READING GUIDE
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850)
Chapters 1-6
INTRODUCTORY NOTES
1. In his short story “Endicott and the Red Cross” (1837) Hawthorne writes about a
woman who wore the letter “A” on her gown. Hawthorne writes, “The Lost and
desperate creature had embroidered the fatal token in scarlet cloth, with a golden
thread and the nicest art of needlework.”
2. In 1844, Hawthorne wrote in his notebook: “The life of a woman who, by an old
colony [Plymouth] law, was condemned to wear the letter ‘A,’ sewed on her
garment in token of having committed adultery.”
3. In 1847, Hawthorne wrote in his notebook: “a story of the effects of revenge,
diabolizing him who indulges in it.”
4. In 1849, Hawthorne lost his job at the Salem, Massachusetts, Custom House. His
wife, Sophia Peabody, used her savings to support him while he wrote The Scarlet
Letter. On February 3, 1850, he concluded the book.
The Scarlet Letter
Chapters 1-6
Chapter I: “The Prison Door”
1. In the first paragraph, how does Hawthorne set the tone of the novel?
2. What is the setting of the novel in time and place?
3. Note the symmetry of the prison, cemetery, and church. What does Hawthorne
suggest by this symmetry?
4. Describe the prison
5. Note the flower imagery at the end of the chapter. What does Hawthorne suggest
by the black flower and the wild rose bush?
6. Note the allusion to Anne Hutchinson. Explain the allusion.
7. The narrator has prepared us for what kind of tale?
Chapter II: “The Market Place”
1. Why are people gathered at the prison door?
2. Hawthorne gives us a list of possible transgressors. Recount this list and note the
punishments.
3. Describe the women who discuss Hester Prynne. What punishments would they
prefer for Hester? Why are the women harsher on Hester than the men?
4. How old is Pearl when we first meet her?
5. Who is Reverend Dimmesdale? How has the good minister reacted to the scandal
that Hester has caused?
6. What is the town-beadle? What does he represent?
7. Describe the letter “A” on Hester’s gown. What might the “A” stand for?
8. Describe Hester. Note her hair.
9. Could the name Hester be a symbol? Who is Hestia in mythology? Who is Esther
from the Bible?
10. What is a scaffold?
11. What is on Hester’s mind as she stands on the scaffold?
12. Note the references to the “deformed scholar.” Characterize him.
13. Who is Mistress Hibbins?
Chapter III: “The Recognition”
1. Who is the stranger who has arrived in town on the same day and time that Hester
must stand on the scaffold?
2. What is the stranger’s background?
3. Note the three playing fields: the ground, the scaffold, and the balcony.
4. How is Hester a “living sermon”?
5. What does the Governor ask Reverend Dimmesdale to do?
6. Summarize Dimmesdale’s speech.
7. How does Pearl respond to the speech? What does Hawthorne suggest here?
8. How does Dimmesdale respond when Hester will not reveal the name of the
father?
9. Note all references to the scarlet letter in the last paragraph of this chapter.
Chapter IV: “The Interview”
1. In what state is Hester at the beginning of this chapter?
2. Who is the physician? What is his name? How is the name significant?
3. What does Hester ask when Chinningworth offers the child medicine?
4. Did Hester ever love Chillingworth? Why did she marry him? Why did he marry
her?
5. Note Chillingworth’s line: “We have wronged each other.”
6. What does Chillingworth vow to do?
7. Why does Hester refuse to name the father?
8. With what does Hester associate Chillingworth at the end of the chapter?
Chapter V: “Hester at Her Needle”
1. Hester could leave Boston. Why does she remain? Where does she choose to live?
2. How has Hester herself become a symbol?
3. What is Hester’s profession?
4. What irony do you find concerning Hester’s needle and the Boston community?
5. How does Hester dress Pearl? Why?
6. How does Hester herself now dress?
7. How has the scarlet letter endowed Hester with a “new sense”?
8. How does the narrator describe the scarlet letter at the end of the chapter?
Chapter VI: “Pearl”
1. How is the name Pearl symbolic? (Perhaps consult Matthew XIII: 45-46.)
2. With what language does Hawthorne describe Pearl?
3. Account for Pearl’s strange behavior. Is she a disturbed child?
4. Is Pearl similar to Hester or different? Explain.
5. Comment on Pearl’s line: “I have no heavenly father.”
6. What rumors in town are circulating about Pearl?