader sympathetic to him?
7) What does Chillingworth resolve to do after meeting for the first time with Hester?
8) What makes the “The Leech” an appropriate title for Chillingsworth?
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The Scarlet Letter
Senior AP 2014
B. Due 01/13/2015
Ch. 6-7 (pages 61-73)
9) What is the significance of Pearl’s name?
10) What characteristics describe Pearl?
11) What quality does Pearl have that disturbs Hester and leads Hester to regard Pearl not as her own
child?
Ch. 8-9 (pages 74-88)
12) Why do you think Dimmesdale’s health is failing? What changes have taken place in his appearance and
demeanor? Why do the Puritan people think his health is declining?
Ch. 10-11 (pages 88-100)
13) When Dimmesdale is sleeping, Chillingworth approaches him. What does Chillingworth do, and what is
his reaction to what he sees?
14) To what three practices had Dimmesdale’s “inward trouble” driven him?
C. Due 01/20/2015
Ch. 12 (pages 101-109)
15) Chapter 12 brings all four main characters together again at the scaffold. What business brings each of
them to the spot.
16) What different meanings do Dimmesdale and the townspeople give to the meteor streaking across the
sky?
17) What does Pearl want Dimmesdale to do with her and her mother? Why do you suppose this is?
D. Due 01/27/2015
Chapters 13-24 (pages 109-180)
18) What is each character’s “sin” — Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth? Whose is the greater sin, in
your opinion? Whose is the greater sin, in Hawthorne’s opinion?
19) Discuss the symbolism of the forest related to Hester and Dimmesdale? Discuss the symbolism of
sunshine related to Hester. How might this tie in with the rosebush from the first chapter?
20) Compare and contrast the final scaffold scene with the previous two.
21) What was the intended effect of the scarlet letter, and do you agree that it “had done its office” on
Hester? Why or why not?
22) Discuss the ending. Did Dimmesdale have to die? Why did Chillingworth become “positively withered
up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in
the sun”? Why did Hester leave and come back?
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The Scarlet Letter
Senior AP 2014
Essays
Please Note: AP bench marks will be conducted 1/7-8/2015.
I will select 2 of the 3 essays shown below and administer them on the following dates:
Essay
Administered
1
01/28/2015
2
02/3/2015
Two timed essay prompts will be administered upon the novel’s conclusion. These will be done in class and
you do not have to do them outside of class. These are not homework.
ESSAY PROMPT
Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that “Exile is strangely
compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and
a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Yet Said has
also said that exile can become “a potent, even enriching” experience. Using The Scarlet Letter, choose a
character who experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether that home is the character’s
birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the
character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the
meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot. Use quotes and examples from the novel to
illustrate your points.
ESSAY PROMPT
In The Writing of Fiction (1925), novelist Edith Wharton states the following: "At every stage in the progress of
his tale, the novelist must rely on what may be called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize the
inner meaning of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity."
Using The Scarlet Letter, write a well-organized essay in which you describe an “illuminating” episode or
moment and explain how it functions as a “casement,” a window that opens onto the meaning of the work as a
whole. Avoid mere plot summary. Use quotes and examples from the novel to illustrate your points.
ESSAY PROMPT
Choose a character from The Scarlet Letter who responds in some significant way to justice or injustice. Then
write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the character’s understanding of justice, the degree to which
the character’s search for justice is successful, and the significance of this search for the work as a whole. In
your essay, do not merely summarize the plot. Use quotes and examples from the novel to illustrate your points.
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