the scarlet letter chapters 22-end notes

Question 1

what does hester hear

Answer 1

military music floating down the streets

Question 2

who is arriving and for what purpose

Answer 2

The magistrates and citizens are arriving at the meetinghouse to hear the Reverend Dimmesdale’s Election Sunday sermon.

Question 3

what are the citizens referred to?

the magistrates?

Answer 3

“civil eminence”

“young and eminently distinguished divine”

Question 4

how does dimmesdale look in during the parade of people

Answer 4

pretty energetic

Question 5

what does pearl point out about dimmesdale’s energetic state

Answer 5

that he’s a different person from the guy in the forest

Question 6

who else notices dimmesdale’s change

Answer 6

mistress hibbins

Question 7

the whole town starts sweating when

Answer 7

hester and mistress Hibbins are next to each other

adulterer and witch plotting

Question 8

what does mistress hibbins say

Answer 8

When the Black Man sees one of his servants fail to acknowledge his allegiance publicly by wearing a mark like Hester’s scarlet A, he makes sure to shame that person by placing a mark on his body and revealing it to the world.

Question 9

how does hester feel while listening to dimmesdale’s sermon

Answer 9

she feels worse than ever

Question 10

where is pearl playing?

who is watching her

Answer 10

marketplace

group of american indians

Question 11

what does the ship master throw towards pearl

Answer 11

gold chain

Question 12

what does pearl do with the chain

Answer 12

twists around her neck and waist

Question 13

what message does the shipmaster give to pearl

Answer 13

Chillingworth is going to bring Dimmesdale on board with him, so she doesn’t need to worry about him.

Question 14

what does the shipmaster call pearl

Answer 14

“Witch baby

Question 15

what does mistress hibbins call pearl’s fatehr

Answer 15

prince of the air

Question 16

who starts looking at what

Answer 16

the sailors and american indians and the townspeople start to look at the scarlet letter while dimmesdale is standing on his pulpit

Question 17

what is the subject of dimmesdale’s sermon

Answer 17

god’s relationship to human communities

Question 18

where does the procession head to after the sermon

Answer 18

town hall

Question 19

how does dimmesdale look after his sermon

Answer 19

pretty ragged. more like a man near death

Question 20

Dimmesdale walks where after the sermon

Answer 20

scaffold where hester is standing

Question 21

what does dimmesdale tell hester and pearl

Answer 21

come stand next to him

Question 22

what does pearl and hester do to dimmesdale’s command

Answer 22

pearl runs up

hester hangs back

Question 23

what does chillingworth say as he butts into the conversation on the scaffold

Answer 23

telling the minister to save himself and cast off the woman and child.

Question 24

what is dimmesdale’s reply to chillingworth

Answer 24

Dimmesdale says that he should have done this seven years ago.

Question 25

what does dimmesdale do on the scaffold

Answer 25

before he collapses, he tears open his shirt to show the mark on his chest.

Question 26

what is chillingworth’s response when dimmesdale shows his scarlet letter

Answer 26

“Curses! Foiled again!” because Dimmesdale has managed to escape his revenge.

Question 27

dimmesdale hopes what will happen to chillingworth

Answer 27

he sure hopes God will forgive Chillingworth, since he’s also sinned.

Question 28

after dimmesdale confesses, what does pearl do

Answer 28

Pearl feels sorry for him. She kisses him, and it makes her into a woman

Question 29

will dimmesdale and hester meet again

Answer 29

Eh, probably not, he says. After all, they have broken the law and sinned. God is merciful and all, but probably not so merciful that he’ll let them be together in the afterlife.

Question 30

dimmesdale’s final words

Answer 30

Had either of these agonies been wanting, I
had been lost for ever! Praised be His name! His will be
done! Farewell!’

Question 31

what do people say happened on the scaffold

Answer 31

Some people say they saw a scarlet letter, similar to the one worn by Hester Prynne, engraved in Dimmesdale’s flesh. Some think he minister etched the letter himself as a form of penance. Others think that Roger Chillingworth made it appear. And then some suggest that it appeared due to the “ever active tooth of remorse” (24.1).

Question 32

what do the optimists claim

Answer 32

who claimed they didn’t see anything at all and that there’s no way Dimmesdale could have been Pearl’s father.

think that Dimmesdale chose to die in the arms of a fallen woman to demonstrate that we’re all sinners in the eyes of God.

Question 33

the narrator tells the readers that

Answer 33

we should be honest, rather than hiding our worst traits and sins from the world.

Question 34

what happens to chillingworth

Answer 34

After Dimmesdale’s death, Roger Chillingworth has no reason to live. He dies a year later and leaves all his property, in both England and in the U.S., to Pearl.

Question 35

pearl is now the

Answer 35

richest heiress in the new world

Question 36

where do hester and pearl go

Answer 36

they disappear from their cottage

Question 37

does hester return

Answer 37

yes

Question 38

what is being sent to hester

Answer 38

For the rest of her life, somebody sends Hester rich gifts, tokens, and ornaments—so someone’s obviously looking after her.

Question 39

what do people believe happened to pearl

Answer 39

The gossips also believe that Pearl is alive, married, and having kids, because they see Hester embroidering a baby garment.

Question 40

where is hester’s real home

Answer 40

Hester has decided that New England is her real home. As the narrator says, “Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence” (24.11).

Question 41

does hester still wear her scarlet letter

Answer 41

yes

Question 42

the letter is now a sign of her

Answer 42

respect

Question 43

where is hester buried and what is on her tombstone

Answer 43

When she dies, she’s buried near Dimmesdale… but not too near. And her gravestone, obviously, has a scarlet letter on it.

Question 44

do women acknowledge hester

Answer 44

women actually seek her out for comfort and advice, and she helps them out with the wisdom she’s gained through her years of suffering.