The Scarlet Letter
Reading Seven: Chapters 15-16
Chapter Fifteen
1. Read Hester’s description of Chillingworth carefully. How does she feel about him?
2. What questions does Pearl ask her mother? Why does this trouble Hester?
Chapter Sixteen
1. Describe the scene with Hester and Pearl in the sunlight. What symbolic meaning could
the sunlight have? Explain your answer.
2. What does Hester mean when she says, “Once in my life, I met the Black Man. This
scarlet letter is his mark” (169)?
3. Why does Pearl think the minister holds his hand over his heart? How is there symbolic
truth in what she says?
Reading Eight: Chapters 17-18
Chapter Seventeen
1. Explain Hester’s realization about “secret poison of [Chillingworth’s] malignity,
infecting all air about him”.
2. Does Hester still love Dimmesdale? Explain your thinking.
Chapter Eighteen
1. Why is the chapter called “A Flood of Sunshine?” Think deeply about this!
2. What does Hester do that symbolizes her putting the past behind her?
3. How is Hester transformed in this chapter? What is the “magic” touch that effects the
transformation?
4. Near the end of this chapter, the forest and its creatures are naturally drawn to Pearl, and
they recognize in her “a kindred wildness.” How do you account for this wildness in
Pearl?
Overall (15-18):
1. In these chapters, Hester is on the wrong track at first. She does not take responsibility for
her sin. Explain the two ways that she does not take responsibility for her sin (look in
chapter 15 and chapter 17).
2. In the forest (chapters 17 and 18), Hester is tempted to choose a sinful path. What is the
sinful choice for her future, and what would be the righteous choice? How does
Dimmesdale finally get them off the sinful path?
Reading Nine: Chapters 19-20
Chapter Ninteen
1. Pearl is highly symbolic in this chapter. She won’t cross the brook to join her mother and
Dimmesdale after they decide to run away from their problems. What might this
symbolize?
2. Pearl washes Dimmesdale’s kiss off in the water. Why – what does this show?
3. Pearl is upset that Hester takes off the scarlet letter. What is the letter supposed to teach?
Has Hester learned this lesson? Do you agree with Pearl that she cannot yet take the letter
off? Why or why not?
4. Hester and Dimmesdale have taken up a new set of morals in the last few chapters. They
have decided to ignore the rules of society and say that it is right for them to be together
because they are in love. However, instead of being open about this, they are going to run
away. What do you think about this situation? Why?
Chapter Twenty
1. Why is Dimmesdale acting so strangely in this chapter? He is tempted to speak
blasphemies about communion, say that our souls are not immortal, hurt the girl’s
feelings and say something evil to her, and speak wicked and heaven-defying words!
What change happened in the forest (this is connected to a decision he made)?
2. Why does Mistress Hibbins talk to Dimmesdale now? Why might this be important?
What might this tell us about the change/decision that occurred in the forest?
Reading Ten: Chapters 21-22
Chapter Twenty-One
1. Pearl is upset that Dimmesdale won’t hold out his hands to her in the market-place as he
did earlier in the woods. How does this show Dimmesdale’s weakness?
2. What do the woods symbolize? What does the market-place symbolize? Why do you
think Hawthorne is bringing us back to the market-place in the end? THIS IS HUGE.
3. In what way are Hester, the sailors, and the Native Americans connected? What is similar
about them? What larger message does this juxtaposition send?
Chapter Twenty-Two
1. Why does Hester feel distant from Dimmesdale in this chapter? Think about where they
are standing. Think about their positions in society. Why is Hester standing at the foot of
the scaffold to hear the sermon? Is it fair that she is in a lowly position and Dimmesdale
is in a high one?
2. What tones are coming through in the sermon? What is the mood? What does this
foreshadow?
3. Why does the focus return to Hester’s scarlet letter? Everyone is looking at it, and it is
burning worse than ever. She was thinking she could just throw it away, but what does
this show?
Reading Eleven: Chapters 23-24
Chapter Twenty-Three
1. After Hester said they should run away, Dimmesdale stopped feeling sick and guilty, and
he was full of energy. He went home and wrote his sermon, and he walked through the
town, full of health. However, after giving his speech, he is drained of energy. What did
this energy represent, and why did he lose it?
2. Dimmesdale compares Chillingworth to the devil in this chapter. Why? What is the devil
tempting Dimmesdale to do? Later, why does Chillingworth say, “Thou hast escaped
me!” (234).
3. Does Dimmesdale consider himself saved or damned? How do you know? What does he
say? What does Dimmesdale say about whether or not they will meet in heaven? What
does this show about his view of the entire situation?
4. On the scaffold, Dimmesdale asks Hester, “‘Is this not better than what we dreamed of in
the forest?’” (232), and she says, “‘I know not! Better? Yea; so we may both die, and
little Pearl die with us!’” (232). Hester thinks he is giving up – she wanted to run away
with him. Explain both sides of the argument. Is he giving up, or is he right? In what
ways is she right about what they should do, and in what ways is he right?
5. When Pearl kisses Dimmesdale, the novel says “the spell is broken” (234) and she is now
finally free to grow up to be a normal woman. Why did she finally kiss him? What
“curse” was she under – what role did she have to play? Why needn’t she play this role
anymore?
6. What does Dimmesdale’s confession teach Hester?
Chapter Twenty-Four
1. Hawthorne says the moral of this “miserable experience” is “Be true! Be true! Be true!
Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be
inferred!” (238) – What does he mean by this?
2. Why did Chillingworth lose all of his strength and energy after Dimmesdale’s death?
3. Why does Hester return to Salem and continue to wear the scarlet letter? Be specific and
analyze the text.
4. Hester says that one day a woman will come and she will show that “sacred love should
make us happy” (241). What does she mean? How did her marriage teach her this? How
did her sin teach her this?
5. In the end, Hester stops trying to escape the consequences of her actions – she has finally
learned the lesson of the scarlet letter! How does the way she chooses to live the rest of
her life prove that she has finally learned to face her sin and her past?