Name: _________________________________
Hour: ___________ Date: _____________
Reading quiz
The Scarlet Letter, chapter 1-11
Part I – Multiple choice
Directions:
Choose the best answer for each of the following questions.
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1. Chillingworth pretends to be of what profession?
a. a lawyer
b. a doctor
c. a clergyman
d. an infantryman
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2. After she is released from prison, Hester goes to live where?
a. On the outskirts of Boston
b. With Mistress Hibbins
c. In a smaller town within the Massachusetts colony
d. With Roger Chillingworth
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3. How does Hester earn a living?
a. By selling wood
b. By growing crops
c. By her needlework
d. By helping treat the sick
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4. When John Wilson asks Pearl who her maker is, Pearl replies:
a. that God made her
b. that Hester and Dimmesdale made her
c. that sin made her
d. that she was plucked off of a rose bush
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5. According to the narrator, what are the first two things any new colony must build?
a. A school and a jail
b. A school and a hospital
c. A church and a graveyard
d. A jail and a graveyard
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6. Why are some of the women offended by what Hester wears when she is on display on
the scaffold?
a. They feel her clothing is too shabby
b. They feel her clothing is too revealing
c. They feel her clothing is too expensive
d. They feel her clothing is too elegant
Name: _________________________________
Hour: ___________ Date: _____________
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7. Mistress Hibbins, the sister of Governor Bellingham, is reputed to be:
a. a witch
b. a good mother
c. a cruel lady
d. an antinomian
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8. Whom is referred to as a “leech”?
a. Dimmesdale
b. Chillingworth
c. Hester
d. Pearl
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9. In the governor’s mansion, who makes an appeal for Hester to be able to keep Pearl?
a. Governor Bellingham
b. Reverand John Wilson
c. Dimmesdale
d. Chillingworth
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10. Chillingworth explains that he was obsessed with acquiring intelligence to make up for
his:
a. physical deformity
b. social status
c. failed marriage
d. lack of money
Part II – Matching
Directions:
Identify the speaker of each of the following quotes.
A. The narrator
B. Hester
C. Dimmesdale
D. Chillingworth
E. John Wilson
F. Governor Bellingham
G. Pearl
H. Women in crowd
I. Mistress Hibbins
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11.
“If thou feelest it be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment
will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak
out the name of thy fellow sinner and fellow sufferer!”
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12.
“Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? Hast
thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?”
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13.
“This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die”
Name: _________________________________
Hour: ___________ Date: _____________
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14.
“Those who had before known her and had expected to behold her
dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even
startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out and made a halo of the
misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped.”
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15.
“It was my folly, and thy weakness. I – a man of thought, the bookworm
of great libraries – a man already in decay, having given my best years to
feed the hungry dream of knowledge – what had I to do with youth and
beauty like thy own!”
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16.
“His fame, his position, his life, shall be in my hands. Beware!”
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17.
“He did not send me…I have no Heavenly Father!”
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18.
““True; there are such men…But not to suggest more obvious reasons, it
may be that they are kept silent by the very constitution of their nature.
Or—can we not suppose it?—guilty as they may be, retaining,
nevertheless, a zeal for God’s glory and man’s welfare, they shrink from
displaying themselves black and filthy in the view of men; because,
thenceforward, no good can be achieved by them; no evil of the past be
redeemed by better service. So, to their own unutterable torment, they go
about among their fellow–creatures, looking pure as new–fallen snow,
while their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity of which they
cannot rid themselves.”
_________
19.
“The disorder is a strange one; not so much in itself nor as outwardly
manifested,—in so far, at least as the symptoms have been laid open to my
observation. Looking daily at you, my good sir, and watching the tokens
of your aspect now for months gone by, I should deem you a man sore
sick, it may be, yet not so sick but that an instructed and watchful
physician might well hope to cure you.”
_________
20.
“A rare case…I must needs look deeper into it. A strange sympathy
betwixt soul and body. Were it only for the art’s sake, I must search this
matter to the bottom.”
Name: _________________________________
Hour: ___________ Date: _____________
Part III – Short answer
Directions:
Respond to each of the following questions and/or prompts. Answers will be
graded on their structure, accuracy, and specificity. Include as much relevant
information and explanation as the space allows.
1. Explain the connection between physical appearance and moral worth that is portrayed
throughout the novel. In what ways does the narrator connect someone’s appearance with
his or her perceived value and “goodness”? Your response can focus on the townspeople,
Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Pearl, or any other character that you feel is
appropriate.
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Hour: ___________ Date: _____________
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Structure:
Analysis:
Total:
Information is ordered in a
logical, easy-to-follow way that
connects related ideas.
Provides strong evidence from the text and
lectures/discussions, using specific details and
explaining the significance/importance of
information.
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2. Explain the significance of the following passage from the end of chapter 4:
“ ‘Why dost thou smile so at me?’ inquired Hester, troubled at the expression of
his eyes. ‘Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? Hast
thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?’
‘Not thy soul,’ he answered, with another smile. ‘No, not thine.’”
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Name: _________________________________
Hour: ___________ Date: _____________
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Structure:
Analysis:
Total:
Information is ordered in a
logical, easy-to-follow way that
connects related ideas.
Provides strong evidence from the text and
lectures/discussions, using specific details and
explaining the significance/importance of
___________ / 10
information.
___________ / 2
___________ /8
Name: _________________________________
Hour: ___________ Date: _____________