The Scarlet Letter - Characters

Question 1

Hester

1) Placed beyond boundaries of ________ _______
2) Resourcefulness
3) Social _____________
4) Rebellious

Answer 1

1) Puritan living - She acted on impulses and is v passionate
2) Is able to contain her impulsive attachments and emotions within art and altruism
3) detachment - isolation from puritan society enables her to form a new perception (see theme guilt)
4) prompts a revaluation between men and women YET Hawthorne crafts a view of her tenderness. An extension of wives and mother

Question 2

Narrator

where the Actual and the ————- may meet

Answer 2

Interprets the characters 
- like a morality play; encouraged to see beyond the stereotypes
- eg views of Hester and Dimmesdale 
Editor 
- sharing in their discovery

custom house scene

• sets up a fiction
• shapes the audience’s understanding

Imaginary - summary of his narrative style
Marshall van Deusen

Question 3

Pearl

Answer 3

relationship to the scarlet letter
- physical embodiment by Hester

Contrast

• to puritan values which highlights their limitations yet shows the dangers of uncontrolled indulgence.
• conceals nothing, the effect of this is overwhelming

isolation
- has no reference points so is therefore ‘unhuman’

Question 4

Chillingworth

Answer 4

Caricature
= reflection of how he is perceived

concealment
- assumes divide privilege to exact his vengeance

Question 5

Dimmesdale

Answer 5

conceals his guilt
- attitude of the narrator shifts

scaffold scene
- gesture of an exhausted and morally depleted man
= victim of puritan society and ethos

Status
- desperate to maintain his status and the opinion the townspeople have of him