The Scarlet Letter Study Guide
1. Directions: Match the character name to the description:
a. Hester Prynne
C the lover; his guilt literally kills him
b. Pearl
E the governor; he is a hypocrite
c. Dimmesdale
D the leech; he seeks revenge on the lover
d. Chillingworth
A the protagonist; she is publicly punished
e. Bellingham
B the child; she is demonic until she has family
2. Directions: Choose any character and create an anecdote about your
favorite character that is accurate to the novel’s plot. Pretend like you know
this character very well, and use lots of details. Look back to notes from the
first unit as to what an anecdote is.
As long as you write any truthful sounding story about a character from the novel, this
is correct. I just wanted to remind you what an anecdote is.
3. Directions: List 4 symbols from the novel, and what they represent:
Ex: The letter A represents Hester’s sin, punishment, and redemption.
a. The letter A represents punishment and redemption
b. The scaffold represents punishment and redemption
c. The meteor represents willful ignorance or hypocrisy
d. The rose bush represents Hester—a beautiful, independent
person living amongst thorns.
4. Directions: List 3 important locations in the novel, and their significance:
Ex: The cottage is significant because it is isolated, signifying both
punishment/alienation, but also freedom from society.
a. The forest is significant because it is associated with
deviancy from the town’s conformity.
b. The town is significant because it signifies law, order, and
conformity.
c. The graveyard and the prison are significant because they
represent the two options for the Puritans—death or crime.
5. Directions: List three important motifs/thematic topics from the novel.
Next to the motif, choose a tone word show the author’s attitude toward it.
Example: hypocrisy: disdainful
a. public confession : admiring
b. private guilt : condemnatory
c. conformity : conflicted
6. Directions: Using an “if, then” statement, create two themes for The Scarlet
Letter as a whole.
a. If a person publicly confesses their sins, then they can move
on and be true to themselves.
b. When a person acts independently of their group, then they
cannot function in their society and will be shunned.
7. Directions: Write down an example of each irony from the text:
a. Dramatic Irony: Dimmesdale is the father!
b. Situational Irony: A priest sins.
c. Verbal Irony:
Pearl, “I have no heavenly father!”
Directions: Match the rhetorical devices to their definitions:
8. Paradox:
11 the associative meaning of a word
9. Dichotomy:
10 author’s choice of words
10. Diction:
13 a sentence with the main point at the end
11. Connotation:
14 repetition of the initial clause
12. Juxtaposition:
8 a seemingly contradictory statement
13. Periodic:
15 a direct sentence using 8 words or fewer
14. Anaphora:
12 placing two opposites side by side for comparison
15. Telegraphic
9 a whole split into two opposing parts.
16. Directions: Analyze the significance of this quotation from the end of the
novel: “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet
some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!"
If a person is untrue to themselves, they will be lost. Being truthful means not
only admitting sins and faults, but showing the worst of those sins publicly to others.
In this public confession, a person is able to move beyond their fault and become a
better person.