Scarlet letter test

Question 1

something that is taught; lesson

Answer 1

lore

Question 2

something producing apparently magical or miraculous affects

Answer 2

Talisman

Question 3

to drink

Answer 3

Quaff

Question 4

to take pace afterward

Answer 4

ensue

Question 5

safe distance

Answer 5

berth

Question 6

the heraldic color red

Answer 6

Gules

Question 7

an emotion of sympathetic pity

Answer 7

Pathos

Question 8

Building

Answer 8

edifice

Question 9

To pretend

Answer 9

feign

Question 10

full suit of armor, intensive array

Answer 10

panoply

Question 11

exceedingly talkative

Answer 11

loquacity

Question 12

expressive gesture

Answer 12

gesticulation

Question 13

the color black;dark

Answer 13

sable

Question 14

a medieval trumpet with clear shrill tones

Answer 14

clarion

Question 15

court or meeting of which a trial is carried out

Answer 15

tribunal

Question 16

to alienate the affections

Answer 16

estranged

Question 17

The novel begins where? What is the significance of this place

Answer 17

The novel begins outside of the Salem Jail. The prison is symbolic for the puritanical severity of law and authority that doesn’t breathe deviance.

Question 18

What is the symbol of the rose bush related to?

Answer 18

The rosebush is symbolic for passion and this relates to Hester’s crime because it was a crime of passion. The rosebush is also linked to the wilderness where Puritan law cannot reach.

Question 19

Hester is shocked to discover who in town her first day on the scaffold?

Answer 19

Her husband who now goes by Roger Chillingworth

Question 20

What does Roger Chillingworth vow to do? How does he plan to do this?

Answer 20

He vows to find out who Pearl’s father is. He plans to do this by “reading his heart” He is going to observe the townspeople and figure out who is father is by his behavior.

Question 21

What are the women in the courtyard upset about?

Answer 21

They are upset that she stitched an elaborate letter A. The scarlet letter was not as modest as they thought it should be.

Question 22

What is Hester’s punishment to be?

Answer 22

She has to stand on the scaffold with her baby and after that she has to wear the scarlet letter A for the rest of her life.

Question 23

What is Pearl’s function in the novel? How does Hawthorne reveal this?

Answer 23

Pearl is an extension of the Scarlet Letter. She wears red, she says that she was plucked from a rosebush by her mother. She is also called red rose which relates back to the rose of passion that relates to her mother’s sin. She also brings her parents together like the scarlet letter.

Question 24

What are the many symbols of the Scarlet letter?

Answer 24

Public guilt v. private guilt, punishment v. forgiveness, The Scarlet Letter “A”, Sin and Judgement, and Civilization v. Wilderness

Question 25

Why is Hester's housing choice significant?

Answer 25

She chooses to live in a cottage at the edge of town right next to the forest. This is symbolic for how she is in limbo. She is on the boarder of the moral world of the Puritan society and on the the immorality of the wilderness.

Question 26

Explain the significance of Pearl's name

Answer 26

Hester names her child Pearl because a pearl is paid for at a high price. Hester definitely paid a high price for Pearl.

Question 27

What point does Hawthorne try to make with the name?

Answer 27

The name Pearl is misleading, she is not a beautiful person. ( She certainly doesn't behave like her name suggests) Hawthorne points out that appearances can be deceiving.

Question 28

How does the trip to the governor's mansion further the idea of Pearl as the Scarlet Letter

Answer 28

She is dressed in red to match the scarlet letter. The men call her Red Rose which relates back to the rosebush that symbolizes passion and Hester's crime was of passion. She further's the connection by saying that her mother picked her from the rosebush outside the jail.

Question 29

Why does Hester appeal to Dimmesdale? What are some things that this encounter causes?

Answer 29

She appeals to him because he is the father and he is a very influential minister in this puritan town. He knows her well. This encounter causes the other men to realize that he must know her more personally than they thought. Arthur Dimmesdale puts his hand over his heart because he is disturbed. Roger says that he will know the father by his heart. Pearl is affectionate to Dimmesdale and connects her mother and father. Arthur begins to acknowledge the child

Question 30

Why is Chilingworth referred to as a leech? (two reasons)

Answer 30

Physicians were known to use leeches (notice the negative connotation of the modern usage) and he is sucking the life out of Dimmesdale like a leech.

Question 31

What is the turning point for Chillingworth? Give some evidence for this

Answer 31

Chapter ten is the turning point. He is referred to as the devil. Pearl strengthens this connection by calling him "The Black Man" Pearl also says that Roger has a hold of Arthur's soul. Roger Chillingworth questions the minister relentlessly about his secret. While Arthur Dimmesdale is asleep Roger feels his heart and discovers that he is the father. He smiles when he discovers this.

Question 32

How does Pearl connect her parents while playing in the graveyard?

Answer 32

She throws burrs at both Hester and Dimmesdale. This action connects the two. This is also a visual for the pain that Pearl causes them.

Question 33

How does Dimmesdale attempt to cope with his guilty conscious?

Answer 33

He holds vigils, he whips himself, and he fasts. He does all of this as self punishment.

Question 34

When does the reader become aware that Chillingworth is powerless as to the outcome of the novel?

Answer 34

When the meteor in the sky leaves a letter A in the sky while Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are standing on the scaffold one night.

Question 35

What are some of the changes that occur in Hester as she moves from the passionate to logical thinker

Answer 35

She depends on logic rather than feelings to make decisions. She always wears her hair up in a cap. She dresses very plainly.

Question 36

When confronted by Pearl about the scarlet letter what transpires? Why is it significant?

Answer 36

Hester tells earl that the Scarlet letter is a mark from the "Black Man." Hester is relating the scarlet letter to a bad thing. This is significant because Pearl is an extension to the Scarlet letter. So if the Scarlet letter is bad, then Pearl is bad.

Question 37

What is important about the sunshine that Pearl plays in, in the forest?

Answer 37

the sunshine points out that where Hester goes trouble follows.

Question 38

What does Pearl point out about the suffering of Hester and Dimmesdale?

Answer 38

She points out that Hester's suffering is external and Dimmesdale's suffering is internal.

Question 39

What changes follow the meeting of Hester and Dimmesdale in the woods for Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl>

Answer 39

Hester becomes a more passionate than logical thinker and Pearl becomes less troublesome. The minister has a new outlook on life after the meeting in the forest. The three plan to escape New England and live together as a family somewhere else.

Question 40

What is the plan for escaping New England? How is it foiled?

Answer 40

They are planning to leave on a ship to Bristol from the Spanish main. The sailors will agree to transport them in secret. The plan is foiled when Roger talks the sailors into taking him along as medical help.

Question 41

What is the importance of Mistress Hibbins in the final few chapters of the novel?

Answer 41

Mistress Hibbins is foreshadowing that she would have met Dimmesdale and Hester in the forest if time would have allowed it.

Question 42

What causes the death of Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Hester?

Answer 42

Dimmesdale dies because of the culmination of guilt and stress. Chillingworth has no reason to die after Dimmesdale dies so he dies soon after. Hester dies of old age.

Question 43

What are the circumstances surrounding Dimmesdale's death?

Answer 43

Some people claim that he had the red letter A on his chest while others say that he had nothing on his chest. Many do not believe that he was in relation to Hester at all but he was teaching the congregation a lesson by standing up there with her.

Question 44

What becomes of Pearl?

Answer 44

When she and Hester move away Pearl stays there for good. She does not return later with Hester. It is believed that she is married and doing well because Hester has expensive things in her cottage that we assume that come from Pearl and she is also seen sewing baby clothes that could be for Pearl's possible baby.