Scarlet Letter Study Questions

1) Hester's sin was adultery. She slept with a man who wasn't her husband and had a child by him. Her punishment was to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest, which stood for adultery. Dimmesdale's sin was that he was the one who slept with Hester and was the father of Pearl. Although Dimmesdale was single he slept with another man's wife, which is a sin. The torture of keeping this secret bottled up for all of those years resulted in the death of Dimmesdale.

Chillingworth was Hester's husband. His sin was revenge. He was wrong in trying to seek revenge for Hester's betrayal, it can only lead to the worst. Revenge eventually consumed Chillingworth. As a result, Chillingworth died a year after Dimmesdale since he no longer had anything to live for now that the secret had been revealed.

2) Nathaniel Hawthorne used many literary terms in the Scarlet Letter. One of the most evident is imagery. The Scarlet Letter is filled with imagery. If you open it to any page you will more then likely see example's of imagery on that page. "The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes." (Page 50). Hawthorne's description of Hester is amazingly detailed. He describes her as if he was there when she came out of the prison to stand upon the scaffold.

Hawthorne also used symbolism in the Scarlet Letter. One symbol in the book is Pearl. She is a living reminder of Hester and Dimmesdale's sin. She never lets Hester forget that she wears the Scarlet "A". Although Pearl is a constant reminder of the mistake Hester made Hester still loves her. Another style Hawthorne used was diction. The time in which this book was written is the principal reason for his word choice.He uses words like thou, art, and thy as substitutions for the, you, and are.

3) Yes Hester was disloyal and betrayed Chillingworth by committing adultery, which is a sin in itself, she still proved to be a true woman. Hester attempted to still act as a noble woman would even though she sinned. Her attempts to better herself are what made the townspeople eventually start to forget about the letter's original meaning and insist that it had taken on a new meaning. They started to believe that it stood for Able and not adulterer. Hester had the chance to run away from her troubles and start anew, but she didn't. She chose to stay and accept her punishment like a true woman. She also kept her daughter who was made during her sin. In spite of all the heartache this little girl caused.

Even though the townspeople didn't treat her with respect she still did things for them. This shows that she was indeed trying to be the bigger person. In the end all of her work payed off. The elders were thinking of dropping her sentencing and the townspeople weren't as rude to her anymore. In fact, they were much nicer and respected her bravery. Hester proved that anyone can make their lives better no matter how bad they think its going.

4) The second scene on the scaffold is one of the most important parts of the book. It's when the truth is revealed. Dimmesdale tells the town that he has sinned; he is the father of Pearl. When Dimmesdale reveals that he is an adulterer you realize that he will soon die. As soon as he reveals his secret he falls to the ground and dies.

Chillingworth no longer has a purpose now that the secret is revealed. As a result he dies because revenge is all he had to live for. All of the people who regarded Dimmesdale as this "holy person" were now confused to find out that he was an adulterer. Pearl finally becomes a normal girl. Now that the secret is out she has no need to torment her parents. It seems as though all she wanted was to expose the secret so that she could be with her mother and father.

5) Pearl's name is symbolic because even though she was created from sin and was a living punishment to Hester, was to determine to accept her punishment no matter how hard it was. Pearl was her only treasure. I felt that Dimmesdale was a bit of a dance for not realizing that Chillingworth was his enemy and wanted revenge. Also he wasn't very smart for committing adultery, especially since he was a minister.

For Chillingworth I thought he was very creepy. First of all his name, it fits him perfectly. If you show up in a town dressed in savage clothes with an Indian I'm pretty sure that would creep some people out. Throughout the entire book I felt that Chillingworth was definitely the antagonist of the story. Especially towards the end when he started to look darker and more evil.

6) Throughout the Scarlet Letter Hester changed. She went from someone who just did what everyone wanted her to do, to someone who stood up for what she wanted. Towards the end of the story she started to become more of a true woman. When the elders of the town wanted to take her daughter away from her she refused letting you see the way she has changed since the beginning of the story. She took on more responsibility and ultimately grew into a mature adult.

She also began to act more like a true woman. Also she did favors for people in town which made them begin to forget about the letter and what it originally stood for. They began to see her as a strong woman who made the best out of bad situation. This sends a strong message to people that anything is possible if you work for it.