The Scarlet Letter
Chapters 11 to 15
Warm UP:
(for Everyone)
Cite specific quotes or passages when answering the
following questions:
• What did you find most compelling in these
chapters?
• What did you find most frustrating (beyond
Hawthorne’s verbosity)?
• What did you find most confusing? How could that
confusion be resolved? (Did a group mate explain?
Did you experience an aha moment during
discussion? Are you still confused?)
1. “A Forest Walk”
• Do you think that Hester’s need to meet
Dimmesdale in the woods is Hawthorne’s
way of saying that their feelings for each
other are natural or that their tainted
relationship is in need of something pure
(nature) to balance it out? Explain.
2. “The minister’s vigil”
• Basic: Recall the descriptions of all that occurs
on the scaffold in this chapter.
• Higher Level: Identify imagery and/or
symbolism that reinforces the significance of
these events.
• Highest Level: What message is Hawthorne
sending about a person’s public self verses his
private self ? Cite specific text to support your
answer.
3. “Another view of Hester”
“It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where
its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily
than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will
even be transformed to love, unless the change be
impeded by a continually new irritation of the original
feeling of hostility” (Hawthorne 155)
• Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
• How does it apply to the novel specifically? Who is
continuously experiencing irritation? Who has moved
past it? What is the difference between these two
characters?
4. “Another view of Hester”
• Basic: How has Hester Prynne changed,
both physically and psychologically, over
the course of the past seven years?
• Higher Level: Is Hester’s transformation a
realistic one? Why or why not?
• Highest Level: What is the thematic
purpose of Hawthorne’s descriptions of
this changes?
5. “Hester and the Physician”
• Basic: How have Chillingworth’s physical and
psychological changes been expanded? What
does he owe these changes to?
• Highest Level: Consider Chillingworth’s
changes in juxtaposition to those of Hester.
What message is Hawthorne creating about sin
and redemption? What imagery is used to create
these messages?
6. “Hester and Pearl”
• Basic: How has Pearl’s character changed in
the four years since the reader encountered
her at the governor’s hall?
• Higher Level: What symbols and plot points
are used to convey these changes?
• Highest Level: If Pearl is supposed to serve
as a foil to Hester’s character, what is
Hawthorne indirectly says about Hester?
“Predicting and
Revisiting” (for Everyone)
Now that all of the novel’s major players
have been revealed for who they are:
• Make a logical prediction about where they
are going to end up at the novel’s
conclusion.
• Reread chapter 3, starting at “While this
passed” (69) and identify the symbolism
and foreshadowing that is evident.