Scarlet Letter Test Flashcards
The novel begins where? What is the significance of this place?
outside the prison. Significant because…
- puritanical severity of law
- The strict enforcement of laws and the inability to break free of laws
- Authority(one that doesn’t tolerate deviance)
What is the symbol of the rosebush related to?
Passion
What are the woman in the court yard upset about?
They thing Hester’s punishment is not harsh enough.
What is Hester’s punishment to be?
She is to stand on the scaffold in town along with her child while wearing a scarlet letter A on her clothing
Hester is shocked to discover who in town her first day on the scaffold?
Her husband, Roger Chillingworth
What does he vow to do? How does Chillingworth plan to do this?
Vows to find out who the child’s father is; by looking into the man’s heart
What is Pearl’s function in the novel? How does Hawthorne reveal this?
She is a living extension of the scarlet letter; he reveals it when Hester throws the Letter away, Pearl freaks out
What are the many symbols of the Scarlet Letter?
able, angel, adultress
Why is Hester’s housing choice symbolic?
The cottage is on the edge of the town and she is in the border of the moral world of Puritan society and of the immorality of the wilderness
Explain the significance of Pearl’s name.
She was named that because a pearl is something that is paid for at a high price
What point does Hawthorne try to make with the name?
appearance can be misleading
How does the trip to the governor’s mansion further the idea of Pearl as the scarlet letter?
She tells the governor That she was plucked from the rose bush
Why does Hester appeal to Dimmesdale? What are some things that this encounter causes?
To speak for her because it’s his child; puts Pearl in contact with Dimmesdale
Why is Chillingworth referred to as a leech? 2 reason
He is a physician who at the time were still known to use leeches and he is living off Dimmesdale and will eventually suck the life out of him
What is the turning point for Chillingworth? How does he change? Give some evidence of this.
Chapter 10; goes from being evil to the devil
How does Pearl connect her parents while playing in the graveyard?
by throwing the burrs at them
How does Dimmesdale attempt to cope with his guilty conscious?
He beats himself with a whip and goes to the scaffold
When does the reader become aware that Chillingworth is powerless as to the outcome of the novel?
Big A in the sky, when Winthrop dies
What are some of the changes that occur in Hester as she moves from passionate to logical thinker?
Rather than acting on her feelings and she depends on logic; challenges Chillingworth
When confronted by Pearl about the scarlet letter whatWherever Hester goes, trouble follows transpires? Why is it significant?
Pearl thought Hester was going to throw her away
What is important about the sunshine that Pearl plays in, in the forrest?
Wherever Hester goes, trouble follows
What does Pearl point out about the suffering of Hester and Dimmesdale?
Her suffer is public and his suffer is private
What changes follow the meeting of Hester and Dimmesdale in the woods for Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl?
Pearl washes the kiss from Dimmesdale away
What is the plan for escaping from New England? How is it foiled?
They will get on a ship; Chillingworth is planning to go with them
What is the importance of Mistress Hibbins in the final few chapters of the novel?
She is foreshadowing situations ahead
What causes the death of Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Hester?
Dimmesdale tells the truth, Chillingworth dies because Dimmesdale dies and he has nothing to feed off of, Hester dies of old age,
What are the circumstances surrounding Dimmesdale’s death
Gives the best sermon. He opens up his shirt and shows his chest and people see the A and he dies
What becomes of Pearl?
She grows up and gets married and has a baby; inherits all Dimmesdale’s money
Choose 2 examples of foreshadowing from the novel and explain what the foreshadowing in warning the readers
- A in the sky because it tells us that Chillingworth is no longer in control and that the father will be revealed soon.
- Hibbins wants Hester to go with her into the woods and tells us that this could be a place of meeting for immoral acts
