The Scarlet Letter
A Literary Analysis
Wuerth, Allyson. “From the Prison Door: A Unit on The Scarlet Letter. Nov. 2008. October 2008
<home.southernct.edu/~smytha2/The%20Scarlet%20Letter%20full%20unit.doc>
The Prison Door
► What
does it look like?
► What may be the intention of the iron
spikes?
► Where might doors that look like this
otherwise be found?
► Is the door most likely keeping people out
or keeping people locked in?
► What may this door foreshadow as we
continue to read?
“The founders of a new colony,
whatever Utopia…” p. 45
► establishes
the tone of the narrator
► Is it possible that the narrator marks the Puritans
as hypocrites? Why or why not?
► Is it possible that the narrator would like readers
to adopt his interpretation of the events he is
about to relate?
► J: Why do the Puritans allot a portion of land for a
cemetery and a portion for a prison? What does
this tell us about their values and expectations?
“But on one side of the portal, and
rooted almost…” p. 46
► What
is the significance of the red rose bush that
grows at the prison door?
► Compare and contrast a wild rose bush with the
door to the prison.
► Does this foreshadow a conflict between man and
nature?
► Could the “fragile beauty” of the rose be meant as
a symbol for human life, the fragile beauty of it?
Could this rose be meant to illuminate the strength
of humanity in the face of temptation, persecution,
and despair?
“Finding it so directly on the
threshold of our narrative…” p. 46
► Could
this novel be a doorway, an entrance?
If so, to where?
► Is the reader meant to be a prisoner of the
narrative? Why?
► Could the narrator be suggesting the reader
enter the prison and read the novel from
that place? If so, are we prisoners?
Prisoners of what?
A Plucked Rose
As an experiment,
I present to you a
plucked rose. Over the
course of our
discussions, we’ll see
what happens to your
thorny gift.
Chapters 2 and 5
► Compare
Needle
► explore
The Marketplace and Hester with her
the use of symbol and theme
 What may the marketplace symbolize in the narrative?
 Explore the following themes:
► The
“Other” becomes society’s scapegoat
► Society’s marketing of sin
► Strength results form weakness or fragility
► J:
So far, has the marketing of Hester’s sin been
successful?
Chapters 6-8
► Define
stereotype.
► Where do they come from? What are some
social stigmas today? Can they be shaken
off?
► What are the effects of gossip and
stereotype in the novel?
► Can we draw any similarities between what
happens today and in the novel?
“Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fibre in those wives
and maidens of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair
descendants, separated from them by a series of six or seven
generations; for, throughout that chain of ancestry, every successive
mother has transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and
briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame, if not a character of less
force and solidity, than her own.” (p. 48)
 Discuss the following within the context of how women are most
critical of Hester and her crime
► the letter “A” as a symbol for Pearl, for sin
 The irony of Pearl’s name
► Pearl=purity
► Did Hester mean to be ironic?
 Pearl as an externalized sin
► the transformation of the symbol “A”
 How does it go from meaning “Adulterer” to “Able”?
 Who is responsible for this transformation?
“Pearl,” said he, with great solemnity, “thou must take heed
to instruction, that so, in due season, thou mayest wear in
thy bosom the pearl of great price. Canst thou tell me, my
child, who made thee?”
► Who
does Mr. Wilson believe made Pearl?
► If Pearl is suspected to be the product of such a
deep evil sin, could Mr. Wilson believe that Pearl
is a child of the devil?
► “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” activity
Chapters 9-13
► What
does the leech symbolize?
► How are the following themes developed?
 science v. nature
 internalized v. externalized sin
Chapters 14-18
► alchemy
and transformation?
► the motif of light and dark
► forest vs. marketplace
► the sexuality of Hester
The close of the novel
► Chillingworth
character analysis
► Dimmesdale’s revelation and death
► Hester’s life and death
► Hester’s tombstone in accordance with common
Puritan grave markers