The Scarlet Letter Vocabulary
13-18
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
1. DESPOTS: a ruler with absolute power and authority.
Context: Hawthorne describes that the “public is despotic in its
temper” and chooses to belief that the scarlet letter has softened
Hester ( ).
2. STIGMATIZED: marked, branded, and made shameful.
Context: The narrator discusses the “deadlier crime[s] than that
stigmatized by the scarlet letter” ( ).
3. CHASM: a marked division, separation, or difference.
Context: Though the scarlet letter was intended to punish
it has actually made her a rebel. She is beginning to have
interpretations of the text (the letter!) that she was not
to interpret. There is a chasm between the intended effect
actual effect (
).
4. ACQUIESCING:
Context: Hester
request to keep
harm could come
Hester,
new
supposed
and the
to accept or comply tacitly or passively.
reflects that she acquiesced to Chillingworth’s
his identity a secret because she thought a worse
to Dimmesdale if she did not ( ).
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
5. USURP: to seize or take by force or without legal right.
Context: Chillingworth recognizes that a demonic image has usurped
his own image ( ).
6. RETRIBUTION: punishment given in return for some wrong
committed; judgment.
Context: Hester wants Chillingworth to “leave his further
retribution to the Power that claims it” ( ).
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
7. PETULANT: insolent or rude in speech or behavior.
Context: Hester considers Pearl, like an April breeze, to be
petulant (
).
8. PRECOCITY: exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age.
Context: Pearl is described as precocious (
).
9. PROPENSITY: an intense and often urgent natural inclination.
Context: Hester thinks that Pearl’s strange propensities are a
punishment for Hester ( ).
10. VIVACITY: being lively in temper or conduct.
Context: As Pearl keeps questioning Hester about the letter’s
meaning, thoughts stir in Hester’s head with vivacity ( ).
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
11. LOQUACITY: exceedingly talkative.
Context: The brook is described as being loquacious (
).
12. CADENCE: rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language.
Context: The brook’s cadence is more melancholy than Pearl’s (
).
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
13. MISANTHROPY: a hatred or distrust of mankind.
Context: Hester ponders her own misanthropy that was caused by the
scarlet letter and the last seven years ( ).
14. CONSECRATION: the act of making or declaring sacred.
Context: Hester reminds Dimmesdale that there was something sacred
between the two, some sort of consecration.