Discussion Questions
CHAPTER ONE
2. In Chapter One, Hawthorne goes into great detail of an ugly prison door. He adds a morbid setting and uses gloomy imagery to get his point across. Yet, at the end of the chapter he describes a beautiful rosebush outside of the prison door. Hawthorne is using personification to describe Hester's beauty and gentleness in a difficult situation. He enjoys using personification when it comes to a beauty in a sorrowful setting. It also adds dramatic irony.
CHAPTER TWO
4. She comes out of the prison door with confidence. There's nothing else she can do too embarrass herself anymore because the damage has been done. She walks out like it was her own-free choice, showing no fear of all the eyes watching her. Hester smiles at the people staring at her up at her on the platform. Hawthorne made a good first impression of the main character by showing her courage.
5. Hawthorne says that the scaffold is the greatest outrage against our human nature. The author is trying to make the readers learn of the puritan's beliefs. Standing on the scaffold is a public humiliation and punishment for a sin you committed. I do not agree to this theory, because Puritans punish people over the simplest of things. Things that would seem common today.
CHAPTER THREE
9. Dimmesdale is introduced by John Wilson as a soft-hearted Minister. He is described as a strikingly good-looking young man with sad brown eyes, and quivering lips. The quivering lips are an indication of hes nervousness. If Dimmesdale is introduced as soft-hearted, he might be a caring, understanding minister.
10. Dimmesdale tells Hester to reveal the father's name if it is a comfort to her soul. If it will releave her of her pain, because it will releave him of his guilt. Hester refuses to say, and informs everyone that it won't do any good. Pearl begins to cry.
11. Hester says she can never remove the scarlet letter from her because of her overwhelming guilt. Even if the scarlet letter is off of her, she will no be free from her guilt.
CHAPTER FOUR
13. Chillingworth says this because Hester had broken her comittment with him by having an affiar, yet she never loved him. Chillingworth had always love her, yet never knew how to show it.
CHAPTER FIVE
16. Hester doesn't leave New England because Pearl's father is there and her guilt. Her guilt is compared to an iron chain that's holding her down to this New England town. She feels as if she needs to live with this punishment because she diserved it.
17. Hester lives in an old abandon cottage outside of the town. Hawhthorne describes it as a lonely cottage in the woods, next to the shore. He's using personification to describe Hester's loneliness and isolation towards the town. The shore represents her yearning to leave.
20. Hester's scarlet letter forces her to become isolated and Hester is not very excited towards it. Yet, she is thankful for her daughter.
CHAPTER SIX
22. The narrator describes pearl as a wild child. Pearl does things, says things; and asks things out of curiosity. She has no filter between her head and her mouth.
24. Hawthorne involves mother-daughter conflict in this novel, to show off Pearl's curiousity and stubborn behavior. He makes her a unique, important character.
CHAPTER SEVEN
26. In this chapter, Hester made a bright red dress for pearl. The same color as the scarlet letter on Hester's clothes. Pearl herself is a symbol in this novel. She represents the sin committed between her parents. Pearl is another symbol for the scarlet letter.
27. The furniture in Bellingham's mansion has an antique look to them. They are described a luxirious and elegant. Rich Puritans were very classy.
CHAPTER EIGHT
29. Governor Bellingham believes that Hester's wild spirt will rub-off on her daughter. He believes that Hester is a bad influence on Pearl. He spends time with Pearl to see if his theory is true. The first thing he notices is her "inappropriate" attire. Wearing bright red was supposebly a sin and somthing a whore would wear. He asks Pearl who made her and she responds that her mother picked her off the rose bush outside of the prison door. Bellingham become angered that she doesn't know that God had made her. Pearl sense his anger and hops off his lap.
30. Hester argues that God had gave her Pearl and it's her right as a mother to raise her. Dimmesdale hops to her defense because he belives that God had placed Pearl with Hester, because that is where he intended her to be.
CHAPTER NINE
33. Chillingworth came into the Boston and annouced himself a Doctor after studying Native American remedies. Back then they used natrual remedies and substances to cure patients. They were still discovering how to cure people. Readers find hime suspicious because he's not technically a Doctor because he doesn't have a degreee and doesn't know his facts. He's also on the look out for revenge.
CHAPTER TEN
40. Dimmesdale believes that if a man keeps his sin a sercret for good reasons then it's ok. Chillingworth believes that it's an outrage for a man to keep his sin a sercret and is disrespecting God. Dimmesdale leaves the room because he becomes angered at the metaphorical argument. Chillingworth keeps pushing Dimmesdale to confess.
42. Dimmesdale discovers the reverend had either cut or branded himself with the letter "A". At first he seemed shocked but his search for revenge was finally over and he instantly felt relieved and joyed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
44. Dimmesdale's guilt begins to eat him alive and he becomes stressed. His stressed worsens his health conditions and everyone starts to take notice. Once Chillingworth asks
CHAPTER TWELVE
46. Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold out of guilt and madness. He want to punish himself and pretend to confess to relieve some of the guilt he feels inside.
49. Pearl asks Dimmesdale to confess tomorrow at noon. Dimmesdale rejects the offer and tells her he will confress to God once he dies. It shows the readers that Pearl knows Dimmesdale is her father.
50. The meteor mark and "A" in the sky. It's described a dull, red light. Dimmesdale takes it as sign from God, telling him he knows of his sin. The towns people believe it means angel because Governor Bellingham just passed away.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
53. Hester is now seen as a strong, giving woman. Her scarlet letter now represents able, becuase she is able to move on from her sin. The town's people believe that the scarlet letter has curred her sins.
54. Hester's appearance becomes less radiant. She looks older, and becomes careless towards her presence. With the Scarlet Letter, Hester doesn't really care about anything excpet for making a living and her daughter.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
56. Dimmesdale is a sinner in Chillingworth's eyes. He wants to continue to push the Reverend to confess. He refuses to leave him alone because of his thirst for revenge. He insists that Dimmesdal has increased his debt, because he feels as if Dimmesdale has to pay for what he's done.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
59. Hester thinks this to herself because she is being overwhelmed by Pearls curiousity. She wants to be close to her daughter, because Pearl is the only one she has, yet she doesn't want to tell the truth. The narrator says Pearl needs to gain patience in order to discover the truth.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
60. Hester doesn't want to reveal their secret to anyone. Her meeting place with Dimmesdale is in the forest. Puritans think the forest is dark and sinnester just like the crime they had committed.
63. Pearl keeps asking about her mother's scarlet letter and why the minister holds his hand upon his heart. Pearl is a curious, demanding child and overwhelms and frusterates her mother with these questions.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
66. Dimmesdale is just completely beside himself with his guilt. He has more repentance then Hester, who's begging for Dimmesdale to seek redemption and get a new name.
67. Hester reveals the truth to Dimmesdale about Chillingworth because she fears he might be the cause for his health. She also feels guilty. Dimmesdale acts shocked at first but quickly forgives Hester. I was shocked to read that he forgave her so quickly. It's his life on the line.
68. Their relationship is strong and is full of hope. Hester is there to support Dimmesdale and give him the courage to move on. Dimmesdale is there to help Hester feel less lonely.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
69. Hester had been on her own for a long time now. Her nature is more daring then Dimmesdale's. It scares him. Hester is unique and diffrent from the other Puritans.
70. Pearl uses harsh personification towards the sun by saying it doesn't love her mother. The sun never shines on Hester, because it wan'ts to avoid the scarlet letter on her bosom, just like everyone else in Boston. Then when Hester takes the scarlet letter off, the sun comes out and is not ashamed to shine upon a sinner.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
71. Pearl does not like change. She is still a child. She has always seen her mother wearing the scarlet letter and it comforts her. It's a symbol to her that represents her mom. She's jealous of the attention Dimmesdale is getting from her mother.
CHAPTER TWENTY
73. Dimmesdale begins to question if he signed his name in the Devil's book by going to the forest and talking to Hester. It give many causess towards his weird actions. It quesitons him of maddness, guilt and the devil himself. Maddness seems to be the most understandable out of all the reasons.
74. Mistress Hibbons tells Dimmesdale that she saw him in the woods. She knows of his sercrets and tells him it's ok to be sinister. She tells him it's ok to write his name in the Devil's book because she has done it to. Her words are not really comforting.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
76. Know one really talks to Hester during the Holiday. Hester's outfit is gray and morbid where Pearl's outfit is pastel and it suits her. Everyone is taking back by her beauty and just like her mother was, she steals the spotlight. Hester appreciates it because it's the only attention she has left. They might not marvel at her but they marvel at Pearl, which is a part of her.
78. Hester's and Dimmesdale's plans were ruined when the sailor told Hester that Chillingworth would be boarding the ship with them. It could ruin their opportunity for a better future due Dimmesdale's threat.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
80. Dimmesdale seems more confident in his actions. He's speaking to the audience like it's the last time he'll ever preach, so he wants to make it good. It makes Hester feel uncomftorable, because she cannot relate to his deep worship towards God. She's not as strong as a puritan. Though he is doing a good job at his speech, people can sense a hint of pain and suffering he's been through. He could give his secret away.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
83. Dimmesdale confesses on the scaffold. The scaffold is a place for punishment. It is where Hester was punished and it is where Dimmesdale punished himself. It's a place to confess and remove the characters guilt. It's the the problem yet the resolution in the novel.
85. Pearl is crying to see her father near the brink of death, which is uncommon because she did not greet him with compassion in the forest.She forgave him when he confessed. Hester is in shock and keeps greiving over the future they had planned out together. Chillingworth is upset that he confesses because he will no longer be able to torture him anymore. The audience doesn't really know what to think of the whole scene. Some pity the minister and his life full of guilt; some might be angered with his lies; some are just full out baffled and need a couple days to think about it. They're life and dreams have changed due to this one confession.
86. Dimmesdale basically tells Hester that God will forgive them, because their love was strong. He lived seven years in fear of what God is thinking yet the last five minutes of his death he becomes confident in God's forgiveness.
CHAPTER TWENT FOUR
87. Everyone fades away after the death of the Dimmesdale. Chillingworth made his revenge the only mission and died shortly after. Pearl inherited Dimmesdale's property in Boston and New England. He also left a good amount of money. People saw her diffrently now that she was rich and she was no long the devil's child. Hester and Pearl dissapeard for a little while, but Hester came back towards the end of her life to the abandoned cottage to finish her sentence of shame. It became obvious that the fancy furniture and trinkets in her home were from her daughter sent over by England. A new revelation had began. People began to seek Hester's advice and wisdom when it came to their life situations. Hester greatly appreciated it. When Hester had died and old woman, they burried her next to her lover. Both of the graves marked with an "A" forever in scarlet.
2. In Chapter One, Hawthorne goes into great detail of an ugly prison door. He adds a morbid setting and uses gloomy imagery to get his point across. Yet, at the end of the chapter he describes a beautiful rosebush outside of the prison door. Hawthorne is using personification to describe Hester's beauty and gentleness in a difficult situation. He enjoys using personification when it comes to a beauty in a sorrowful setting. It also adds dramatic irony.
CHAPTER TWO
4. She comes out of the prison door with confidence. There's nothing else she can do too embarrass herself anymore because the damage has been done. She walks out like it was her own-free choice, showing no fear of all the eyes watching her. Hester smiles at the people staring at her up at her on the platform. Hawthorne made a good first impression of the main character by showing her courage.
5. Hawthorne says that the scaffold is the greatest outrage against our human nature. The author is trying to make the readers learn of the puritan's beliefs. Standing on the scaffold is a public humiliation and punishment for a sin you committed. I do not agree to this theory, because Puritans punish people over the simplest of things. Things that would seem common today.
CHAPTER THREE
9. Dimmesdale is introduced by John Wilson as a soft-hearted Minister. He is described as a strikingly good-looking young man with sad brown eyes, and quivering lips. The quivering lips are an indication of hes nervousness. If Dimmesdale is introduced as soft-hearted, he might be a caring, understanding minister.
10. Dimmesdale tells Hester to reveal the father's name if it is a comfort to her soul. If it will releave her of her pain, because it will releave him of his guilt. Hester refuses to say, and informs everyone that it won't do any good. Pearl begins to cry.
11. Hester says she can never remove the scarlet letter from her because of her overwhelming guilt. Even if the scarlet letter is off of her, she will no be free from her guilt.
CHAPTER FOUR
13. Chillingworth says this because Hester had broken her comittment with him by having an affiar, yet she never loved him. Chillingworth had always love her, yet never knew how to show it.
CHAPTER FIVE
16. Hester doesn't leave New England because Pearl's father is there and her guilt. Her guilt is compared to an iron chain that's holding her down to this New England town. She feels as if she needs to live with this punishment because she diserved it.
17. Hester lives in an old abandon cottage outside of the town. Hawhthorne describes it as a lonely cottage in the woods, next to the shore. He's using personification to describe Hester's loneliness and isolation towards the town. The shore represents her yearning to leave.
20. Hester's scarlet letter forces her to become isolated and Hester is not very excited towards it. Yet, she is thankful for her daughter.
CHAPTER SIX
22. The narrator describes pearl as a wild child. Pearl does things, says things; and asks things out of curiosity. She has no filter between her head and her mouth.
24. Hawthorne involves mother-daughter conflict in this novel, to show off Pearl's curiousity and stubborn behavior. He makes her a unique, important character.
CHAPTER SEVEN
26. In this chapter, Hester made a bright red dress for pearl. The same color as the scarlet letter on Hester's clothes. Pearl herself is a symbol in this novel. She represents the sin committed between her parents. Pearl is another symbol for the scarlet letter.
27. The furniture in Bellingham's mansion has an antique look to them. They are described a luxirious and elegant. Rich Puritans were very classy.
CHAPTER EIGHT
29. Governor Bellingham believes that Hester's wild spirt will rub-off on her daughter. He believes that Hester is a bad influence on Pearl. He spends time with Pearl to see if his theory is true. The first thing he notices is her "inappropriate" attire. Wearing bright red was supposebly a sin and somthing a whore would wear. He asks Pearl who made her and she responds that her mother picked her off the rose bush outside of the prison door. Bellingham become angered that she doesn't know that God had made her. Pearl sense his anger and hops off his lap.
30. Hester argues that God had gave her Pearl and it's her right as a mother to raise her. Dimmesdale hops to her defense because he belives that God had placed Pearl with Hester, because that is where he intended her to be.
CHAPTER NINE
33. Chillingworth came into the Boston and annouced himself a Doctor after studying Native American remedies. Back then they used natrual remedies and substances to cure patients. They were still discovering how to cure people. Readers find hime suspicious because he's not technically a Doctor because he doesn't have a degreee and doesn't know his facts. He's also on the look out for revenge.
CHAPTER TEN
40. Dimmesdale believes that if a man keeps his sin a sercret for good reasons then it's ok. Chillingworth believes that it's an outrage for a man to keep his sin a sercret and is disrespecting God. Dimmesdale leaves the room because he becomes angered at the metaphorical argument. Chillingworth keeps pushing Dimmesdale to confess.
42. Dimmesdale discovers the reverend had either cut or branded himself with the letter "A". At first he seemed shocked but his search for revenge was finally over and he instantly felt relieved and joyed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
44. Dimmesdale's guilt begins to eat him alive and he becomes stressed. His stressed worsens his health conditions and everyone starts to take notice. Once Chillingworth asks
CHAPTER TWELVE
46. Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold out of guilt and madness. He want to punish himself and pretend to confess to relieve some of the guilt he feels inside.
49. Pearl asks Dimmesdale to confess tomorrow at noon. Dimmesdale rejects the offer and tells her he will confress to God once he dies. It shows the readers that Pearl knows Dimmesdale is her father.
50. The meteor mark and "A" in the sky. It's described a dull, red light. Dimmesdale takes it as sign from God, telling him he knows of his sin. The towns people believe it means angel because Governor Bellingham just passed away.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
53. Hester is now seen as a strong, giving woman. Her scarlet letter now represents able, becuase she is able to move on from her sin. The town's people believe that the scarlet letter has curred her sins.
54. Hester's appearance becomes less radiant. She looks older, and becomes careless towards her presence. With the Scarlet Letter, Hester doesn't really care about anything excpet for making a living and her daughter.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
56. Dimmesdale is a sinner in Chillingworth's eyes. He wants to continue to push the Reverend to confess. He refuses to leave him alone because of his thirst for revenge. He insists that Dimmesdal has increased his debt, because he feels as if Dimmesdale has to pay for what he's done.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
59. Hester thinks this to herself because she is being overwhelmed by Pearls curiousity. She wants to be close to her daughter, because Pearl is the only one she has, yet she doesn't want to tell the truth. The narrator says Pearl needs to gain patience in order to discover the truth.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
60. Hester doesn't want to reveal their secret to anyone. Her meeting place with Dimmesdale is in the forest. Puritans think the forest is dark and sinnester just like the crime they had committed.
63. Pearl keeps asking about her mother's scarlet letter and why the minister holds his hand upon his heart. Pearl is a curious, demanding child and overwhelms and frusterates her mother with these questions.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
66. Dimmesdale is just completely beside himself with his guilt. He has more repentance then Hester, who's begging for Dimmesdale to seek redemption and get a new name.
67. Hester reveals the truth to Dimmesdale about Chillingworth because she fears he might be the cause for his health. She also feels guilty. Dimmesdale acts shocked at first but quickly forgives Hester. I was shocked to read that he forgave her so quickly. It's his life on the line.
68. Their relationship is strong and is full of hope. Hester is there to support Dimmesdale and give him the courage to move on. Dimmesdale is there to help Hester feel less lonely.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
69. Hester had been on her own for a long time now. Her nature is more daring then Dimmesdale's. It scares him. Hester is unique and diffrent from the other Puritans.
70. Pearl uses harsh personification towards the sun by saying it doesn't love her mother. The sun never shines on Hester, because it wan'ts to avoid the scarlet letter on her bosom, just like everyone else in Boston. Then when Hester takes the scarlet letter off, the sun comes out and is not ashamed to shine upon a sinner.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
71. Pearl does not like change. She is still a child. She has always seen her mother wearing the scarlet letter and it comforts her. It's a symbol to her that represents her mom. She's jealous of the attention Dimmesdale is getting from her mother.
CHAPTER TWENTY
73. Dimmesdale begins to question if he signed his name in the Devil's book by going to the forest and talking to Hester. It give many causess towards his weird actions. It quesitons him of maddness, guilt and the devil himself. Maddness seems to be the most understandable out of all the reasons.
74. Mistress Hibbons tells Dimmesdale that she saw him in the woods. She knows of his sercrets and tells him it's ok to be sinister. She tells him it's ok to write his name in the Devil's book because she has done it to. Her words are not really comforting.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
76. Know one really talks to Hester during the Holiday. Hester's outfit is gray and morbid where Pearl's outfit is pastel and it suits her. Everyone is taking back by her beauty and just like her mother was, she steals the spotlight. Hester appreciates it because it's the only attention she has left. They might not marvel at her but they marvel at Pearl, which is a part of her.
78. Hester's and Dimmesdale's plans were ruined when the sailor told Hester that Chillingworth would be boarding the ship with them. It could ruin their opportunity for a better future due Dimmesdale's threat.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
80. Dimmesdale seems more confident in his actions. He's speaking to the audience like it's the last time he'll ever preach, so he wants to make it good. It makes Hester feel uncomftorable, because she cannot relate to his deep worship towards God. She's not as strong as a puritan. Though he is doing a good job at his speech, people can sense a hint of pain and suffering he's been through. He could give his secret away.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
83. Dimmesdale confesses on the scaffold. The scaffold is a place for punishment. It is where Hester was punished and it is where Dimmesdale punished himself. It's a place to confess and remove the characters guilt. It's the the problem yet the resolution in the novel.
85. Pearl is crying to see her father near the brink of death, which is uncommon because she did not greet him with compassion in the forest.She forgave him when he confessed. Hester is in shock and keeps greiving over the future they had planned out together. Chillingworth is upset that he confesses because he will no longer be able to torture him anymore. The audience doesn't really know what to think of the whole scene. Some pity the minister and his life full of guilt; some might be angered with his lies; some are just full out baffled and need a couple days to think about it. They're life and dreams have changed due to this one confession.
86. Dimmesdale basically tells Hester that God will forgive them, because their love was strong. He lived seven years in fear of what God is thinking yet the last five minutes of his death he becomes confident in God's forgiveness.
CHAPTER TWENT FOUR
87. Everyone fades away after the death of the Dimmesdale. Chillingworth made his revenge the only mission and died shortly after. Pearl inherited Dimmesdale's property in Boston and New England. He also left a good amount of money. People saw her diffrently now that she was rich and she was no long the devil's child. Hester and Pearl dissapeard for a little while, but Hester came back towards the end of her life to the abandoned cottage to finish her sentence of shame. It became obvious that the fancy furniture and trinkets in her home were from her daughter sent over by England. A new revelation had began. People began to seek Hester's advice and wisdom when it came to their life situations. Hester greatly appreciated it. When Hester had died and old woman, they burried her next to her lover. Both of the graves marked with an "A" forever in scarlet.