Name:
CP English III
Date:
Mrs. Lynch
The Scarlet Letter Questions 1-8
Directions: Please complete these questions as we read each chapter. The
questions will be submitted for a quiz grade on turnitin.com on the day of the
Chapter 1-8 test.
Chapter 1:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Describe the Prison Door.
Why does Hawthorne take so much time to describe this door?
What does this chapter show us about society in Puritan times?
What does the prison door symbolize?
Chapter 2:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What happens to “criminals” in public? Why?
Why would Reverend Dimmesdale shun a “sinner” from his church?
Why does society believe that Hester should die?
What does she “hide” on the bodice of her dress and with what does she hide
it?
5. Describe Hester’s appearance.
6. Why do the people encourage Hester to “show her scarlet letter in the
marketplace”?
7. Why was there such a distance from the prison-door to the marketplace?
8. Why did Hester have to stand on the platform?
9. When Hester was standing with her baby, Pearl, on the platform, what other
mother/baby pair did they resemble?
10. What role does shame play Hester’s punishment? How does this fit with
Puritan beliefs?
11. What does Hester envision while standing on the platform?
12. What does she realize at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 3:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Who distracts Hester from her position on the platform?
Describe Hester’s romantic situation.
Why do you think this stranger is so interested in Hester’s situation?
Who is “responsible” for Hester’s soul?
Describe Reverend Dimmesdale’s appearance.
What does Dimmesdale try to convince Hester to confess? Why won’t she?
Why might the scarlet letter “gleam along the dark passage-way of the
interior?”
8. What does the market-place symbolize?
Name:
CP English III
Date:
Mrs. Lynch
Chapter 4:
1) Why might Hester be filled with “nervous excitement”?
2) Why won’t Chillingworth give the baby medicine?
3) What is Chillingworth’s relationship to Hester?
4) What is Hester’s explanation for her behavior?
5) Why does Chillingworth “want” the man who impregnated Hester to live?
Chapter 5:
1. Hester leaves the prison. Why might the author have her “come forth into the
sunlight”?
2. Hester realizes that she can’t go back into her past and change what she has
done. What CAN she do now?
3. Describe the home in which Hester and Pearl establish their residence.
4. What “handiwork” does Hester establish and who displays it?
5. Why does the community continue to shun her? Does this go with or against
Protestant beliefs?
6. When new eyes gaze upon her scarlet letter, why does it “burn” more than
when those who already know about it gaze upon it?
Chapter 6:
1. Describe Pearl’s appearance and personality.
2. How is Hester’s discipline different from those of other parents of the time?
3. Hester questions whether Pearl is “human child.” Why does this make sense,
after what we know of Pearl and her conception thus far?
4. Hester and Pearl are always together when Hester goes into town. Why is
this?
5. Why is Pearl so adverse to the outside world at such a young age?
6. What is the first thing that Pearl notices about her mother?
7. Why does Pearl cry out, “I have no Heavenly Father”?
Chapter 7:
1. What is the irony in Hester making fine garments for the higher-ups in the
government?
2. Why could Pearl be taken away from Hester?
3. How is Pearl similar to the scarlet letter?
4. What does Pearl do to save her and her mother from the slinging of mud by
the townspeople?
5. Hester says to Pearl, “Thou must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to
give thee!” What might this mean, metaphorically?
6. What does Governor Bellingham’s palace tell you about him and his lifestyle?
How is it different than a typical Puritan?
Name:
CP English III
Date:
Mrs. Lynch
7. Pearl cries for a red rose and “would not be pacified.” What do the rose and
her longing for it symbolize?
Chapter 8:
1. The Governor, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth enter the room. Why might
the three of these men be together?
2. As these men enter, “The shadow of the curtain fell on Hester Prynne and
partially concealed her.” What part of her might be concealed
(metaphorically)?
3. Why does the old minister tell Pearl that she should be called Ruby, Coral, or
Red Rose, rather than Pearl?
4. Where does Pearl tell Mr. Wilson she came from?
5. Why does Hester believe that she should keep Pearl?
6. Why does Dimmesdale believe Pearl should stay with Hester, and is
Chillingworth’s comment about this?
7. Who tries to convince Hester to spend the evening with her? Why do you
believe this is and why does Hester say no?