The Scarlet Letter
“The Custom House”
This introduction provides a frame for the main narrative of The Scarlet Letter. The nameless
narrator, who shares many traits with Hawthorne, takes a post as the “chief executive
officer,” or surveyor, of the Salem Custom House. (“Customs” are the taxes paid on foreign
imports into a country; a “customhouse” is the building where these taxes are paid.) He
thinks the building is run-down and says that it is situated on a rotting wharf. His fellow
workers, who are all elderly, mostly hold lifetime appointments secured by family connections. The narrator finds them to be
generally incompetent and corrupt.
The narrator spends his days at the customhouse trying to amuse himself because few ships come to Salem anymore. One
rainy day he discovers some documents in the building’s unoccupied second story. Looking through the pile, he notices a
manuscript that is bundled with a scarlet, gold-embroidered piece of cloth in the shape of the letter “A.” The narrator examines
the scarlet letter and holds it briefly to his chest, but he drops it because it seems to burn him. He then reads the manuscript. It
was written by Jonathan Pue, who was a customs surveyor a hundred years earlier. An interest in local history led Pue to write
an account of events taking place in the middle of the seventeenth century—a century before Pue’s time and two hundred
years before the narrator’s.
The narrator would rather make a career out of writing, but he believes that his Puritan ancestors, whom he holds in high
regard, would find it frivolous and “degenerate.” Nevertheless, he decides to write a fictional account of Hester Prynne’s
experiences, basing them on Pue’s manuscript. He knows that it will not be factually precise, but he believes that it will be
faithful to the spirit of her story. While working at the customhouse, surrounded by uninspiring men, the narrator finds himself
unable to write. When a new president is elected, he loses his politically appointed job, and settling down before a dim fire in
his parlor, begins to write his “romance,” which becomes the body of The Scarlet Letter.
This section introduces us to the narrator and establishes his desire to contribute to American culture. Although this narrator
seems to have much in common with Nathaniel Hawthorne himself—Hawthorne also worked as a customs officer, lost his job
due to political changes, and had Puritan ancestors whose legacy he considered both a blessing and a curse—it is important
not to conflate the two storytellers. The narrator is not just a stand-in for Hawthorne; he is carefully constructed to enhance the
book aesthetically and philosophically. Moreover, Hawthorne sets him up to parallel Hester Prynne in significant ways. Like
Hester, the narrator spends his days surrounded by people from whom he feels alienated. In his case, it is his relative youth
and vitality that separates him from the career customs officers while Hester’s youthful zest for life may have indirectly caused
her alienation. Like Hester, the narrator seeks out the “few who will understand him,” and it is to this select group that he
addresses both his own story and the tale of the scarlet letter. The narrator points out the connection between Hester and
himself when he notes that he will someday be reduced to a name on a custom stamp, much as she has been reduced to a pile
of old papers and a scrap of cloth. The narrator’s identification with Hester enables the reader to universalize her story and to
see its application to another society and time period.
The narrator finds writing therapeutic. Contrary to his Puritan ancestors’ assertions, he also discovers it to be practical: his
introduction provides a thoughtful discourse on American history and culture. Hawthorne wrote at a time when America sought
to distinguish itself from centuries of European tradition by producing uniquely “American” writers—those who, like Hawthorne,
would encourage patriotism by enlarging the world’s sense of America’s comparatively brief history.
Hester’s story comes to us twice removed. It is filtered first through Jonathan Pue and then through the narrator. Awareness of
the story’s various stages (the original story, the manuscript by Jonathan Pue, and the story by the customhouse surveyor)
gives the reader an understanding of the ambiguous areas.
Actual
experiences of
Hester Prynne
1642-1649
Jonathan Pue
records the
legend of Hester
Prynne
Approx. 1750
Narrator writes
the story of
Hester Prynne
Approx. 1850
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 1
“The Prison Door”
(look for evidence of the motif nature vs. civilization)
Vocabulary & Allusions
1. allot – to divide or distribute in shares
2. apple peru –a plant that can be highly poisonous and can lead to delirium if eaten
3. burdock – a vegetable plant that can be eaten or used for medicinal purposes
4. congenial – pleasant, friendly
5. edifice – building
6. inauspicious – not prosperous or promising
7. New World – the New England colonies and the rest of America that was not yet discovered
8. pigweed - a weedy plant that is mostly used as pig food
9. ponderous – weighty
10. portal - a door, gate, or entrance, especially one of imposing appearance
11. sepulchers – burial vaults
12. some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town – Although the story of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale is
fictional, historical events described in The Scarlet Letter set the opening scene of the novel as 1642 and the closing one as 1649.
13. utopia – place or state of political or social perfection
14. Isaac Johnson (1601-1630): One of the first settlers of the Boston area. He was an Officer of the Massachusetts Bay
Commonwealth. Learn more about Isaac Johnson.
15. Anne Hutchinson (1590-1643): A religious liberal who was persecuted by the Puritans. She was tried and banished from
Massachusetts in 1638 for her beliefs. Read some of the transcript of her trial.
1. In what year was this novel originally published?
2. Describe the setting of the first chapter?
3. The Puritans came to America to establish a Utopian society. What do you think about the fact that one of the first buildings they
planned to build was a prison?
4. Interpret and analyze this quote: “Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era.”
5. Explain this metaphor: “[T]he black flower of civilized society, a prison.”
6. Other than the rose bush, what sort of vegetation grows between the prison and the street? What might this symbolize?
7. What do you think the rose bush represents or symbolizes? (other than what is stated directly in the book)
8. Based on the imagery in the first chapter, what mood has been established?
9. The narrator tells us that this is a tale of what?
10. How has Hawthorne already begun to establish the motif of civilization vs. wilderness?
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 2
“The Market Place”
(pay attention to references to sunshine and light in this chapter)
Vocabulary & Allusions
1. abashed - embarrassed
2. adultery voluntary sexual intercourse between a married
person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse
3. ale – a drink similar to beer
4. Antinomian – a religious group that believed God’s laws
existed in faith and not the laws of the church or society.
5. the letter A – A Plymouth statute from 1694 prescribed that
adulteresses wear an A made of cloth. Salem’s statutory
punishment for adultery during the historical period in which
The Scarlet Letter is set was death; however, in practice the
usual punishment was public flogging.
6. augured - foretold
7. autumnal – past maturity; in the middle of life
8. awe – an overwhelming feeling of admiration, fear, etc.
9. baggage – a worthless or contemptible woman; prostitute
10. Beadle: An low level church officer having a variety of minor
duties
11. behoof – advantage
12. betokened – given evidence of
13. bond-servant – a person bound to service without wages
14. brazen - bold
15. brooch – a decorative pin
16. cloister – area within a monastery
17. coarser fibre – rougher basic toughness
18. countenances – looks; expressions
19. Divine Maternity – a reference to the Virgin Mary, the mother
of Jesus, from the Bible.
20. eaves - the overhanging lower edge of a roof
21. Elizabethan ruff – a neckpiece or collar made of lace
22. etymologist – one who studies word derivations
23. evanescent – tending to vanish, like vapor
24. fancy - imagination or fantasy
25. far-off island – in this case, Hawthorne is referring to England
26. farthingale – a slip worn under a woman’s dress that gave a
skirt a puffy appearance.
27. firewater – Native American’s name for “white man’s” alcohol
28. forthwith – immediately, without delay
29. gallows – a wooden frame that is used for public hangings
30. gentility – the upper class
31. gripe about the neck – firm hold around the neck
32. guillotine among the terrorists of France – reference to the
French Revolution and to those who were responsible for
putting many innocent people to death by way of the guillotine
33. Hester Prynne – Some scholars speculate that Hawthorne took
Hester’s name from a real person. Hawthorne's ancestor, John
Hathorne, was magistrate in Salem in 1688, and he ordered a
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woman named Hester Craford to be severely whipped in public
after she gave birth to an illegitimate child.
heterodox – holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines
hour past meridian – an hour pas the middle, or 1 o’ clock
ignominy – disgraceful or dishonorable conduct, quality, or
action
indubitably – unquestionably
infamy – fame for something evil
iniquity - wickedness
lieu – stead; place
“manlike” Elizabeth – reference to Queen Elizabeth I (15331603) and the perception of her unfeminine appearance and
behavior
marked brow – strikingly noticeable countenance or mien.
marry – exclamation of surprise, astonishment
meagre – lacking desirable qualities; meager
mien – appearance; aspect
Mistress Hibbins – Ann Hibbins, who was hanged in 1656 in
Salem for being a witch
Papist – a term, usually derogatory, that refers to followers of
the Roman Catholic religion
penal –pertaining punishment, as for crimes or offenses
petticoat – underskirt
phantasmagoric – a scene that constantly changes
physiognomies – facial features held to show qualities of mind
or character by their configuration or expression.
preternatural – exceeding what is natural
Quaker – a believer in the religious sect of Christianity that
focused on the individual’s relationship and growth with God
remonstrance - objection
rheumatic flannel – arthritic, creaky fabric
rotundity - roundness
scaffold – an elevated platform on which a criminal is
executed, usually by hanging
scourged – to punish severely; beat with a whip or lash
Scripture – the Bible
spectral - ghostly
staff of office – the symbol of a person’s rank and position in
the local government
statute-book – a book that contains the laws of a community
sumptuary – designed to regulate habits on moral or religious
grounds
town-beadle – a minor church official who ushers or helps
preserve order during services
trow – believe
vagrant – a person who wanders and has no permanent home
visage - face
1. The narrator is speaking from approximately what year? The novel is set in approximately what year? Look back at the vocabulary
and allusions for Chapter 1.
2. Describe the people gathered in the market-place.
3. What kind of crimes lead to the punishments that Puritans gather to see?
4. Interpret this quote: “The mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful.”
5. What does the narrator say about Puritans’ reactions to sins in comparison to reactions to sins by the people of his time?
6. What does the narrator state has happened to the women of Boston over the course of several generations?
7. What is the narrator’s attitude towards the Puritan women? Cite specific passages and descriptions from the book.
8. What are the women’s attitudes toward Hester?
9. How do the women feel about Hester’s punishment?
10. What alternate punishments do they suggest?
11. What is the minister’s rumored reaction to Hester’s sin?
12. Why do you think the “young wife’s” poignant comment is dismissed by the more vocal women?
13. Why do you think the vocal women feel so strongly about the situation?
14. Who exits the prison first, what is his role, and how is he described?
15. How old is the baby?
16. How does Hester enter the scene, and how is her entrance interpreted by the crowd?
17. Why is it ironic that Hester clutches the baby to her chest in order to cover the “token” fastened to her dress?
18. Describe Hester Prynne’s appearance.
19. How do the women interpret Hester’s choice of stitching?
20. Considering her crime, does the narrator’s attitude toward Hester seem odd?
21. To whom does the narrator compare the image of Hester and her baby, and in what way are
they compared?
22. What keeps the people from jeering Hester? Why are they so well-behaved?
23. Why do you think the silence is worse for Hester than jeers would be?
24. What does Hester see in her flashbacks? What do you learn about the “scholar” from her past?
25. What is happening in Hester’s mind in the last paragraph of the chapter?