The Scarlet Letter - Themes - Individual v Society

Question 1

Reaction to Chillingworth:
“Were I worthy to be _____ __ __, it would ____ _____ of its own nature, or be ___________ into something ___ should speak a _________ _______.”

Answer 1

quit of it / fall away / transformed / that / different purport

• much more than a physical object
• if the magistrates removed it for her, it would mean that they were the ones determining her identity
• thus be an acknowledgement of their power.
• Therefore she is the one who is determining her identity
• she re figures the letter for her own character by rehabilitating the stigma to transform it

Question 2

The scarlet letter was “her ________ into _______ where ______ women ____ not ______.”

Answer 2

passport / regions / other / dare / thread

given her liberation

• shows that signifyers can be altered from adopting another point of view
• (stigma -> means to escape social values which are corrupt)
• can be seen as emergent feminism

Question 3

For —— past — had —— from this ——– —– – —- at human ————-, and whatever ——- or ———— had established; criticising all with hardly more ———- than the ——— would feel for the ——— band, the ——— robe, the p——–, the g———-, the f——–, or the c——-

Answer 3

years / she / looked / estranged point of view / institutions/ priests / legislators / reverence / Indian / clerical / judicial / pillory / gallows / fireside / church

• her isolation means that she is able to criticise societal values
• all these are emblems of social regulation have no power over Hester anymore
• she has created an alternative fabric meaning.