Scarlet Letter – Chapter 2, The Market Place
1. Why were the local citizens gathered around the prison door?
2. What two things did the Puritans regard as “almost identical”?
3. How did that affect the punishments they inflicted?
4. To what degree do citizens of the community show sympathy for offenders?
5. How fair did the women of the community feel Hester’s punishment was? What
was Hester’s punishment?
6. What sort of punishment did they feel she should have received?
7. Why did they feel she should have a stiff punishment for her offense? What was
her offense?
8. Describe Hester’s first appearance in the story.
9. Did her imprisonment have any obvious effect on her personal appearance?
TURN OVER
10. What drew everyone’s attention more than anything else? Why?
11. How did the women of the community react when they saw what she had done
with the letter?
12. What is the significance of the letter “A”?
13. What was Hester really feeling as she left the prison? Did it show?
14. Why had she been released from prison?
15. What sorts of things did she think of during her exhibition?
16. Where had she spent her early years before coming to the new world?
17. What causes Hester to squeeze her child so hard that the child cried?